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 .
Omaha
Artists on the label
Saddle Creek Records
Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over hi ...
in Omaha, such as
Bright Eyes,
The Faint
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 (of Bright Eyes, with whom T ...
, and
Cursive, are nationally renowned . The formation of the sound occurred in the mid-1990s with
Commander Venus
Commander Venus was an American emo band from Omaha, Nebraska. Fronted by Conor Oberst and Tim Kasher, the band also included Todd Fink and Matt Bowen of The Faint, Ben Armstrong of Head of Femur and Robb Nansel, executive producer of the i ...
, Frontier Trust, Weak, and Matchbook Shannon, and clubs such as the
Cog Factory
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, Sidesh ...
, and
Sokol Music Hall. The 2000s saw a rise in popularity of
Saddle Creek Records
Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over hi ...
. The label went on to build a music venue called
Slowdown
A slowdown ( UK: go-slow) is an industrial action in which employees perform their duties but seek to reduce productivity or efficiency in their performance of these duties. A slowdown may be used as either a prelude or an alternative to a stri ...
.
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
Tilly and the Wall was an indie pop group from Omaha, Nebraska. Their name originated from a children's book called ''Tillie and the Wall'', written by Leo Lionni. They are particularly noted for having a tap dancer, Jamie Pressnall, provide pe ...
,
Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley ( ) was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Dave Rock.
The group released their debut album ''Take-Offs and Landings' ...
,
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 . 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
Michael James Murphy (born 20 October 1941) is an Irish broadcaster, actor and property developer. He is best known for his long broadcasting career with RTÉ, presenting many TV shows such as ''The Live Mike'', '' Winning Streak'' and '' The Bi ...
,
Kevin Quinn, and electronic artists
Peter None and
Chip Davis
Louis F. "Chip" Davis Jr. (born September 5, 1947 in Hamler, Ohio) is the founder and leader of the music group Mannheim Steamroller. Davis composed the music for several C. W. McCall albums, including the hit 1975 song "Convoy". He has also wri ...
.
Notable jazz musicians include jazz guitarist
Dave Stryker
Dave Stryker (born March 30, 1957) is an American jazz guitarist. He has recorded over twenty-five albums as a leader and has been a featured sideman with Stanley Turrentine, Jack McDuff, and Kevin Mahogany.
Career
Stryker grew up in Omaha, Nebr ...
and drummer
Victor Lewis
Victor Lewis (born May 20, 1950) is an American jazz drummer, composer, and educator.
Early life
Victor Lewis was born on May 20, 1950 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Richard Lewis, who played saxophone and mother, Camille, a pianist-vocalist ...
.
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
Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...
band
Cellador
Cellador is an American power metal band based in Denver, Colorado. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, the band was founded in 2003 by Chris Petersen, the band's primary songwriter, as a direct contrast to the overcrowded metalcore and death me ...
hails from Omaha. It also draws many other heavy musical acts, including many
Screamo
Screamo (also referred to as skramz) is an aggressive subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics".Jason Heller, "Feast of Reason". ''Denver Westword'', June 20, 2002Access date: ...
artists, including
Eyes of Verotika
Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...
,
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
Funk Trek is a funk/jazz fusion band formed in 2008 in Omaha, Nebraska by cousins Tom Murnan and Daniel Pflug, with guitarist and friend Andrew Wahl. Funk Trek has released three studio albums, the most recent being "Quencher" released on July 10, ...
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.
North Omaha
From the 1920s through the early 1960s North Omaha boasted a vibrant entertainment district featuring
African American music
African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Their origins are in musical forms that first came to be due to the condition of slavery ...
. 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
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
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
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
,
Louis Armstrong,
Lionel Hampton, and the original
Nat King Cole Trio
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
.
Whitney Young
Whitney Moore Young Jr. (July 31, 1921 – March 11, 1971) was an American civil rights leader. Trained as a social worker, he spent most of his career working to end employment discrimination in the United States and turning the National Urban ...
spoke there as well. 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
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
, 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".
Notable North Omaha musicians
Blues singer
Wynonie Harris
Wynonie Harris (August 24, 1915 – June 14, 1969) was an American blues shouter and rhythm-and-blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. He had fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952. Harris is attributed by ...
was born and raised in Omaha. Early
North Omaha
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 ...
bands included
Lewis' Excelsior Brass Band,
Dan Desdunes
Daniel F. Desdunes (c. 1870 – April 24, 1929) was a civil rights activist and musician in New Orleans and Omaha, Nebraska.
Descended from a family of people of color free before the Civil War, in 1892 he volunteered to board a train car des ...
Band, Simon Harrold's Melody Boys, the Sam Turner Orchestra, the Ted Adams Orchestra, the Omaha Night Owls,
Red Perkins
Frank Shelton "Red" Perkins (December 26, 1890 – September 27, 1976) was an American jazz trumpet player, singer, and bandleader. Perkins led of one of the oldest Omaha, Nebraska-based jazz territory bands, The Dixie Ramblers, and saw his gr ...
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.
North Omaha's musical culture also birthed several nationally and internationally reputable African American musicians.
Preston Love
Preston Haynes Love (April 26, 1921 – February 12, 2004) 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 Char ...
and drummer
Buddy Miles
George Allen "Buddy" Miles Jr. (September 5, 1947February 26, 2008) was an American composer, drummer, guitarist, vocalist and producer. He was a founding member of the Electric Flag (1967), a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys (1969–197 ...
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.
Surf
One of Omaha's most famous exports is the influential
surf band
The Chevrons
The Chevrons were a United States pop group who recorded the hit record "Lullabye" in 1960. The band featured lead singer Terry Cashman, best known for his baseball songs, notably " Talkin' Baseball", then known by his born name, Dennis Minogue. ...
, 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
''Freedom Road'' was a 1979 American TV historical drama mini-series starring boxer Muhammad Ali and Kris Kristofferson, based on the 1944 novel by Howard Fast and directed by Jan Kadar. Running for four hours, it was first broadcast on NBC on ...
and
The Beautiful People.
Other places
Fremont
The earliest
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...
band from
Fremont, Nebraska
Fremont is a city and county seat of Dodge County in the eastern portion of the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. The population was 27,141 at the 2020 census. Fremont is the home of Midland University.
History
From the 1830 ...
was The Nomads, followed by
The Sneakers,
The Fugitives,
The Invaders
''The Invaders'' is an American science-fiction television series created by Larry Cohen that aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1967 to 1968. Roy Thinnes stars as David Vincent, who after stumbling across evidence of an in-progress invas ...
,
The Brakmen and The Coachmen. The long-running popular Haywood-Wakefield Band is maybe the region's most influential.
Doug Campbell from
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
,
Little Joe & the Ramrods,
The Smoke Ring,
Don Sohl & the Roadrunners and
Ron Thompson & the Broughams were also influential.
Lincoln
Lincoln has had a thriving music scene since the 1950s. Lincoln's
Zager and Evans Zager may refer to:
* Bruce B. Zager (born 1952), American justice of the Iowa Supreme Court
* Michael Zager (born 1943), American record producer
*Zager, Iran, a village in Ardabil Province, Iran
See also
* Bert Zagers
Bert Aldon Zagers (Janua ...
hit #1 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for six weeks with their song ''
In the Year 2525
"In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)" is a 1969 hit song by the American pop-rock duo of Zager and Evans. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for six weeks commencing July 12, 1969. It peaked at number one in the UK Singles Cha ...
'' from 1969. Zager and Evans met at
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) is a private Methodist-affiliated university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was founded in 1887 by Nebraska Methodists. As of 2017, it has approximately 2,100 students including 1,500 full-time students and 300 ...
. 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 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
-ismist Recordings was a Lincoln, Nebraska-based independent record label founded in 1992 by Dan Schlissel. Over the 1990s, -ismist released nearly 80 albums and singles by bands including Killdozer, Season to Risk, and House of Large Sizes. It ...
. The brothers
A.J. Mogis and
Mike Mogis
Michael Riley Mogis (born May 16, 1974) is an American producer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist who, along with his brother A.J. Mogis, founded Presto! Recording Studios (previously known as Dead Space Recording and, earlier, Whoopass Recor ...
also own
Presto! Recording Studios
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 W ...
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
Morris Holt (August 7, 1937 – February 21, 2013), known as Magic Slim, was an American blues singer and guitarist. Born at Torrance, near Grenada, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers, he followed blues greats such as Muddy Waters and How ...
,
Bo Diddley
Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, inc ...
and
Robert Cray
Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards.
Early life
Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was statione ...
. The venue celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023
.
See also
*
Arapaho music
*
Culture of Omaha, Nebraska
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'' n ...
*
Indigenous music of North America#Plains
Notes
References
*
Blush, Steven (2001). ''
American Hardcore: A Tribal History''. Los Angeles, CA:
Feral House. .
External links
Starcityscene.com: Online zine covering the Lincoln music scene.1% ProductionsLazy-i: Online indie music 'zine/blog with a special emphasis on the Omaha area.SLAM OmahaKnickerbockers- venue in Lincoln, Nebraska
The Bourbon Theatre- venue in Lincoln, Nebraska
{{DEFAULTSORT:Music Of Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
Nebraska culture