MENTION THE BAND KANSAS TO THE average listener, and he or she will instantly name two classic rock staples: “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind.” “Oh, sure, those are the big ones,” says guitarist Richard Williams, who co-founded the progressive rock outfit back in 1970. “I could let it get to me and go, ‘Hey, we’ve got a whole body of work,’ but that would be a waste of time. Those are the songs that brought us to the table. Without ‘Wayward Son’ and “Dust in the Wind,’ we wouldn’t be around today.”
Williams recalls how in 1976, with the band deep in debt to their record label and facing an uncertain future after their first three albums (Kansas, Song for America and Masque) stiffed, they approached the recording of their fourth album, Leftoverture, with a sense of impending doom. “It was a pretty dark time. We were bleeding money pretty seriously,” he says. “We were signed to Kirshner Records, and our benefactor, Don Kirshner, could have easily said, ‘Guys, it’s been fun, but you need to find another record company.’ We needed a hit, and thank goodness we came up with ‘Carry On Wayward Son.’ It saved us so we could go on. And then we had ‘Dust in the Wind.’ Those songs exploded and our worlds changed forever.”
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