THE WINDS BLOW KANSAS INTO MAGIC CITY: AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID RAGSDALE
I close my eyes only for a moment, and the moment's gone- All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea- All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind Now, don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky- It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind Dust in the wind, everything is dust in the wind. -Kerry Livgren
Stars are formed from dust and pockets of gas. The attraction of the various parts to each other causes them to contract and become the coherent unit that is, ultimately, a star. And so it was with Kansas. From cloudy beginnings, the elements circled and shifted until finally, in 1973, the legendary band burst forth into light.
Throughout the ‘70s, Kerry Livgren (keyboards/vocals), Steve Walsh (keyboards/vocals), Robby Steinhardt (violin/vocals), Richard Williams (guitar), Dave Hope (bass), and Phil Ehart (drums) crafted well-developed lyrics and complex instrumentals into songs that soared above the rafters of the stadiums and arenas they were soon filling.
The light of that star grew to blinding proportions with the release of their 4th album, Leftoverture, with its hit single “Carry On Wayward Son,” followed by Point Of Know Return, containing “Dust in the Wind.” In the circle of life, dust returns to dust. In this case, it turned to gold, million selling gold.
In a 2014 interview with guitarworld.com, songwriter Kerry Livgren explained that he wrote the song after reading a book of Native American poetry that contained the line, “all we are is dust in the wind.” At his wife’s suggestion, he set the lyrics to the tune of one of his fingerpicking exercises. Slow, mellow, and very different from their other songs, it became one of their biggest hits and one of the most well-known songs in rock and roll history.
In the decades to follow, Kansas continued to grow and evolve. Like all living things, stars have a life cycle and they go through changes. Kansas also grew and changed. Members came and went and often came again. Their music changed as they passed through different stages of life and as technology developed. But, as founding member Phil Ehert has oft said, ‘Kansas is about the music, not the individual members.’ And the music has never stopped.
The latest incarnation of Kansas came in 2014 when lead vocalist/keyboardist Steve Walsh retired after 41 years with the band. Change, while often accompanied by a sense of loss, also brings rebirth and revitalization. Ronnie Platt (former lead singer/keyboardist of Shooting Star and ARRA) was signed to replace Walsh, and David Manion (keyboard/vocals) stepped in to fill the long empty second keyboard spot- a signature element of the original Kansas sound that had been missing for many years. They joined Phil Ehart (drums), Richard Williams (guitar), Billy Greer (bass/vocals), and David Ragsdale (violin/guitar/vocals).
The momentum of change continued in 2015, when the band signed a new recording contract with InsideOut Music and began the process of putting together their 15th studio album- the first since the 2000 release of Somewhere To Elsewhere. Long awaited by fans, its contents are shrouded in secret.
In my recent interview with David Ragsdale, I quickly learned just how secretive those details are:
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TRIPLE CITIES CAROUSEL: The big news the past couple of years has been Steve Walsh’s retirement, Ronnie Platt coming on board to replace him, David Manion joining, and the upcoming, studio album- the first since 2000. I’d like to talk a bit about the new album.
DAVID RAGSDALE: There’s a lot of things about the new album that I’m not gonna be able to talk about.
TCC: Can you able to tell me if a release date has been set?
DR: If there is, I don’t know it. I know that we’re shooting for the fall.
TCC: Can you tell me the name of the album?
DR: I don’t know. I don’t know if I can answer that question, which means I probably shouldn’t.
TCC: Since the 1st album was released in 1974, there have been many life changes and changes in personnel. You can track a lot of those changes through the differences in the albums over the years. The six albums released in the 70s were much different, in sound and tone, than later releases. And different members have come and gone who were more involved in the songwriting. Last May, Rich Williams did an interview with ultimateclassicrock.com, where he stated that on this album, it was anticipated that all the members would likely be involved in the songwriting. He also said that the door was always open if Kerry Livgren wanted to become involved. Ultimately, who did give input for the songs on the new album?
DR: Well, you know, that’s another one I don’t know if I can answer, because there is an outside source. Everything that Richard told [them] is certainly true. The band did all contribute to the writing. As to outside sources, I don’t know if I’m allowed to… We’re shooting for a release and a big surprise, and if you blow the surprise, then you blew it.
TCC: You have an extensive background with classical music as well as rock, not just playing, but also musical arrangement. Did you become very involved in the arrangement of the new songs?
DR: We all did. Everyone in the band is very clever, and arranging really comes down to taking something that already exists and presenting it in a slightly different fashion. And everyone in the band is very good at that. So we all did that.
TCC: Phil (Ehert) has spoken a lot over the years, in different interviews, about how the band is an evolving thing. As people come and go, and people’s lives change, the music changes. It’s not a static thing. It’s not the same sound as 1974. There are always going to be die-hard early-Kansas fans that want a renewal of that early sound. They can hear a lot of it at live concerts, but as far as this new album goes, what can your fans expect?
DR: They will be pleased. I can say that. You can never-- I mean, that’s like saying you want to be a teenager again when, you know, you’re 45 or 50 years old. And you just can’t. That was done at a different time, when the industry was different. It was done when equipment was at a different stage of its development. They didn’t have all the cool keyboard-digital stuff, you know? It was just guitars and B3s and amps and microphones. So, things have changed. You can’t go back to the ‘70s. The spirit of composing- borrowing from classical and jazz influences and making the music very integral in the song and, you know, steering away from the verse/chorus/verse/ chorus/bridge/chorus/out– that formula is barely represented on this record. It’s very adventurous- musically adventurous. It’s not ‘70s Kansas. It will never be 70s Kansas again, because Robby’s gone, Kerry’s gone, you know, I mean Dave’s gone, and it just isn’t. And it’s not the ‘70s anymore. But, the musical adventure is represented in a major fashion.
TCC: Would you say there is a theme to the album as a whole?
DR: I don’t think so. There might be, but if there is, it hasn’t been explained to me. I know that the album is very cohesive. It doesn’t sound like a bunch of different songs that kind of got hammered into a, you know, a production. They’re very cohesive.
TCC: It’s been over 15 years since Kansas went into the recording studio to do a new studio album- and it’s the first time with Ronnie Platt and David Manion. Can you talk a bit about how the recording process went?
DR: It went surprisingly smoothly. It was hectic. Phil really drove us very hard… because he wanted to make sure it got done. We didn’t have a whole lot of time to do it. We went down to Destin, Florida, for a week and hammered everything into… you know, we had all these ideas, and we had to fashion them into songs. And we did much of that down in Florida. And Phil just wanted to get us out of town so we didn’t have any distractions. In a week we did an amazing amount of work toward molding these ideas into cohesive songs and then, you know, just go home and do your homework. And then go into the studio. And it was produced very efficiently and very effectively. There was almost a militaristic precision, if that makes sense, to the production of it. And it all went very smoothly. It all went very logically. Every song was recorded exactly the same way: drums first, bass, guitar- there was a methodology to the production of each song, and as a result of that, it sounds like it was all done at the same time.
TCC: When I first listened to concert footage, after Steve Walsh left and Ronnie took over, and David (Manion) was there, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s no mean feat for anyone to come in and take over as lead singer in a long established band with a very definable sound. I have to say I was more than pleased with what I heard. Without (his) becoming a clone, the Kansas sound and dynamic is there. How hard was it to adapt and get things running with two new people on board?
DR: Because they knew what they were doing, and because Ronnie is such an outstanding vocalist… I think we rehearsed for two weeks. Phil had a basic set-list; I mean it was an extensive set-list because we knew some of it wouldn’t make it into the set. So it was a lot like being in a cover band- covering your own part. And we went in and we rehearsed and everyone knew what they were doing. No one slacked off and the set became hammered and we just ran that several times and everyone knew what they were doing and it was great.
TCC: Speaking of smoothness of coming on board and changes- you had to go through that when you stepped in, in ‘91. Part of the dynamism and the soaring sound of Kansas had always had come from Robby’s violin. When he left [in 1985] there was no violinist, which, in my opinion, left a tremendous gaping hole until you came on board 6 years later and filled it. How was it, stepping in and rebuilding that missing part?
DR: Well…. I chased them around for years. I started chasing Kansas around back in, let me think, back in ‘86, something like that. And they didn’t hire me till ‘91. But Steve Morse was a part of the band and they had a different theme… they were doing violin-less Kansas and featuring the virtuosity- the extreme virtuosity- of Steve Morse. And then, I’m not sure what path led to them deciding to go back. I had developed kind of a relationship with Phil where he gave me his phone number when I first started chasing them around. I put together a little demo tape that he was impressed with. And if I went into the studio and did anything that was any good at all, I’d send it to him. And I’d call him every six months or so, you know, just to kind of ring that bell. And he called me in ‘91 and said that: Kerry’s written a couple of new songs and we’re gonna go in the studio and record them, and we wondered if you wanted to… It’s like, “Well of course.” And I was in LA at the time and he flew me to Atlanta and we went up to Kerry’s and recorded these two songs. And then about, I don’t know, two months later, Phil got an offer- I guess from an agency to do a, a sort of a two-months greatest hits run, that sort of thing. And I went out on that and it never ended. I think it was supposed to be six weeks, two months, something like that. And it went over very well. And I think that the booking agents sort of went, “Wow, lets get a piece of this.” And it just continued. And this is still a part of the same tour- it just never stopped.
TCC: So your persistence paid off.
DR: Yes it did.
TCC: There was a period when Robby came back and you left, then he left and you came back.
DR: I got burned out. The four years prior to joining Kansas I had been with Louise Mandrell up in Nashville. And that was four years on a tour bus. And then I joined Kansas and that was five more years on a tour bus. And I just had to get off the bus. I ended up out in Vegas, doing some things out in Vegas for however long. But I did all sorts of stuff actually: I released a solo album and tried my hand at that and a couple other things, and finally ended up out in Vegas. And when Robby left the band in… ‘05 or ‘06, whenever it was, the band was in Vegas. Phil gave me a call and we just, you know, nothing was really discussed- we just had a conversation… I said hi to everyone in the band. I had a gig so I couldn’t make the show. And then about, maybe two weeks later, Phil called and said, “Listen, Robby decided to retire and what would you think about coming back? And I was, you know, “Okay.” And that’s how that came about.
TCC: And then you got back on the bus.
DR: No, that was one thing that Phil pointed out. He said, “You know we fly everywhere now, there aren’t any buses.” The bus, that’s a hell of a life. It’s kind of cool at first, you know, but you get tired of sleeping in motion. Years of it will wear you down. It really will take a lot out of you.
TCC: Are you all based in Atlanta now?
DR: For the most part: Ronnie still lives in Chicago, Billy lives in Savannah, but other than that I think we’re all here. And Richard lives about 200 feet from me, so we ride to the airport together.
TCC: As far as instrumentals, in addition to the violin, a big part of the Kansas sound was having two keyboardists. Yet there were years that the band did without the second. Musically, what’s your feeling on that?
DR: A lot of those songs have two keyboard parts. I mean, they’re intricate and developed and when you have to sacrifice one at the expense of another and pick and choose… it’s cool to have all that stuff. It’s big and it’s fun. It’s a rush to play it, it really is.
TCC: If you include its pre-Kansas, Kansas history, the band has been around in one form or another since 1969 and has gone through many different incarnations. For you personally, what do you see, and what would you like to see, in the future for Kansas?
DR: Pretty much what’s happening- a lot of which I can’t talk about. But I can say with a high degree of confidence that we ain’t done yet.
TCC: Along that same line, there have been a lot of bands over the years that have come and gone, and others, fortunately, have lasted in spite of adversity and change. To what do you attribute Kansas’ longevity?
DR: The strength of the songwriting and the presentation. There are wonderful songs, they’re just incredibly wonderful songs, musically and lyrically. And the band delivers those compositions in a very powerful fashion. And if you’ve got that, you don’t need much else.
TCC: If you could choose the five Kansas songs you most enjoy playing, what would they be?
DR: Oh gosh, probably the standards, and there’s probably a couple of them that I haven’t played yet that I really like. But I’ll go with the ones that I’ve played: “Song for America” is great; “The Wall” is great; we were doing “Magnum Opus” for a while and that’s a lot of fun to play; “Journey From Mariabronn” was a hoot; “Closet Chronicles,” which we’re doing now, is a lot of fun to play. Those were the first ones that popped in my head, so that’s gotta say something.
TCC: You make it sound like it’s a lot of fun to play with this crew.
DR: It’s kind of amazing because there are personality dynamics in every band, and there’s a lot of bands that aren’t blessed with positive dynamics across the board. But we all like each other a lot. That makes it easy. And there are times, you know: I get run down, someone gets sick, or there’s a distraction at home- everyone has problems. But the rapport in the band is strong enough to where that is either-- I don’t want to say overlooked-- at the very least it’s understood. And everyone will allow that, whatever it is, to pass. Because that happens, there’s a bunch of stuff going on all the time. Your home is whatever Hilton Garden Inn you’re staying in, so there are moments. But we really do like each other a lot.
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To date, Kansas has produced: eight gold albums, three sextuple-platinum albums, one platinum live album, and a million-selling gold single. The dictionary defines “classic” as: “serving as a standard of excellence.” Kansas meets that standard. So popular are their hits, that 27 years after it first appeared, “Carry On Wayward Son” was the #1 most played track on classic rock radio.
With a new line-up, and a new album coming, change is in the air. Stay tuned for the next chapter in their long history.
The Kansas star lights the stage at Magic City Music hall on April 2nd. Doors open at 7pm; the show begins at 8pm. Magic City is located at 1240 Upper Front Street in the Northgate Plaza, in Binghamton. Tickets can be purchased online at themagiccitymusichall.com or kansasband.com or at the Box Office (Tuesday- Saturday from 11am-6pm or 11am on show dates). Information can be found online or by calling Magic City at (607) 296-3269. General admission tickets are $35 advance and $40 day of show. (Under 16 must be accompanied by parent or guardian.)
