Interview: Kansas guitarist Rich Williams on ending the band's 50th anniversary tour in Pittsburgh

Rich Williams, the longtime guitarist for Kansas, can’t recall ever opening and closing a tour in one city. But that’s what the veteran progressive rockers will do when Kansas caps its Another Fork in the Road 50th Anniversary tour later this month.

Kansas will end their tour on Dec. 11 at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh after kicking it off tour here on June 2, 2023, thanks to their longtime relationship with local promoter Rich Engler.

“He had sort of, from my understanding, gotten out of the concert business and this kind of jump-started him back into it,” Williams said in a recent phone call from the road. “And as it went and went and went and went, he wanted to have the last show. And we said, that is the perfect bookend for this.”

For the Pittsburgh show, a pair of original members are scheduled to make appearances, with guitarist Kerry Livgren and bassist Dave Hope joining the current lineup for a few songs. The pair played earlier this year at dates in Topeka and Wichita. Original drummer Phil Ehart, who serves as the band’s manager, has been sidelined after suffering a heart attack, but Williams said Ehart is hoping to play, health permitting.

It’s been decades since Livgren and Hope left the band, but Williams said an open door policy has seen them make appearances over the years for the band known for songs like “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind.”

“David and Kerry have come out on occasion, usually when we’re in their area,” Williams said. “When we played in the Topeka area or Kansas City, Kerry would come in, and David dropped in on us before when we played in the Florida area. Robby (Steinhardt), before he passed, would do the same, he would come in and play shows.”

Whether it was their first show in Pittsburgh at the old Stanley Theatre (now the Benedum Center) or any of the dozens of other shows over the years, Kansas has forged a connection with the city that is hard to pin down, according to Williams.

“I don’t really know why. It was as much of a surprise to us as anybody,” he said. “But we were playing tours in Pennsylvania. We could hardly even get a gig in Kansas. We were adopted early on by college radio back then. And Pennsylvania just really loved Kansas from the get-go. And Pittsburgh had been the biggest introduction for us. We’ll always have a special place in our hearts for playing in Pittsburgh.

“We played so many places there over the years, the old Syria Mosque, places that it’s sad they are gone now. There were such wonderful venues. And the old Stanley Theater, where we first played, was kind of an old run-down theater at the time, but jeez, it’s just one of the most beautiful venues in the country now. To go back there, just to kick this off, just seemed like a perfect idea, and with the success of this tour, it seemed like a perfect place to end it.”

In a call from Rockford, Illinois, Williams discussed the band’s legacy, fan demand and the possibility of new Kansas music:

How challenging was it to put together a set list that spanned those 50 years?

Well, half of it was pretty easy because there’s certain songs we knew we were going to play. And really what we wanted to do was represent the album that came out, “Another Fork in the Road,” which was just covering bits and pieces of our entire history and so that’s kind of what we did. ‘Let’s do this one, let’s do that one. Let’s try this out. That didn’t work.’ And it wasn’t that difficult. There weren’t any arguments or anything. It was just trial and error, and we wanted to have some deep cuts that hadn’t been played in a long time. The most important part of it was to add that element, and it’s been a lot of fun to play all these songs. But it’s a long set.

How important is it to maintain the legacy of the band by still being out there on the road?

It’s very important. We’ve got a such a loyal fan base, and it has gotten much younger too. “Supernatural” adopted “Wayward Son” as their unofficial official theme song, and they used it in every season except for the first. So we kept noticing that our crowd was getting a lot younger, and this was like 10-12 years ago. I talked with the kids, why are you here? And it was “Supernatural,” so those 15-year-olds are now 30. And sometimes they’re bringing their kids to the show. And so it just keeps growing and growing. So why not continue? We still have an audience that has been, the tour has been very successful. We still love to do it. So, again, why not?

From what I’ve read, it seems that you’ve always been appreciated by the fans, but maybe a little bit underestimated by the music business. Does that sound about right?

Well, at one point, we had a few years where we didn’t have a band to put on the field. We’d done a couple albums with Steve Morse, who had joined the band from the Dixie Dregs. And that record company folded up. And so we just kind of were idle for a while. But even before that, one of the heads of CBS had a meeting with Phil and I and said, ‘Guys, give it up. Nobody cares. We owe you records, but we’re not going to give them to you.’ And we’re just, nobody cares, which was an awful thing to hear. So we took some time off. Then a German promoter gave us a call and he said he could throw together a couple of weeks if you guys wanted to just come over here to Germany. So we did. We came back to the states and (said) let’s just throw together one show for the good times back in Atlanta, which was where we were based at the time that we did that. And it was going really well. We thought, well, what if every summer we get together for a couple of weeks and go out and do it. Well, right away we had a couple of weeks booked, followed by another couple of weeks and another couple of weeks. And then eventually the touring just restarted. And we haven’t stopped ever since. And that was in the ‘90s. (laughs) So I’ve had a longer career since I was told I didn’t have one than I did before. So that’s why we manage ourselves now. And we make all the decisions ourselves. And it has turned out to be quite a career.

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When you started this, could you imagine that you’d still be doing this 50 years later?

No, there was never really a plan of a timeline, let’s do this for 10 years and then do something else or do it for 20 or 50. It was never a thought, it was just simply, well, it’s a new year, but what’s the plans? And then we just executed it. And suddenly, now we’re basically in the 51st year, so it wasn’t a plan. It was just a matter of there was nothing else I wanted to do. I got in the band to make music with friends and have some fun at it and then turned into my entire life. It’s really the same today, that’s getting together with everybody and we rehearse before the shows and there’s a lot of camaraderie and banter and it gets us relaxed and ready for the show. We all have dinner together, and then we play the show. It’s just a really good time. This bunch of guys is very professional, they’re very skilled, they’re very glad to be there. Everybody takes it seriously, but we still keep it fun and so it’s hard to imagine, what else would I do that would compete with this? And nothing comes to mind, so I might as well keep on doing it. I’m still buying guitars. I’m still buying amps. I’m still very into every aspect of it all. I just had a custom guitar built that I just got. I was planning for the next venture.

I’ve read that there are a couple new songs already done, so are you hoping to put out a new record anytime soon?

The topic comes up from time to time. Never say never, I will say. To get off the road and stop, we have 16, 17 families, just immediate, that rely on the touring entity, you know, road crew, etc. It’s hard to pull the plug on that to take a year, to go to the time and expense of making a record that is not going to get heard or played except by hardcore fans. And so it’s really, the need and desire to record a new album, you balance that against your responsibility for all these other people. And we’ll lose a lot of people because people will have to go find another job, et cetera, and we’ve got a very tight unit. And we’re having so much fun on the road as it is. It makes it kind of hard to just jump in the studio. So again, never say never. But next year is already planned and booked for the road.