His were the hands that played iconic classic rock hits like “Carry on Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind.”
WTOP caught up with founding Kansas guitarist Richard Williams to preview the band’s 50th anniversary tour “Another Fork in the Road” next week at Capital One Hall in Tysons, Virginia, on Saturday, March 2.
“It’s been fantastic,” Williams told WTOP. “Kansas fans seem to really be enjoying it. It’s a longer show and goes a little bit more in depth. … A lot of our peers [are] retiring. The fact that we still have a relevance that is packing houses is pretty remarkable. … It’s not like we have a million hits like Foreigner or something where you just play two hours of hits … but we had some really big ones that resonated with our fan base … in a very lasting way.”
Expect to hear “Carry On Wayward Son” off the band’s fourth album “Leftoverture” (1976).
You’ll also hear the hard-driving title track off the album “Point of Know Return” (1977).
“I played just a supportive role in that because that’s all it required,” Williams said. “A lot of people think, ‘I have to play constantly all the way through a song and I have to have every standout part,’ but sometimes it’s best to get out of the way and find a place where you can just support what already exists.”
The same album also had the subdued, acoustic, existential ballad “Dust In the Wind.”
“Kerry was teaching himself how to finger pick,” Williams said. “His wife came by the guitar room and said, ‘That’s really nice. You oughta maybe write a song with that.’ He said, ‘Nah, I’m just practicing, we would never do anything like this,’ but she kept on about it, ‘This is really good.’ … He started writing lyrics, melody, threw it together loosely, brought it to rehearsal. … He goes, ‘Do you like it?’ We unanimously said, ‘That’s our next single.'”
Hear the full conversation on the podcast below:
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