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| Music of the United States |
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The Music of Nebraska has included a variety of country, jazz, blues, ragtime, rock, and alternative rock musicians. Though many cities and towns across the state have active musical scenes, artists from Omaha and Lincoln have a particularly important musical legacy. [1]
Artists on the label Saddle Creek Records in Omaha, such as Bright Eyes, The Faint, and Cursive, are nationally renowned. [2] The formation of the sound occurred in the mid-1990s with Commander Venus, Frontier Trust, Weak, and Matchbook Shannon, and clubs such as the Cog Factory, and Sokol Music Hall. The 2000s saw a rise in popularity of Saddle Creek Records. The label went on to build a music venue called Slowdown. The Waiting Room also opened in March 2007.
The alternative music scene has produced such popular artists as 311, Beaver & the Hottage Cutch, Betsy Wells and Grasshopper Takeover, and Omaha has been a temporary home base of Midwest bands such as Tilly and the Wall, Rilo Kiley, The Urge, Pomeroy, and Blue October. Tim McMahan's Lazy-i and SLAMOmaha.com are the main media outlets promoting Saddle Creek and other Omaha bands.
In Omaha, a mainstay of the music scene is Nils Anders Erickson. [3] The studio houses modern equipment and has recorded with artists with local connections such as 311, but what makes the studio famous is its collection of vintage equipment. On addition to the studio, Nils heads local jam band Paddy O'Furniture. Other mainstays of the music scene in Omaha include folk artists such as Simon Joyner, Kyle Knapp, and his son, Saddle Creek artist Joe Knapp, Joe Watson, Mike Murphy, Kevin Quinn, and electronic artists Peter None and Chip Davis.
Notable jazz musicians include jazz guitarist Dave Stryker and drummer Victor Lewis.
Omaha also has many heavier rock and metal acts. In the mid to late 1990s the bands Secret Skin, Clever, and Twitch dominated the scene with their highly rhythmic and guitar-driven sound. Since the turn of the millennium, it has been a strong spot for Metalcore bands. A good amount have gone on to be National acts, such as Analog, Paria, System Failure, and I Am Legend. Also, the Power Metal band Cellador hails from Omaha. It also draws many other heavy musical acts, including many Screamo artists, including Eyes of Verotika, Caught in the Fall, and Robots Don't Cry. Other notable groups include Noah's Ark was a Spaceship, Back When, and Father.
Blues advocates including Terry O'Halloran and the Omaha Blues Society have brought world class blues to Omaha. Local artists like Satchel Grande, Kris Lager Band, and Funk Trek are examples of popular local blues artists. Their predecessors Electric Soul Method and Polydypsia helped set the stage for this music to grow in Omaha.
From the 1920s through the early 1960s North Omaha boasted a vibrant entertainment district featuring African American music. The main artery of North 24th Street was the heart of the city's African-American cultural and business community with a thriving jazz and rhythm and blues scene that attracted top-flight swing, blues and jazz bands from across the country.
An important venue was the storied Dreamland Ballroom, which was opened in the Jewell Building in 1923 at 24th and Grant Streets in the Near North Side neighborhood. Dreamland hosted some of the greatest jazz, blues, and swing performers, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, and the original Nat King Cole Trio. Whitney Young spoke there as well. [4] Other venues included Jim Bell's Harlem, opened in 1935 on Lake Street, west of 24th; McGill's Blue Room, located at 24th and Lake, and Allen's Showcase Lounge, which was located at 24th and Lake. Due to racial segregation, musicians such as Cab Calloway stayed at Myrtle Washington's at 22nd and Willis while others stayed at Charlie Trimble's at 22nd and Seward. The intersection of 24th and Lake was the setting of the Big Joe Williams song "Omaha Blues".
North Omaha used to be a hub for black jazz musicians, 'the triple-A league' where national bands would go to find a player to fill out their ensemble. - Preston Love [5]
Blues singer Wynonie Harris was born and raised in Omaha. Early North Omaha bands included Lewis' Excelsior Brass Band, Dan Desdunes Band, Simon Harrold's Melody Boys, the Sam Turner Orchestra, the Ted Adams Orchestra, the Omaha Night Owls, Red Perkins and His Original Dixie Ramblers, and the Lloyd Hunter Band who became the first Omaha band to record in 1931. A Lloyd Hunter concert poster can be seen on display at the Community Center in nearby Mineola, Iowa. [6]
North Omaha's musical culture also birthed several nationally and internationally reputable African American musicians. Preston Love and drummer Buddy Miles were friends while growing up. They collaborated throughout their lives, and while they were playing with the greatest names in rock and roll, jazz, R&B, and funk. Big Joe Williams and funk band leader Lester Abrams are also from North Omaha. Omaha-born Wynonie Harris, one of the founders of rock and roll, got his start at the North Omaha clubs and for a time lived in the now-demolished Logan Fontennelle projects at 2213 Charles Street. [7]
One of Omaha's most famous exports is the influential surf band The Chevrons, who were voted Omaha's most popular band in 1966. Other 1960s bands include The Echos, 7 Legends, Velvet Haze, Little Denny Wonder, Freedom Road and The Beautiful People.
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The earliest rock and roll band from Fremont, Nebraska was The Nomads, followed by The Sneakers, The Fugitives, The Invaders, The Brakmen and The Coachmen. The long-running popular Haywood-Wakefield Band is maybe the region's most influential. Doug Campbell from Lincoln, Little Joe & the Ramrods, The Smoke Ring, Don Sohl & the Roadrunners and Ron Thompson & the Broughams were also influential.
Lincoln has had a thriving music scene since the 1950s. Lincoln's Zager and Evans hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks with their song In the Year 2525 from 1969. Zager and Evans met at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Starting in the late 1970s, with the coming of the punk movement there has been and remains an explosion in rock bands on the Lincoln scene. In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, many notable bands like 13 Nightmares, Leafy Green Things, The Gladstones, The New Brass Guns, For Against, The Millions, Charlie Burton, Sideshow, 2 Below, Matthew Sweet and Mercy Rule came from Lincoln. Current notable artists The Brigandines, The JV All*Stars, An Hobbes [8] Stonebelly, BlackDoubt, Ideal Cleaners, Straight Outta Junior High, Nick Hardt, Brimstone Howl, The Awkwords, Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal, and Eagle*Seagull. Indie record labels that originated in Lincoln include Wild Records, Caulfield Records and -ismist Recordings. The brothers A.J. Mogis and Mike Mogis also own Presto! Recording Studios which is located in Lincoln.
The Zoo Bar in Lincoln, styled around the Chicago blues clubs, brought in many popular artists from Chicago in the 1970s such as Magic Slim, Bo Diddley and Robert Cray. The venue celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. [9]
Wynonie Harris was an American blues shouter best remembered as a singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. He had fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952. Harris is attributed by many music scholars to be one of the founding fathers of rock and roll. His "Good Rocking Tonight" is mentioned at least as a precursor to rock and roll.
The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Graham Ulicny, Dapose and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst. He quit shortly after the band was formed, though the Faint continued to share a spot with Bright Eyes on Saddle Creek Records.
Desaparecidos was an American punk rock band from Omaha, Nebraska headed by singer/guitarist Conor Oberst, the frontman of indie rock band Bright Eyes.
Washington, D.C., has been home to many prominent musicians and is particularly known for the musical genres of Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, bluegrass, punk rock and its locally-developed descendants hardcore and emo, and a local funk genre called go-go. The first major musical figure from District of Columbia was John Philip Sousa, a military brass band composer. Later figures include jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Rouse, Buck Hill, Ron Holloway, Davey Yarborough, Michael A. Thomas, Butch Warren, and DeAndrey Howard; soul musicians, including Billy Stewart, The Unifics, The Moments, Ray, Goodman & Brown, Van McCoy, The Presidents, The Choice Four, Vernon Burch, guitarist Charles Pitts, and Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul.
Slowdown Virginia was an indie rock band from Omaha, Nebraska. Formed in 1993, the band recorded and released one album, Dead Space, on Lumberjack Records in 1994, the predecessor to today's Saddle Creek Records. After playing an influential role in inspiring the later formation of other Omaha bands like Bright Eyes, The Faint, and Desaparecidos with their energetic live shows and recordings, Slowdown Virginia broke up in the spring of 1995. A month after breaking up, Kasher, Maginn, and Pedersen regrouped with a new drummer to form Cursive. Omaha's mixed entertainment venue Slowdown is named in honor of the band.
Presto! Recording Studios is located in Lincoln, Nebraska, and run by brothers Mike Mogis and A.J. Mogis. The studio began in the brothers' North Platte, Nebraska basement and around 1995 moved to the basement of a Lincoln home. First known as Whoopass Recording Studio, the name was later changed to Dead Space Recording. When the brothers moved the studio to its current downtown Lincoln location, they found a vintage Presto brand vinyl recorder left behind by the studio's former occupant, from which the current name was taken.
Robb Nansel is a musician and president of Saddle Creek Records. He is also credited as a member of Commander Venus and Bright Eyes.
North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the east, as defined by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Omaha Chamber of Commerce.
Nate Walcott is an American musical composer, arranger, pianist, keyboardist, and trumpeter. He has composed the scores for several feature-length films, including 2014's The Fault in Our Stars. He is a member of the band Bright Eyes, and has played in Conor Oberst's Mystic Valley Band and with singer-songwriter M. Ward. Between 2016 and 2019, Walcott was the touring pianist and keyboard player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, during their The Getaway World Tour.
Criteria is an indie rock band from Omaha, Nebraska, formed in 2003 when ex-Cursive founding member Steve Pedersen returned to his hometown after graduating from the Duke University School of Law. He spent six months in a friend's basement where he wrote all ten songs for his new project's debut album. He recruited the help of some old friends, A.J. Mogis on bass guitar, Aaron Druery on guitar, and Mike Sweeney of Beep Beep on drums. Their first album, En Garde, was released on his previous band's label, Initial Records.
The Cog Factory, formerly located at 2224 Leavenworth Street in Omaha, Nebraska, was a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provided a punk rock music performance space for the area. The facility opened in 1994 with bands Ritual Device, Sideshow and Mousetrap. Musician Conor Oberst began making public performances there in the 1990s. Cog Factory closed permanently in January 2002.
Preston Haynes Love was an American saxophonist, bandleader, and songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska, United States, best known as a sideman for jazz and rhythm and blues artists like Count Basie and Ray Charles.
The Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame, or the OBMHoF, is a nonprofit organization founded in 2005 to celebrate, document and honour the legacy of the many top vocalists and musicians whose musical careers began in the metropolitan area of Omaha, Nebraska. It has a particular focus on African American music from North Omaha, and is committed to honoring Omaha's blues tradition from the 1920s to the present day. The OBMHoF holds induction ceremonies every two years that highlight, but are not limited to, classical, rhythm & blues, big band, jazz and gospel music.
Music in Omaha, Nebraska, has been a diverse and important influence in the culture of the city. Long a home to jazz, blues, funk and rock, today Omaha has dozens of subgenres represented, including Latin, alternative rock and hip hop. Omaha's historical music contributions include being the home of a thriving African American music scene from the 1920s. More recently, it is home to indie rock's "Omaha Sound" and the birthplace of one of pop music's most successful producers, Terry Lewis.
The culture of Omaha, Nebraska, has been partially defined by music and college sports, and by local cuisine and community theatre. The city has a long history of improving and expanding on its cultural offerings. In the 1920s, the Omaha Bee newspaper wrote, "The cultural future of Omaha seems as certain of greatness as the commercial future... The symphony orchestra, the Art institute, the Community Playhouse and other organizations are on firm foundations and Omaha is destined to be not only a bigger, but a better city, both financially and culturally." Reviewing Omaha's contemporary arts scene in 2007, the New York Times hailed the city as having "a kind of cultural awakening".
Lloyd Hunter was an American trumpeter and big band leader from North Omaha, Nebraska.
African Americans in Omaha, Nebraska, are central to the development and growth of the 43rd largest city in the United States. While population statistics show almost constantly increasing percentages of Black people living in the city since it was founded in 1854, Black people in Omaha have not been represented equitably in the city's political, social, cultural, economic or educational circumstances since. In the 2020s, the city's African American population is transforming the city's landscape through community investment, leadership and other initiatives.
Lois McMorris, also known as "Lady Mac", is a lead guitarist and vocalist from North Omaha, Nebraska.
Ladyfinger (ne) is a four-piece musical outfit from Omaha, Nebraska. The (ne) at the end of their name is a reference to the official abbreviation for their home state of Nebraska, as such the band's full name is typically pronounced as "Ladyfinger Nebraska". They were obligated to add it to their band name in order to avoid copyright issues.
