All the Rage

Blues/Soul

D.C. Bellamy

D.C. Bellamy is a master of the Stratocaster. His solos are crisp and succinct, and his tone is as warm as a summer night. But even if he didn't know from an E7 chord, the man's soulful voice would ensure a career in the blues. The Chicago native's entrancing baritone is the highlight of his latest release, 2006's Give Some Body to Somebody, a sly but passionate record on which Bellamy growls, croons and all-out yells the blues as though it's his last night on Earth. There are singers, and then there are those who belt it like Bellamy. dcbellamy.com

Ida McBeth

If you've been to a Kansas City jazz bar, you've either seen Ida McBeth or just missed her. The soul master has been a fixture at musical landmarks from Jardine's to 18th and Vine for decades. She has also taken her KCK roots to big stages, shaking up the Smithsonian and singing the national anthem for Al Gore's presidential nomination at the 2000 Democratic National Convention. Haven't seen her? Suppose you've never eaten barbecue, either. idamcbeth.com

Lee McBee and the Confessors

Sure, harp hotshot Lee McBee has been around the block a few times, but that doesn't stop him from coming back to Kansas City — and that's certainly a good thing. Besides holding down a Sunday evening residency at B.B.'s Lawnside BBQ, McBee and the equally badass Confessors have been in the studio laying down some of their gritty electric blues for an as-yet-untitled album slated for a late '07 release. These house rockers are one of the best bets in town for searing blues the way it's meant to be played.

Levee Town

Kansas City's busiest blues band swings with one foot in the electric Chicago camp and the other stuck down in the swampy sounds of the Mississippi Delta. Led by sure-handed guitarist Brandon Hudspeth and harmonica ace Jimmie Meade, Levee Town makes mincemeat of Spam-variety blues acts. This year found the band reppin' KC at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, where it shared a song with Muddy Waters sideman Bob Margolin. leveetown.com

Trampled Under Foot

Family acts can often fall into novelty territory, but not when they get as lowdown as the Schnebelen sibs. Brothers Nick and Kris and sultry-voiced sis Danielle were born into the blues. This year, their band, Trampled Under Foot, presented a documentary DVD titled Behind the Blues that's chock-full of live footage as well as insight into the band's beginnings. Between that and playing an exhausting number of gigs in the last year, the trio is on its way to the top of the KC blues scene. tufkc.com

Country/Bluegrass

The Gaslights

In the past year, the Gaslights' two-man rhythm section (Jon Stubblefield and Quentin Phipps, formerly of the Bad Ideas) came and went, the band's van got totaled by a moose in Montana, and its drummer (Glen Hockemeier) had carpal tunnel surgery. The shake-ups scotched a CD release but didn't thwart a two-week European tour. The Gaslights can endure just about anything with Chris Meck's old Nashville licks and singer Abigail Henderson's bronc-busting delivery, which is the vocal love child of Rosanne Cash and Ani DiFranco. thegaslights.com

Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys

It's hard to imagine a Kansas City band that's more of an institution than Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys. The local kings of honky-tonk will celebrate their 10th anniversary this December, and it should hardly be an epilogue to the band's unlikely story (Rex's alter ego, Scott Hobart, also fronts the tunefully abrasive Giant's Chair). The band settled into a weekly Tuesday gig at the Record Bar this year, playing vintage country covers that fit comfortably alongside its leader's own remarkable catalog of barnburners and tearjerkers. rexhobart.com

Split Lip Rayfield

Following the death of frontman Kirk Rundstrom last winter from esophageal cancer, the bluegrass renegades of Split Lip Rayfield honored their friend with silence. Luckily for fans, they're now gearing up to honor him with what he loved — blistering music. The band ends its hiatus with a show at the Crossroads at Grinders in August and a gig a month later at the site of its 2006 DVD shoot, the Cotillion in Wichita. Rundstrom will always be missed, but SLR lives on. splitliprayfield.com

Truckstop Honeymoon

Everybody knows how Truckstop Honeymoon, a married couple with a penchant for mean pickin', escaped a thrashing by Hurricane Katrina with nothing but a few instruments and their kids. What people forget is that Mike West and Kate Euliss aren't just survivors — they're savvy country-music aces whose work twangs with Johnny Cash thunder and folksy love ballads. truckstophoneymoon.com

The Wilders

With a nonstop summer schedule that includes Brooklyn, Scotland and Winfield, Kansas, the Wilders might book more gigs than any band in town. That's what comes from cornering the market on pure, old-time country music. With pristine layers of fiddle, guitar, banjo and bass, the band doesn't just offer music — it offers time travel. Even the Wilders' original music seems too old to be new. These folks are the gatekeepers of true Americana. wilderscountry.com