On Sunday, I went to Harrisburg to check out the annual American Musicfest, which takes place July 2-4 along Harrisburg's Riverfront park along the Susquehanna River. (Four stages of free live music plus food vendors, hell yeah!) One of the bands I was especially interested in checking out was Proto-Kaw, which features one of the early line-ups of Kansas before the line-up that made it big. Kerry Livgren and this early version of Kansas ("Proto" means "early," while "Kaw" is a Native American term for Kansas) reunited after 30 years apart.
These guys were great! If you're a fan of the more improvisational style of Kansas' first three albums, you'll dig what Proto-Kaw is about. They did lengthier numbers with a lot of improvisation and instrumental variety. Kerry Livgren can still play that guitar, too; he was lighting it up big time! I bought a copy of Proto-Kaw's latest album, Before Became After (review coming soon); they have a new album coming out in the fall.
If you want to learn more about them, their website is www.protokaw.com.
