Kansas City, Kansas

Everything Kansas City is known for

39 songs mention this city 327 artists from here

Kansas City, Kansas, part of the larger Kansas City metropolitan area known for its barbecue and jazz heritage, has a notable connection to music. Our collection features 39 songs that mention Kansas City, including "Kansas City Stomps" by Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers and "Kansas City" by Little Richard. The city is also home to 327 artists, such as jazz legends Oleta Adams and Charlie Parker, along with contemporary artists like Janelle Monáe and Krizz Kaliko.

Music in Kansas City

Songs About Kansas City

Kansas City Special
Joe Maphis
83%
Kansas City
Little Richard
83%
"Kansas City"
Kansas City Stomps
Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers
83%
The Kansas City Song
Buck Owens & Susan Raye
82%
Kansas City
Ed Jurdi
82%
Train From Kansas City
Neko Case
81%
"The train from Kansas City is coming into town"
She Moved To Kansas City
Doug Stone
81%
Kansas City
Damien Jurado
81%
"Kansas City, I fought back the tears"
Kansas City
Wanda Jackson
80%
"I'm goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come"
Kansas City Railroad Blues
The Nashville Bluegrass Band
80%
Kansas City
Justin Clyde Williams
79%
Kansas City Nocturne
Jeff Plankenhorn
79%
Kansas City Man
Extra Gold
79%
Kansas City
Otis Gibbs
77%
"From the sunflower state, a fool came callin'"
Red Kingdom
Tech N9ne
53%
"Kansas City"
Django Jane
Janelle Monáe
53%
"Straight out Kansas City, yeah, we made it out there"
Q.U.E.E.N.
Janelle Monáe
53%
"I'm trying to free Kansas City"
Late Lives
Pianos Become the Teeth
50%
"How odd life would be if you had made it from Elmira to Kansas City"
jimmy's dead and gone
JP harris
45%
modern family main theme
the moon light orchestra
45%

Showing top 20 of 39 songs

Artists From Kansas City

D
Don Juan
latin Pop: 82
T
The Architects
rock Pop: 71
J
Janelle Monáe
r-n-b Pop: 68
K
Kstylis
hip-hop Pop: 61
B
BloodPop®
pop Pop: 58
K
Krizz Kaliko
hip-hop Pop: 55
M
Mac Lethal
hip-hop Pop: 54
O
Oleta Adams
jazz Pop: 53
B
Ben Webster
jazz Pop: 52
C
Charlie Parker
jazz Pop: 51
G
Grace VanderWaal
pop Pop: 50
B
Burt Bacharach
pop Pop: 47
J
JL
hip-hop Pop: 47
M
Merlin
metal Pop: 46
S
Shiner
indie Pop: 45
C
Coalesce
metal Pop: 44
Q
Quixotic
electronic Pop: 44
L
Lucian Piane
electronic Pop: 43
A
Angelcorpse
metal Pop: 42
D
Danielle Nicole
blues Pop: 42

Showing top 20 of 327 artists

Rivers & Roads in Song near Kansas City

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Kansas City.

Missouri River 7 songs Interstate 35 27 songs U.S. Route 59 3 songs

History of Kansas City

Bleeding Kansas - The Border That Started the Civil War RoadyGoat

1854

The Kansas-Missouri border became the most violently contested line in America before the Civil War. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 let settlers vote on whether Kansas would be slave or free, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise. Missouri, already a slave state, shared its entire western border with Kansas. Pro-slavery Missourians and anti-slavery Northerners both flooded in to tip the vote. On March 30, 1855, hundreds of armed Missourians called Border Ruffians crossed into Kansas and stuffed ballot boxes, installing a pro-slavery legislature by fraud. Anti-slavery settlers called Jayhawkers refused to recognize it and set up a rival government. On May 21, 1856, Border Ruffians sacked Lawrence, Kansas, burning buildings and destroying a newspaper press. Three days later, abolitionist John Brown retaliated at the Pottawatomie Massacre, dragging five pro-slavery settlers from their homes and hacking them to death with broadswords. Meanwhile in Washington, a South Carolina congressman walked onto the Senate floor and beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts nearly to death with a metal-tipped cane over a speech about Kansas. Sumner could not return for three years. About fifty-five people were killed in the territory between 1855 and 1859. Kansas was admitted as a free state on January 29, 1861, days after Southern senators began walking out. The border you are crossing is the line that Border Ruffians and Jayhawkers fought and died over.

Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que: World-Famous Barbecue Born in a Gas Station RoadyGoat

1996

Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que, at the corner of 47th and Mission in Kansas City, Kansas, is one of the most celebrated barbecue joints in America, and it lives inside a working gas station. It opened in August of 1996, founded by Jeff and Joy Stehney, whose competition team Slaughterhouse Five won grand championships on the barbecue circuit, including the American Royal. It first opened under the name Oklahoma Joe's and was renamed Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que in 2014. The food earned national fame: Anthony Bourdain put it on his list of thirteen places to eat before you die. The signature is the Z-Man, a sandwich of slow-smoked brisket, smoked provolone, and two onion rings on a kaiser roll, named for a Kansas City radio host called The Z-Man. People still line up at the gas-station counter for the brisket, the burnt ends, and the ribs. (Sources: Joe's Kansas City; Wikipedia; Entrepreneur; Men's Health via explore.com.)

RoadyGoat → · 4.9 mi away

Independence, MO RoadyGoat

Independence, Missouri, sits at an elevation that offers long views across the plains, a fitting vista for a place that once saw wagon trains stretching to the horizon. You can still feel that nostalgic pull here, the echo of a time when this was the last outpost of civilization for those heading west. Known as the "Queen City of the Trails," it was a jumping-off point for dreams of new lives, a place where families gathered supplies and steeled their resolve before venturing into the unknown. That journey wasn't always easy; the 1827 flood, a major setback, delayed westward expansion for months. The spirit of Independence extends far beyond its historical role. Community of Christ, with roots deeply embedded in the city's history, maintains its headquarters here. And while healthcare and social assistance are now major employers, it’s perhaps the legacy of leadership and athletic prowess that truly stands out.

11.7 mi away

National World War I Museum and Memorial

1926

The only museum in the United States dedicated to World War I, built around the Liberty Memorial tower that was dedicated in 1926 before a crowd of 100,000.

3.2 mi away

Kansas City Stockyards Site

1871

Once the second-largest livestock market in the world after Chicago, the Kansas City Stockyards processed millions of cattle and defined the city's identity for over a century.

3.5 mi away

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

1933

One of America's finest encyclopedic art museums, built from the bequests of Kansas City newspaper publisher William Rockhill Nelson and schoolteacher Mary Atkins.

5.4 mi away

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library

1957

The presidential library of Harry S. Truman in Independence, Missouri, where the 33rd president made some of the most consequential decisions of the 20th century.

11.4 mi away

Independence Square

1827

Independence served as the primary jumping-off point for the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe Trails, outfitting hundreds of thousands of westward emigrants.

11.5 mi away

Things to Do in Kansas City

historical 3.2 mi away
National WWI Museum

The nation's leading WWI museum. A glass bridge over a field of 9000 poppies.
food 4.1 mi away
Arthur Bryant's

The king of Kansas City BBQ since 1930. Presidents and celebrities line up for burnt ends.
food 5.1 mi away
Joe's Kansas City BBQ

The Z-Man sandwich is legendary. Formerly Oklahoma Joe's. Inside a gas station.
historical 3.0 mi away
Crossroads Arts District

Kansas City's creative hub. Galleries bars and First Friday art walks.

Everything Near Kansas City

49 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Explore Kansas City on the Map
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