Tagged: KC Currents

Kansas City native Glenn North is well known locally for creating regular outlets for poetry and spoken word.

By Susan B. Wilson

A KU music professor teams up with a Spanish vocal coach and master pianist to plan the second Festival of Spanish and Latin American Art Music in Kansas.

By Sylvia Maria Gross

Lawrence, KS – Note: This interview first aired in March 2010

One of Kansas City's favorite daughters Oleta Adams was back in town recently for a performance on 18th and Vine.

The singer and songwriter grew up in the Pacific Northwest. She was the daughter of a minister, and a piano prodigy who was directing choirs by the age of eleven.

Local musician Russ Wever has been playing the pedal steel guitar for more than forty years. He's performed at the Grand Ole Opry and on Broadway, and has had a big influence in the pedal steel guitar world.

By Tim Bridgham

Kansas City, MO – When you see a pedal steel guitar it doesn't look much like a guitar. Laid out horizontally, the pedal steel has two necks and a lot of foot pedals and knee levers. Though its roots come from the guitar, this version of the instrument has the ability to do much more.

Kansas City's Angela Hagenbach talks about the music business and her new album.

By Alex Smith

Historic pipe organ holds special significance for the homeless members of a downtown church.

By Alex Smith

Kansas City, MO – KCUR's Alex Smith went to the Grand Avenue Temple United Methodist Church downtown to learn more about the 1912 pipe organ, and its important role at this unique church.

Local author Ann Ingalls' new children's book introduces young readers to the legendary pianist Mary Lou Williams.

By Alex Smith

Kansas City, MO – If she were still alive this year, jazz pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams would be 100 years old. Williams was considered by many to be the greatest female jazz instrumentalist of all times. She spent the years between 1929 and 1941 in Kansas City, and was one of the principal architects of the Kansas City swing sound.