Interview with Kansas Guitarist, Violinist David Ragsdale
The iconic band, Kansas, comes to Atlantic City’s Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Friday, May 31 and Saturday June 1. With a career spanning more than four decades, Kansas has established itself as rock legends. Shore Local caught up with band member David Ragsdale.
Shore Local: So, the Kansas tour is off and running. Where are you playing tonight?
David Ragsdale: We’re in Boca Raton, Florida.
Shore Local: I know your schedule is jam packed, and you’re playing all your radio classics and a few songs from the 15th studio album from Kansas. I know there are a lot of “fan favorites” but what’s the one song that fans get most excited about and does that actually differ from city to city?
David: “Carry On Wayward Son” is always going to be the one fans get excited about. But all the standards, “Point of No Return,” “Dust in the Wind,” the entire library gets noticed. It’s a huge fan base and everyone’s got their favorites. Some of them are less well-known than others. No matter what we play, someone out there is really happy about it.
SL: This is your second go-around with Kansas, but I want to get back to you as a violinist, growing up with your classical and your Tulsa Philharmonic background, starting at what age?
David: My mom had me taking violin lessons when I was young, like three or four but I hated it. I mean, I really, really hated it. Fast forward to high school when I was playing more guitar. I remember the first time I heard “Can I Tell You”, a Kansas song on my car radio. All of a sudden, man, here’s this rock band with this rocking violin thing going on. I was like, “Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute. That’s not such a bad idea.”
SL: So then how did you end up with Kansas?
David Ragsdale: I started practicing violin again. I didn’t really start taking lessons again. I mean, I had learned against my will as a kid. I hadn’t played recently, and I’d lost most everything I had. I practiced up and managed to get myself accepted to Columbus State University. I studied and got to where I could play again. And then chased Kansas around for a couple of years while I was living in Nashville, and finally managed to talk them into adding me to the lineup.
SL: You first linked up with the band in ‘91 through their accountant?
DR: It’s the most unlikely story you’ve ever heard. At the time, I was playing with Louise Mandrell; this was back in the ‘80s. Kansas had broken up for a period of time and had re-formed with Steve Morse, one of the greatest guitar players on the planet, and he had a band that featured a violinist, so I was a big Steve Morse fan. I had a childhood friend of mine who I grew up with in Georgia who had become a special effects makeup technician and I was hanging out with Steve. I didn’t even know that Kansas had gotten back together and had released a new album. Then I found out that Steve Morse was on the record. I said holy cow, who’s the violin player? My friend said there are no violin players. So, we sat there and listened to the record and I could hear the violin parts. He said, ‘You need to go home, put this on your 4-track machine, add the violin parts you say you hear and send them your tape.’ That’s what I did. There were three songs I selected off the Power album and added the violin parts. A friend of mine was a friend of the banker that Kansas was using at the time. He got the tape to the banker, who got the tape to the tour manager, who got the tape to the band. It was just an incredible sequence of events.
SL: And that’s how history was made.
DR: Yes, a combination of persistence and good luck.
