We welcome special guests The Elders! They have a brand new album, The Spirits and The Sea, and we’re turning the radio show into a listening party. We’ll play the album track by track and hear the stories behind the songs directly from the band.

The Spirits and The Sea was released digitally on August 7, and you’ll be able to grab a physical copy Labor Day weekend at Kansas City Irish Fest. The Elders headline the fest on September 6, and they’re turning their set into a massive album release show with special guests, dancers, and plenty of surprises. It should be a can’t-miss performance at one of KC’s best annual festivals.

The 24th annual KC Irish Fest is September 4, 5, and 6 around Crown Center and parking at Crown Center is FREE for the fest. You can find the full lineup, schedule, festival info, and tickets at KCIrishFest.com.

We’ll also find out about The Elders’ own KC Irish Fest traditions, their go-to food and drink stops, and who they’re most excited to see on this year’s lineup.
And we’ll talk about and perhaps hear some music from other acts playing the fest, Gaelic Storm, Ally the Piper, Gardiner Brothers, and BIIRD.

Have you heard of BIIRD?

 
It’s a large band of Irish women challenging and reshaping traditional perceptions of women in Irish music, and their road to KC Irish Fest is pretty incredible.

BIIRD recently recorded an album at Ed Sheeran’s personal studio and are currently opening for him in football stadiums. They’ll play MetLife Stadium in New Jersey with Ed Sheeran on September 4 and 5, then hop on a flight the morning of September 6, head to Kansas City, and take the stage at KC Irish Fest that evening, right before The Elders.
So yeah…we’ve got plenty to talk about.

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We’ll dive into a few things. It is Election Day so we’ll kick off the show with the amazing song, "Get On The Bus" from Una and Bob Walkenhorst about getting out and doing your civic duty today. It’s from their 2018 album, For Tomorrow, that was as voted on by Bridge listeners as their favorite album of the year, when it came out back in 2018.

We’ll take a moment to give thanks and look back on the Irish troubadour, Glen Hansard’s tour history through Kansas City with The Frames, The Swell Season, and otherwise. Glen loved this station and he loved Jon Hart, personally giving him accolades from the stage during a show years ago.

After that we’ll see where we are and dive into a stack of new releases. We’ll hear brand new music from Brent Windler, Flora from Kansas, Of a Feather, Markcus Sanders, Jacquelyn Michele, and The DeLazers.

We’ll also hear music from the 10-years in the making, the debut release from Copper Threading who are playing a free show on Wednesday at Boulevard Beer Hall and this Saturday you can see them at Independence Roots Music Fest. We’ll also hear a new one from Danny McGaw who is part of the lineup for Kansas City Irish Fest next month, and has gigs at Buffalo State Pizza in The Crossroads on Aug 21 and Strang Hall on Aug 29. And we’ll hear a remix version of a Kat King song, you can catch her and her band on Thursday at The Greenwood Social Hall.

We’ll dive into a few things. It is Election Day so we’ll kick off the show with the amazing song, "Get On The Bus" from Una and Bob Walkenhorst about getting out and doing your civic duty today. It’s from their 2018 album, For Tomorrow, that was as voted on by Bridge listeners as their favorite album of the year, when it came out back in 2018.

We’ll take a moment to give thanks and look back on the Irish troubadour, Glen Hansard’s tour history through Kansas City with The Frames, The Swell Season, and otherwise. Glen loved this station and he loved Jon Hart, personally giving him accolades from the stage during a show years ago.

After that we’ll see where we are and dive into a stack of new releases. We’ll hear brand new music from Brent Windler, Flora from Kansas, Of a Feather, Markcus Sanders, Jacquelyn Michele, and The DeLazers.

We’ll also hear music from the 10-years in the making, the debut release from Copper Threading who are playing a free show on Wednesday at Boulevard Beer Hall and this Saturday you can see them at Independence Roots Music Fest. We’ll also hear a new one from Danny McGaw who is part of the lineup for Kansas City Irish Fest next month, and has gigs at Buffalo State Pizza in The Crossroads on Aug 21 and Strang Hall on Aug 29. And we’ll hear a remix version of a Kat King song, you can catch her and her band on Thursday at The Greenwood Social Hall.

We celebrate the 2026 AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival. We welcome in special guest Enrique Chi or the band Making Movies. Years ago Making Movies created a non-profit organization, Art As Mentorship. From that journey, Kansas City was gifted a new community fest that is a celebration of the myriad backgrounds, cultures, languages, and sounds that have shaped American music.

The annual event is happening this Saturday at Concourse Park, it’s free, all-ages, family-friendly, and features an amazing lineup of bands and musicians. On the show we’ll hear music from several acts on the lineup including Making Movies, Radkey, Gina Chavez, Rosie Flores, The Freedom Threedom, and Teri Quinn.

Enrique will share with us stories of the fest, how this year’s lineup came together, and why you should come out this Saturday and be part of this powerful celebration.
 

We're playing catch up and working our way through stacks of NEW music. This week, half of the songs are from acts that we've just discovered!

Tune in and you'll hear music from these acts that we've never featured on the show before, including Akilliz, Naomi Rose, Woodridge, Citizens of The Earth, Death By Science Fiction, and Jacquelyn Michele.

We'll also hear from these acts returning to our airwaves, Run With It, Saadia Siddiqua, Malek Azrael, Jillian Riscoe, and Paul Jesse.

Also this week on the show, Misti Mundae will join us. We'll talk about the torrent of free concert tickets that she's giving away on The Bridge's site, there are 17 contests up right now!

We’ll dive into a stack of new releases from KC acts and beyond. We’ll continue celebrating The World Cup with some international collabs with KC acts, including Jamogi with Cadz from Colombia and Duncan Burnett with Raka Dun from Panama. Also, we’ll hear one from a musician from Perth Australia, who now calls KC home, Tamsyn Crombie.

We’ll also hear new music from these acts with upcoming gigs:

• The Roseline, July 24 at Hillsiders

• Kate Cosentino, August 14 at recordBar

• Lily B Moonflower, with MoonShroom on August 28 at Knuckleheads

• Lucas Parker, playing with Jessica Paige on Sept 26 at Camp Leavenworth in support of Better Than Ezra

And we’ll also hear new selections from IVORY BLUE, BROTHER, oldnothing, and Bahroot.

We sit down with special guests, TheBabeGabe and Paris Williams. They've been busy getting ready to play Kansas City World Cup 2026 FIFA Fan Fest this Saturday, July 11 as TheBabeGabe x Seven Rings.

 
Also, TheBabeGabe just released a new EP, Love Language, we'll talk with her about it and hear songs from it. And Paris Williams recently had a song featured on the massive HBO show, Euphoria, we'll talk about the roller coaster about getting song placement in shows and movies.

 
In addition to music from their catalogs, we'll hear music from their mates: TyFaizon, Monogram, MitchMakeBeat, MuN, The Human, and we'll hear one from Tech N9ne, who they're opening up for at Fan Fest, followed by The All-American Rejects.

We’ll dive into a stack of new releases from Kansas City musicians and bands.

Up first we’ll hear music from Elias Abid, he’s French-Algerian and Irish-American living in Lawrence, KS. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Lawrence is hosting the Algerian national football team, The Desert Warriors and the story has been shared countless times around the world. Elias Abid has a brand new single and he’ll be part of a World Cup Watch Party for the Algeria vs Switzerland match on Thursday, July 2 at In The Lowest Ferns in The West Bottoms.

A programming note, this week on 90.9 The Bridge, from Wednesday through Saturday, we’ll be counting down your Top 909 Cover Songs of All Time. To help kick off that fanfare, we’ll hear two brand new cover songs from KC acts: Chris Hazelton's take on a Huey Lewis & The News tune and a surprising take from Honeybee of Puddle of Mudd’s biggest hit.

And then we’ll hear new and recent releases from these folks: Birds of Prey, Heath Church, Dia Jane & Jo MacKenzie, The Royal Firecrackers, and Magentah & OkCasheyy. And we’ll also play a new song from Field$, who is part of the lineup for Dancefestopia in September.