Music

Our state, its people, and their stories are reflected in these half-dozen songs from the past.

St. Louis band releases a critically acclaimed album and tours the world.

Kansas City saxophonist Ernest Melton explains his new album’s dramatic title.

Hannah Rainey, songwriter and guitarist in Shady Bug, helps the indie band create its sound.

For the last 17 years, Woody has hosted country music programs on KOPN. He began his Midnight Country show, which aired Sundays from midnight to 3 AM, in 2000. He gained a loyal following of listeners all around the United States and abroad.

Every season is festival season in Columbia. Entertaining events fill the calendar, much to the delight of locals and the thousands of visitors who come to take in fine art, delectable food, good books, historic attractions, inspiring music, and extraordinary films.

“By the time I got done mixing and mastering everything that we started, it got done in 2017, so we put two albums out in the same year,” Joe says. “The reason these records got divided the way they did is that there were a handful of themes that seemed like they belonged over on this side and a handful that belonged on that side.”

This year marks the band’s 20th anniversary of playing together, but the members of the powerhouse Irish/ Celtic band recently announced that 2018 will be the last year they plan to perform together—at least for the foreseeable future.

They say the family that plays together stays together. For the past quarter century, the Haygoods have been living that adage while delighting thousands in Branson.

Just before the end of the school year, Van Buren High School’s music department received a gift of nearly $22,000 that was forty-seven years in the making.