Music of Omaha
Encyclopedia
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 sub-genres 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.
. Opening in 1923, it became the premier nightclub
for big bands and jazz
in Omaha. James Jewell, Jr. booked the original Nat King Cole Trio for $25 a person for one show. Other performances included Dinah Washington
, Earl Hines
, Duke Ellington
, Count Basie
, Louis Armstrong
and Lionel Hampton
. Dreamland closed in the 1960s. Today the renovated Jewell Building is used for offices and apartments.
Although Sokol Auditorium
and its sister space Sokol Underground
have been a concert hot spot for many years, the city has recently seen a rise in other indie music
venues. These newer venues include The Waiting Room (created by One Percent Productions, an Omaha-based booking company), Rock'N'Jocks (formerly the Rock), and The Mosaic. There are numerous other smaller venues and coffee shops that offer nightly performances. The recently opened Slowdown complex, located near the Qwest Center, is a Saddle Creek-generated complex of a music venue, shops (such as Urban Outfitters
), restaurants, and apartments.
Recent developments in the Omaha music scene include the closing of the Cog Factory
, The 49'r Lounge, and the Ranch Bowl, two prominent venues that helped launch the current Omaha music scene. Two new developments are Slowdown
, a new recording space for Saddle Creek Records
located on the edge of downtown Omaha, and One Percent Productions' venue, The Waiting Room Lounge. In addition to The Waiting Room Lounge, the Benson area features prominent venues, including The Barley Street Tavern, reputed to be the bar with the best acoustics for live music in Omaha due to its 'double barrel' layout. Also, the Omaha Blues, Jazz, & Gospel Festival
and the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame
both celebrate African American music
in Omaha. In 2009, the nonprofit MAHA Music Festival
featuring rock music was held along Omaha's riverfront, which has become an annual summer event. In July 2011, the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority will host more than 50 bands for the first annual Red Sky Music Festival
at TD Ameritrade Park.
neighborhood 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.
The most 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. 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".
's Serenaders 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
. Nat Towles
was a renowned territory band
leader based in Omaha. The National Orchestra Service
was an important company based in Omaha that managed white, black and integrated territorial bands
.
North Omaha's musical culture also birthed several nationally and internationally reputable African American musicians. International Jazz
legend Preston Love
, and influential drummer Buddy Miles
were all friends while they grew up and played together. They collaborated throughout their lives, and while they were playing with the greatest names in Rock and Roll, Jazz, R&B and Fund. Funk band leader Lester Abrams
is 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 Fontenelle Housing Project
s at 2213 Charles Street.
One of Omaha's most notable musicians of the 1940s was Anna Mae Winburn
. As the leader of North Omaha's Cotton Club Boys
, which included the amazing guitarist Charlie Christian
, Winburn traveled the local region as a typical territorial band. However, upon the advice of Jimmie Jewell, owner of the Jewel Building, Winburn left Omaha and hit the "big time" with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm
.
Another notable artist was Lalomie (Lomie) Washburn. Born in North Omaha, she went on to write songs and sing backup with such legends as Chaka Khan
, Rufus
, Stevie Wonder
and Aretha Franklin
. She signed with the Parachute label in 1977, where she released her first album "My Music is Hot". She went on to launch a solo career, which drew a large following in Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1992 she released several 12" singles, and in 1997 a second (self titled) solo album. She came back to Omaha to do a small tour when in her mid seventies. She died on 18 Sept 2004 in Los Angeles. In 2005 she was inducted into the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame
.
producer Terry Lewis was born in Omaha in 1956. The second half of one of the most successful production teams in the history of recorded music, Lewis contributed to the success of a variety of modern stars, including Janet Jackson
.
have contributed greatly to the history of music in Omaha, they continue to impress black culture upon the city and the country as a whole. Other artists from Omaha's modern African American music
scene include Thomas Wilkins
, current director of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra
, and Lois "Lady Mac" McMorris
, a lead guitarst and vocalist.
scene. For a long period of time, the scene was defined by North High School
graduate Houston Alexander
, aka Scrib or FAS/ONE. In the 1980s he led a hip hop movement in North Omaha called the Scribble Crew as an alliance of graffiti writers who developed a reputation as the top tag
artists in the area. The art stands today at 24th and Binney Streets, to 16th and Corby Streets, and other North Omaha locations, and is still respected by the community. His Midwest Alliance act was active through the 1990s and into the new millennium, and is seen as influential on the Omaha scene. Today Alexander is a DJ on a local radio station in Omaha that hosts an independent music show featuring hip hop, and he facilitates an elementary school program that teaches students about hip hop called the "Culture Shock School Tour". Alexander has also been vocal about Omaha's lack of support for its hip hop artists.
OTR Entertainment, also under the alias of OTR Familia or OTR Fam, specializing in Latin hip hop with offices in South Omaha, NE and Chicago
, features a variety of artists on their label, including Xpreshin aka XP Brigante, OMC
, and Mix Of Combinations aka MOC. Currently with three projects on their resume, Xpreshin and Prominence 'The Commencement', OMC's 'It Is What It Is' and 'It Takes What It Took' and MOC with OTR Afta School's 'The Cirriculum'. OTR Entertainment has had artists open up for acts such as Latin sensation bachata group Aventura, Kumbia Kings, Krazy Race, and Pitbull. OTR Entertainment has also had artists that have collaborated with heavy hitters Krazy Race, underground hip hop legend from California and Armageddon
, former member of Fat Joe
's Terror Squad and executive producer of Fat Joe's J.O.S.E album. Jerry Wade, aka DJ Kamikaze, was first a member of Omaha's Posse-N-Effect. Their first show was in 1989 in Miller Park
in North Omaha. Pigeon John
, an increasingly popular Christian rapper, is originally from Omaha. Cerone Thompson, known as Scrybe, has had a number one single on college radio stations across the United States. He has also had several number one hits on the local hip hop station respectively titled, "Lose Control" and "Do What U Do".
Mars Black, perhaps the Omaha rapper with the most national exposure, has released an album on New York City's Team Love Records label. However, in a review of the Mars Black album Folks Music, one reviewer noted that Mars describes the Omaha hip-hop scene as "almost non-existent". Continuing about the album, the reviewer writes, "It's only in such a desolate music environment that his pitiful flow, painfully corny emo-rhymes, and insulting bling-boasts could exist."
Original 5 Productions was founded in 2001 by Tomas Contreras in Omaha, NE. This cutting edge label’s sole purpose is to break into the mainstream music industry while keeping its roots firmly planted in the Midwest. The label has had two major releases in its short existence; its very own CEO's Tomas Contreras’ release of “Reborn In Tha Mind” (available at all Homers Record stores) under the alias Tomas C and “The Eclipse is Season…The World is Ours” (also available at all Homers Record Stores) a group effort including 3 members: Tomas C, Durrtee Davinci and Big Purp aka Dj Poppa Lock under the name Tha Originators. Original 5 Productions latest release is Tomas C’s sophomore album “The Resurrection of Killer Cortez EP” released June 2011. The album was well received containing legitimate lyrical content mixed with political and” good time” lyrics. With many shows under its belt and a strong underground movement, this label’s rise will continue all the way until superstardom and national notoriety is achieved.
Other recently released artists include Afta Lyfe on Straight Ball'n Records, Cornbread on Outta Bounds Records, and Toot on Utopia Entertainment. Articulate, ShYnE, Dark Reign, Ice Money, D' Cypher, Crazze C, Ty-G & Drew Beatz, H.O.B Records, Papillion X, DavieBoi, Buck Bowen, Eddie Winston, Block Movement with Stylo and Latin Threat, Guerrilla X, Dubbsixx, Prophecy, The Galantz, Murder Game, Ellmatiq P-tro, Rush-1, Conchance, Black Jonny Quest, D-Lo, Saint Patrick, Ramm, Jamazz, and Surreal The MC of Noizewave Tomas C of Original 5 Productions Purp Nasty of Original 5 Productions Galvanized Tron (J.Stephens Music) are some of Omaha's most frequent live hip-hop performers.
Today many hip hop shows are held at the Sokol Auditorium
in Omaha's Little Bohemia
, as well as The Clabourne, Formally Cleopatra's on Ames Street.
band The Chevrons, who were voted Omaha's most popular band in 1966. Other 1960s surf and rock bands from Omaha include The Echos, 7 Legends, Velvet Haze, Little Denny Wonder, Freedom Road and The Beautiful People.
, lead singer and songwriter of the 1970s punk
group The Tubes
, was born in Omaha in 1950. His band was a predecessor to Omaha's indie scene.
Indie rock
bands on the Saddle Creek
record label out of Omaha, Nebraska, include notable artists such as Bright Eyes, The Faint
, and Cursive
. These bands are playing a significant role in the current national rock scene. The formation of the sound occurred in the mid-1990s with Commander Venus
, Frontier Trust, Ritual Device, Clever, Twitch, Steve Walton and The Flash Action Band, Mouse Trap, Solid Jackson, and clubs such as the Cog Factory
, and Sokol Music Hall. Many people involved in these bands and venues are currently involved with Saddle Creek.
Other related aspects of the Omaha indie music include various alternative bands. The alternative music scene has produced such popular artists as 311
, Grasshopper Takeover
, The Seen, The Good Life
, Civicminded, Criteria
, A Moment Lost, Joe Galaxy, Ladyfinger (ne), Icares, Go Crash Audio, and Tilly and the Wall
. Omaha has been a temporary home base of Midwest bands such as Rilo Kiley
and Azure Ray
.
Tim McMahan's Lazy-i, the Omaha World-Herald, HearNebraska.org, Omahype.com, the Worlds of Wayne podcast, and SLAM (Support Local Art & Music) Omaha and The Reader alt-weekly are among the main media outlets promoting the Omaha music scene.
Other mainstays of the music scene in Omaha include singer/songwriters such as Conor Oberst, Maria Taylor, Orenda Fink, Simon Joyner
, Sarah Benck
, Matt Whipkey, Chris Saub, Korey Anderson, Kris Lager, Brad Hoshaw, Tim Wildsmith, and Mitch Gettman.
An integral part of the Nebraska music scene are the two Omaha-based record labels; Saddle Creek Records
and Team Love Records. Saddle Creek Records
was founded in 1993 by Conor Oberst
and Justin Oberst. Mike Mogis
and Robb Nansel
later opened Slowdown
, a music venue in NoDo
. Conor Oberst
's Team Love Records was founded in 2004. Other significant music venues currently include The Waiting Room Lounge, The Sydney, The Barley Street Tavern, O'Leaver's Pub, Sokol Underground, The Hideout, the P.S. Collective, The Hole, The Sandbox, and Barfly.
was the lead vocalist and organist in the late 60's band Iron Butterfly
. 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 Narcotic Self, Analog, Paria
, System Failure, I Am Legend and Venaculas
. It also draws many other heavy musical acts, strongly of the Screamo
genre (including bands Sutter Cane, Caught in the Fall, after*forever, & Robots Don't Cry). Other notable local groups include Back When, Father
, Hercules, and Bloodcow
. Also a notable act that toured the midwest is Social Outcast, led by local Omaha singer-songwriter
Joshua Harris.
, country western and modern country artists, including lead singer Jolie Edwards of Jolie & the Wanted
.
, Funk Trek and Anchondo head up the music in this genre. Popular bands of the past in this area include The Confidentials, Strange Pleasures, Electric Soul Method, The Kind, and The Jazzwholes.
Omaha
Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
has been a diverse and important influence in the culture of the city. Long a home to jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, today Omaha has dozens of sub-genres represented, including Latin, alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
and hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
. Omaha's historical music contributions include being the home of a thriving African American music
African American music
African-American music is an umbrella term given to a range of musics and musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, who have long constituted a large and significant ethnic minority of the population of the United States...
scene from the 1920s. More recently, it is home to indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
's "Omaha Sound" and the birthplace of one of pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
's most successful producers, Terry Lewis.
Institutions and venues
The Dreamland Ballroom was located at 2221-2225 North 24th Street in North Omaha on the second floor of the Jewell BuildingJewell Building
The Jewell Building is a city landmark in North Omaha, Nebraska. Built in 1923, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Located at 2221 North 24th Street, the building was home to the Dreamland Ballroom for more than 40 years, and featured performances by many jazz and blues...
. Opening in 1923, it became the premier nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
for big bands and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
in Omaha. James Jewell, Jr. booked the original Nat King Cole Trio for $25 a person for one show. Other performances included Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...
, Earl Hines
Earl Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
and Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
. Dreamland closed in the 1960s. Today the renovated Jewell Building is used for offices and apartments.
Although Sokol Auditorium
Sokol Auditorium
The Sokol Auditorium is located at 2234 South 13th Street in the Little Bohemia neighborhood of south Omaha, Nebraska. It is a local icon for its historical context, as well as modern musical performances and gymnastics....
and its sister space Sokol Underground
Sokol Auditorium
The Sokol Auditorium is located at 2234 South 13th Street in the Little Bohemia neighborhood of south Omaha, Nebraska. It is a local icon for its historical context, as well as modern musical performances and gymnastics....
have been a concert hot spot for many years, the city has recently seen a rise in other indie music
Indie (music)
In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
venues. These newer venues include The Waiting Room (created by One Percent Productions, an Omaha-based booking company), Rock'N'Jocks (formerly the Rock), and The Mosaic. There are numerous other smaller venues and coffee shops that offer nightly performances. The recently opened Slowdown complex, located near the Qwest Center, is a Saddle Creek-generated complex of a music venue, shops (such as Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters, Inc. is a publicly traded American company that owns and operates five retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN....
), restaurants, and apartments.
Recent developments in the Omaha music scene include the closing of the Cog Factory
Cog Factory
The Cog Factory, formerly located at 2224 Leavenworth Street in Omaha, Nebraska, was a 501 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...
, The 49'r Lounge, and the Ranch Bowl, two prominent venues that helped launch the current Omaha music scene. Two new developments are Slowdown
Slowdown (venue)
Slowdown is an entertainment venue located at 729 North 14 Street in NoDo, a new development near the Near North Side neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. A combination of a live music venue, shops, restaurants and apartments, the venue was developed by Saddle Creek Records as a direct competitor to...
, a new recording space for Saddle Creek Records
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 Conor Oberst and Justin Oberst in 1993 . Conor soon turned over his role in the company to Robb Nansel...
located on the edge of downtown Omaha, and One Percent Productions' venue, The Waiting Room Lounge. In addition to The Waiting Room Lounge, the Benson area features prominent venues, including The Barley Street Tavern, reputed to be the bar with the best acoustics for live music in Omaha due to its 'double barrel' layout. Also, the Omaha Blues, Jazz, & Gospel Festival
Omaha Blues, Jazz, & Gospel Festival
The Omaha Blues, Jazz, & Gospel Festival is an annual event of blues, jazz and gospel music that has been held at Rosenblatt Stadium in South Omaha and Fort Omaha in North Omaha, Nebraska in August...
and the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame
Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame
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...
both celebrate African American music
African American music
African-American music is an umbrella term given to a range of musics and musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, who have long constituted a large and significant ethnic minority of the population of the United States...
in Omaha. In 2009, the nonprofit MAHA Music Festival
Maha Music Festival
The MAHA Music Festival is an independent indie rock music festival held in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The festival is owned and operated by YFC, Inc., a non-profit organization.-MAHA 2011:...
featuring rock music was held along Omaha's riverfront, which has become an annual summer event. In July 2011, the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority will host more than 50 bands for the first annual Red Sky Music Festival
Red Sky Music Festival
Red Sky Music Festival is an upcoming yearly music festival held at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha's Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority plans to host more than 50 bands on three stages over six days, July 18-23. MECA's inspiration for the format of...
at TD Ameritrade Park.
History of music in Omaha
From the 1920s through the early 1960s the Near North SideNear North Side (Omaha, Nebraska)
The Near North Side of Omaha, Nebraska is the neighborhood immediately north of downtown. It forms the nucleus of the city's African-American community, and its name is often synonymous with the entire North Omaha area...
neighborhood boasted a vibrant entertainment district featuring African American music
African American music
African-American music is an umbrella term given to a range of musics and musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, who have long constituted a large and significant ethnic minority of the population of the United States...
. 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
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
bands from across the country.
The most 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
Near North Side (Omaha, Nebraska)
The Near North Side of Omaha, Nebraska is the neighborhood immediately north of downtown. It forms the nucleus of the city's African-American community, and its name is often synonymous with the entire North Omaha area...
neighborhood. Dreamland hosted some of the greatest jazz, blues, and swing performers, including Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
, and the original Nat King Cole Trio. Whitney Young
Whitney Young
Whitney Moore Young Jr. was an American civil rights leader.He spent most of his career working to end employment discrimination in the United States and turning the National Urban League from a relatively passive civil rights organization into one that aggressively fought for equitable access to...
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
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
, musicians such as Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
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
Big Joe Williams
Joseph Lee Williams , billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams, was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar...
song "Omaha Blues".
Notable North Omaha musicians
Early North Omaha bands included Dan Desdunes Band, Simon Harrold's Melody Boys, the Sam Turner Orchestra, the Ted Adams Orchestra, and the Omaha Night Owls, as well as Red Perkins and His Original Dixie Ramblers. Lloyd HunterLloyd Hunter
Lloyd Hunter was a trumpeter and big band leader from North Omaha, Nebraska. He led band across the Midwest from 1923 until his death. Hunter had also worked with Jessie Stone in Kansas City, Missouri.-Biography:...
's Serenaders 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
Mineola, Iowa
Mineola is an unincorporated village in Mills County, Iowa, United States. This community on the highlands east of Keg Creek was first established as Lewis City during construction of the Wabash Railroad. The land had previously been owned by German immigrant freighter Louis Lanz and Germans long...
. Nat Towles
Nat Towles
Nat Towles was an African American musician, jazz and big band leader popular in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, North Omaha, Nebraska and Chicago, Illinois. He was also music educator in Austin, Texas...
was a renowned territory band
Territory band
Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, 6 or 7 nights a week at venues like VFW halls, Elks Lodges,...
leader based in Omaha. The National Orchestra Service
National Orchestra Service
The National Orchestra Service, Inc. , was the most important booking and management agency for territory bands across the Great Plains and other regions from the early 1930s through 1960...
was an important company based in Omaha that managed white, black and integrated territorial bands
Territory band
Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, 6 or 7 nights a week at venues like VFW halls, Elks Lodges,...
.
North Omaha's musical culture also birthed several nationally and internationally reputable African American musicians. International Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
legend Preston Love
Preston Love
Preston Haines Love was a renowned alto saxophonist, bandleader and songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska.-Biography:Preston Love grew up in North Omaha and graduated from North High....
, and influential drummer Buddy Miles
Buddy Miles
George Allen Miles, Jr. , known as Buddy Miles, was an American rock and funk drummer, most known as a founding member of The Electric Flag in 1967, then as a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys from 1969 through to January 1970.-Early life:George Allen Miles was born in Omaha, Nebraska on...
were all friends while they grew up and played together. They collaborated throughout their lives, and while they were playing with the greatest names in Rock and Roll, Jazz, R&B and Fund. Funk band leader Lester Abrams
Lester Abrams
Lester Abrams is a singer, songwriter, musician and producer who has played with such artists as B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Peabo Bryson, Quincy Jones, Manfred Mann, Brian Auger, The Average White Band, The Doobie Brothers, Rufus and many others. Two of his co-compositions appeared on the Grammy...
is also from North Omaha. Omaha-born Wynonie Harris
Wynonie Harris
Wynonie Harris , born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. With fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952, Harris is generally considered one of rock and roll's forerunners, influencing Elvis Presley...
, one of the founders of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, got his start at the North Omaha clubs and for a time lived in the now-demolished Logan Fontenelle Housing Project
Logan Fontenelle Housing Project
The Logan Fontenelle Housing Project was a historic public housing site located from 20th to 24th Streets, and from Paul to Seward Streets in the historic Near North Side neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It was built in 1938 by the Public Works Administration for housing working...
s at 2213 Charles Street.
One of Omaha's most notable musicians of the 1940s was Anna Mae Winburn
Anna Mae Winburn
Anna Mae Winburn, née Darden was an African American vocalist and jazz bandleader who flourished beginning in the mid 1930s...
. As the leader of North Omaha's Cotton Club Boys
Cotton Club Boys
The Cotton Club Boys was a territory band based in North Omaha, Nebraska in the 1930s. It was initially fronted by Anna Mae Winburn.-About:Personnel in the swing band included a variety of players. Trumpets players included Lloyd Hunter, Park King, Willie Long and Raymond Byron. The reed section...
, which included the amazing guitarist Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian
Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...
, Winburn traveled the local region as a typical territorial band. However, upon the advice of Jimmie Jewell, owner of the Jewel Building, Winburn left Omaha and hit the "big time" with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm
International Sweethearts of Rhythm
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day...
.
Another notable artist was Lalomie (Lomie) Washburn. Born in North Omaha, she went on to write songs and sing backup with such legends as Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
, Rufus
Rufus (band)
Rufus was an American funk band from Chicago, Illinois best known for launching the career of lead singer Chaka Khan. They had several hits throughout their career, including "Tell Me Something Good," "Sweet Thing," and "Ain't Nobody."-Origins:...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
and Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
. She signed with the Parachute label in 1977, where she released her first album "My Music is Hot". She went on to launch a solo career, which drew a large following in Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1992 she released several 12" singles, and in 1997 a second (self titled) solo album. She came back to Omaha to do a small tour when in her mid seventies. She died on 18 Sept 2004 in Los Angeles. In 2005 she was inducted into the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame
Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame
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...
.
Pop music
Pop musicPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
producer Terry Lewis was born in Omaha in 1956. The second half of one of the most successful production teams in the history of recorded music, Lewis contributed to the success of a variety of modern stars, including Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
.
Modern African American music
While African AmericansAfrican Americans in Omaha, Nebraska
African Americans in Omaha, Nebraska are central to the development and growth of the 43rd largest city in the United States. The first free black settler in the city arrived in 1854, the year the city was incorporated....
have contributed greatly to the history of music in Omaha, they continue to impress black culture upon the city and the country as a whole. Other artists from Omaha's modern African American music
African American music
African-American music is an umbrella term given to a range of musics and musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, who have long constituted a large and significant ethnic minority of the population of the United States...
scene include Thomas Wilkins
Thomas Wilkins
Thomas Wilkins was a Welsh cleric and antiquarian, who collected Welsh manuscripts.-Life:His father and his grandfather were both called Thomas Wilkins; all three in turn were rectors of St Mary's Church in Glamorgan. Wilkins was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, matriculating in 1641 and...
, current director of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra
Omaha Symphony Orchestra
The Omaha Symphony Orchestra is a community-based orchestra performing numerous concerts annually in Omaha, Nebraska and throughout the region. Originally established in 1921, the orchestra has continued yearly.-About:...
, and Lois "Lady Mac" McMorris
Lois McMorris
Lois McMorris, also known as "Lady Mac", is a renowned lead guitarist and vocalist from North Omaha, Nebraska.-Music:McMorris plays lead guitar, rhythm guitar, upright bass, electric bass, and keyboards and is a drum programmer. She is also a musician, arranger, vocalist, composer, chart writer &...
, a lead guitarst and vocalist.
Hip hop
Omaha is also home to a growing underground hip hopUnderground hip hop
Underground hip hop is an umbrella term for hip hop music outside the general commercial canon. It is typically associated with independent artists, signed toindependent labels or no label at all....
scene. For a long period of time, the scene was defined by North High School
Omaha North High School
Omaha North High Magnet School is a public high school located at 4410 N 36th Street in Omaha, Nebraska. The school is a science, technology, engineering and mathematics magnet school in the Omaha Public Schools district. North has won several awards, including being named a 2007 Magnet Schools of...
graduate Houston Alexander
Houston Alexander
Houston Alexander is an American professional mixed martial artist, who fights as a light heavyweight and heavyweight. He also works as a DJ in North Omaha, Nebraska...
, aka Scrib or FAS/ONE. In the 1980s he led a hip hop movement in North Omaha called the Scribble Crew as an alliance of graffiti writers who developed a reputation as the top tag
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artists in the area. The art stands today at 24th and Binney Streets, to 16th and Corby Streets, and other North Omaha locations, and is still respected by the community. His Midwest Alliance act was active through the 1990s and into the new millennium, and is seen as influential on the Omaha scene. Today Alexander is a DJ on a local radio station in Omaha that hosts an independent music show featuring hip hop, and he facilitates an elementary school program that teaches students about hip hop called the "Culture Shock School Tour". Alexander has also been vocal about Omaha's lack of support for its hip hop artists.
OTR Entertainment, also under the alias of OTR Familia or OTR Fam, specializing in Latin hip hop with offices in South Omaha, NE and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, features a variety of artists on their label, including Xpreshin aka XP Brigante, OMC
OMC
OMC may refer to:* OMC , a New Zealand music group formerly known as Otara Millionaires Club* Olifant Manufacturing Company of South Africa, now known as Land Systems OMC* Old Man's Child, a Norwegian Black metal band...
, and Mix Of Combinations aka MOC. Currently with three projects on their resume, Xpreshin and Prominence 'The Commencement', OMC's 'It Is What It Is' and 'It Takes What It Took' and MOC with OTR Afta School's 'The Cirriculum'. OTR Entertainment has had artists open up for acts such as Latin sensation bachata group Aventura, Kumbia Kings, Krazy Race, and Pitbull. OTR Entertainment has also had artists that have collaborated with heavy hitters Krazy Race, underground hip hop legend from California and Armageddon
Armageddon
Armageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...
, former member of Fat Joe
Fat Joe
Joseph Antonio Cartagena , better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper, CEO of Terror Squad Entertainment, and member of musical groups D.I.T.C. and Terror Squad....
's Terror Squad and executive producer of Fat Joe's J.O.S.E album. Jerry Wade, aka DJ Kamikaze, was first a member of Omaha's Posse-N-Effect. Their first show was in 1989 in Miller Park
Miller Park (Omaha, Nebraska)
The Miller Park neighborhood in North Omaha, Nebraska is a historically significant community housing a historic district and several notable historic places. It is located between Sorenson Parkway on the south and Redick Avenue on the north, Florence Boulevard on the east and 30th Street on the west...
in North Omaha. Pigeon John
Pigeon John
Pigeon John is an American hip hop rapper raised in Hawthorne, California and based in Los Angeles, California.-Biography:Pigeon John is a Los Angeles area rapper who has recorded four studio albums as a solo artist, as well as several others as a member of the groups like L.A. Symphony and...
, an increasingly popular Christian rapper, is originally from Omaha. Cerone Thompson, known as Scrybe, has had a number one single on college radio stations across the United States. He has also had several number one hits on the local hip hop station respectively titled, "Lose Control" and "Do What U Do".
Mars Black, perhaps the Omaha rapper with the most national exposure, has released an album on New York City's Team Love Records label. However, in a review of the Mars Black album Folks Music, one reviewer noted that Mars describes the Omaha hip-hop scene as "almost non-existent". Continuing about the album, the reviewer writes, "It's only in such a desolate music environment that his pitiful flow, painfully corny emo-rhymes, and insulting bling-boasts could exist."
Original 5 Productions was founded in 2001 by Tomas Contreras in Omaha, NE. This cutting edge label’s sole purpose is to break into the mainstream music industry while keeping its roots firmly planted in the Midwest. The label has had two major releases in its short existence; its very own CEO's Tomas Contreras’ release of “Reborn In Tha Mind” (available at all Homers Record stores) under the alias Tomas C and “The Eclipse is Season…The World is Ours” (also available at all Homers Record Stores) a group effort including 3 members: Tomas C, Durrtee Davinci and Big Purp aka Dj Poppa Lock under the name Tha Originators. Original 5 Productions latest release is Tomas C’s sophomore album “The Resurrection of Killer Cortez EP” released June 2011. The album was well received containing legitimate lyrical content mixed with political and” good time” lyrics. With many shows under its belt and a strong underground movement, this label’s rise will continue all the way until superstardom and national notoriety is achieved.
Other recently released artists include Afta Lyfe on Straight Ball'n Records, Cornbread on Outta Bounds Records, and Toot on Utopia Entertainment. Articulate, ShYnE, Dark Reign, Ice Money, D' Cypher, Crazze C, Ty-G & Drew Beatz, H.O.B Records, Papillion X, DavieBoi, Buck Bowen, Eddie Winston, Block Movement with Stylo and Latin Threat, Guerrilla X, Dubbsixx, Prophecy, The Galantz, Murder Game, Ellmatiq P-tro, Rush-1, Conchance, Black Jonny Quest, D-Lo, Saint Patrick, Ramm, Jamazz, and Surreal The MC of Noizewave Tomas C of Original 5 Productions Purp Nasty of Original 5 Productions Galvanized Tron (J.Stephens Music) are some of Omaha's most frequent live hip-hop performers.
Today many hip hop shows are held at the Sokol Auditorium
Sokol Auditorium
The Sokol Auditorium is located at 2234 South 13th Street in the Little Bohemia neighborhood of south Omaha, Nebraska. It is a local icon for its historical context, as well as modern musical performances and gymnastics....
in Omaha's Little Bohemia
Little Bohemia (Omaha, Nebraska)
Little Bohemia, or Bohemian Town, is a historic neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. Starting in the 1880s, Czech immigrants settled in this highly concentrated area, also called "Praha" or "Bohemian Town", bounded by South 10th Street on the east, South 16th Street on the west, Pierce Street on the...
, as well as The Clabourne, Formally Cleopatra's on Ames Street.
Surf music in Omaha
One of Omaha's most famous exports is the influential surfSurf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...
band The Chevrons, who were voted Omaha's most popular band in 1966. Other 1960s surf and rock bands from Omaha include The Echos, 7 Legends, Velvet Haze, Little Denny Wonder, Freedom Road and The Beautiful People.
Indie rock music
Fee WaybillFee Waybill
John Waldo Waybill , known as Fee Waybill, is the lead singer and songwriter of the band the Tubes...
, lead singer and songwriter of the 1970s punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
group The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
, was born in Omaha in 1950. His band was a predecessor to Omaha's indie scene.
Indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
bands on the Saddle Creek
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 Conor Oberst and Justin Oberst in 1993 . Conor soon turned over his role in the company to Robb Nansel...
record label out of Omaha, Nebraska, include notable artists such as Bright Eyes, The Faint
The Faint
The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Jacob Thiele, Dapose, Joel Petersen and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst...
, and Cursive
Cursive (band)
Cursive is an American indie rock band from Omaha, Nebraska, on Saddle Creek Records.-History:The band was formed in 1995 by Tim Kasher, Matt Maginn, Steve Pedersen , and drummer Clint Schnase. In 1997, they released Such Blinding Stars for Starving Eyes. After a couple years of touring, the band...
. These bands are playing a significant role in the current national rock scene. The formation of the sound occurred in the mid-1990s with Commander Venus
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 indie label Saddle Creek...
, Frontier Trust, Ritual Device, Clever, Twitch, Steve Walton and The Flash Action Band, Mouse Trap, Solid Jackson, and clubs such as the Cog Factory
Cog Factory
The Cog Factory, formerly located at 2224 Leavenworth Street in Omaha, Nebraska, was a 501 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...
, and Sokol Music Hall. Many people involved in these bands and venues are currently involved with Saddle Creek.
Other related aspects of the Omaha indie music include various alternative bands. The alternative music scene has produced such popular artists as 311
311 (band)
311 is an American rock band from Omaha, Nebraska. The band was formed in 1988 by vocalist/rhythm guitarist Nick Hexum, lead guitarist Jim Watson , bassist Aaron "P-Nut" Wills and drummer Chad Sexton...
, Grasshopper Takeover
Grasshopper Takeover
Grasshopper Takeover were a band from Omaha, Nebraska, United States. They were formed in December 1995. Its members were Bob Boyce , Curtis Grubb , James McMann , and Michael Cioffero . They released five full length CDs and three EPs...
, The Seen, The Good Life
The Good Life (band)
The Good Life is an indie rock band on Saddle Creek records.Started as a solo project of Cursive's frontman Tim Kasher, The Good Life quickly grew to become its own established group. The original intent of The Good Life was to provide Tim Kasher with a vehicle to perform songs that did not fit...
, Civicminded, Criteria
Criteria (band)
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...
, A Moment Lost, Joe Galaxy, Ladyfinger (ne), Icares, Go Crash Audio, and Tilly and the Wall
Tilly and the Wall
Tilly and the Wall is an indie pop group from Omaha, Nebraska. Their name originated from a children's book called Tillie and the Wall, written by Leo Lionni...
. Omaha has been a temporary home base of Midwest bands such as Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Jason Boesel....
and Azure Ray
Azure Ray
Azure Ray is an American dream pop duo, consisting of musicians Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink. The pair met at the age of 15 at the Alabama School of Fine Arts...
.
Tim McMahan's Lazy-i, the Omaha World-Herald, HearNebraska.org, Omahype.com, the Worlds of Wayne podcast, and SLAM (Support Local Art & Music) Omaha and The Reader alt-weekly are among the main media outlets promoting the Omaha music scene.
Other mainstays of the music scene in Omaha include singer/songwriters such as Conor Oberst, Maria Taylor, Orenda Fink, Simon Joyner
Simon Joyner
Simon Joyner is a singer-songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Considered by some to be the forefather of the burgeoning Omaha music scene , he has profoundly influenced the music of Bright Eyes. Joyner also collaborated with John Darnielle, of The Mountain Goats, and Beck listed Joyner...
, Sarah Benck
Sarah Benck
Sarah Benck is a female musician from Omaha, Nebraska and a visible figure in the Omaha Indie rock scene. She is a singer-songwriter and plays the guitar and harmonica...
, Matt Whipkey, Chris Saub, Korey Anderson, Kris Lager, Brad Hoshaw, Tim Wildsmith, and Mitch Gettman.
An integral part of the Nebraska music scene are the two Omaha-based record labels; Saddle Creek Records
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 Conor Oberst and Justin Oberst in 1993 . Conor soon turned over his role in the company to Robb Nansel...
and Team Love Records. Saddle Creek Records
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 Conor Oberst and Justin Oberst in 1993 . Conor soon turned over his role in the company to Robb Nansel...
was founded in 1993 by Conor Oberst
Conor Oberst
Conor Mullen Oberst is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos, Norman Bailer , Commander Venus, Park Ave., Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, and Monsters of Folk.-Musical career:Oberst began...
and Justin Oberst. Mike Mogis
Mike Mogis
Mike Mogis is a Nebraskan producer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist who, along with his brother A.J. Mogis, founded Presto! Recording Studios ....
and Robb Nansel
Robb Nansel
Robb Nansel is an Omaha musician and co-founder of Saddle Creek Records . He is also credited as a member of Commander Venus and Bright Eyes.-Album Appearances:*Bright Eyes - Letting off the Happiness...
later opened Slowdown
Slowdown (venue)
Slowdown is an entertainment venue located at 729 North 14 Street in NoDo, a new development near the Near North Side neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. A combination of a live music venue, shops, restaurants and apartments, the venue was developed by Saddle Creek Records as a direct competitor to...
, a music venue in NoDo
Nodo
Nodo may refer to:*NASA Orbital Debris Observatory, a telescope and astronomical survey operated by NASA from 1995 to 2002*NoDo, an area of downtown Omaha, Nebraska*No-Do, late 20th century Spanish newsreels*NoDo, the first update to Windows Phone 7...
. Conor Oberst
Conor Oberst
Conor Mullen Oberst is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos, Norman Bailer , Commander Venus, Park Ave., Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, and Monsters of Folk.-Musical career:Oberst began...
's Team Love Records was founded in 2004. Other significant music venues currently include The Waiting Room Lounge, The Sydney, The Barley Street Tavern, O'Leaver's Pub, Sokol Underground, The Hideout, the P.S. Collective, The Hole, The Sandbox, and Barfly.
Hard rock
Omaha has many heavier rock acts. Doug IngleDoug Ingle
Doug Ingle is a founding member and former organist, vocalist and primary composer for the band Iron Butterfly. He also had a short stint with the pop group Stark Naked and the Car Thieves in the early 1970s after he left Iron Butterfly.- Biography :Ingle's father Lloyd, a church organist,...
was the lead vocalist and organist in the late 60's band Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is a US psychedelic rock band best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated with various members. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is the 31st best-selling album in the world, selling more than 25 million copies.-History:The...
. Since the turn of the millennium, it has been a strong spot for Metalcore
Metalcore
Metalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity...
bands. A good amount have gone on to be national acts such as Narcotic Self, Analog, Paria
Paria (band)
Paria was an American, experimental metal band formed in 2001 and based in Omaha, Nebraska. They have released one EP on Imagine It Records and two full length albums for Black Market Activities. They went on indefinite hiatus in May 2010....
, System Failure, I Am Legend and Venaculas
Venaculas
Venaculas was a metal band from Omaha, Nebraska. The name of the band is derived from a movie with the Three Stooges when a judge orders Curly "to stop the vernacular"...
. It also draws many other heavy musical acts, strongly of the Screamo
Screamo
Screamo, though used loosely to generally describe music that features screamed vocals, is actually a musical subgenre of hardcore punk which predominantly evolved from emo, among other genres, in the early 1990s...
genre (including bands Sutter Cane, Caught in the Fall, after*forever, & Robots Don't Cry). Other notable local groups include Back When, Father
Father (band)
Father is an alternative metal band from Rijeka, Croatia. The band was assembled in March 2000 under the name Easyman, later changing their name to Father. They released their debut album Inspirita on Dallas Records in October 2005 to critical and commercial acclaim...
, Hercules, and Bloodcow
Bloodcow
-Members:*The Corporate Merger*1987*Navin*Bones*Dave Collins-Previous members:*Dead Knight*Bobbie Bibledick*Medium Rare*Clam-Discography:*Killbodies *Railroad City *Bloodcow III : Hail Xenu...
. Also a notable act that toured the midwest is Social Outcast, led by local Omaha singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Joshua Harris.
Country
Omaha also has a number of countryCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, country western and modern country artists, including lead singer Jolie Edwards of Jolie & the Wanted
Jolie & the Wanted
Jolie & the Wanted was an American country music band composed of Jolie Edwards , Phil Symonds , Jonathan Trebing , Steve King , Ethan Pilzer and Andy Hull...
.
Jazz and funk
Omaha has a thriving jazz, funk, and jam-rock scene that would be considered the current underground movement in the area. Bands like The 9's, Polydypsia, Artillery Funk, Video Ranger, Satchel Grande, Lucas Kellison and Assembled Soul, Sarah Benck and the RobbersSarah Benck
Sarah Benck is a female musician from Omaha, Nebraska and a visible figure in the Omaha Indie rock scene. She is a singer-songwriter and plays the guitar and harmonica...
, Funk Trek and Anchondo head up the music in this genre. Popular bands of the past in this area include The Confidentials, Strange Pleasures, Electric Soul Method, The Kind, and The Jazzwholes.
See also
- Culture in Omaha, Nebraska
- Culture in North Omaha, Nebraska
- Sorry About DresdenSorry About DresdenSorry About Dresden is a four-man indie rock band from Chapel Hill, N.C. Since forming in 1997, the band has made a modest splash in the national indie scene....
- Darrin's Coconut Ass: Live from OmahaDarrin's Coconut Ass: Live from OmahaDarrin's Coconut Ass: Live from Omaha is a live album by ska punk band Goldfinger.This album is a self-described 'stop gap' for Goldfinger during the release of their second and third full length albums. All tracks are covers almost all of which were recorded live, with only 3 receiving over dubs...
- Bright Eyes (band)
- Saddle Creek RecordsSaddle Creek RecordsSaddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Conor Oberst and Justin Oberst in 1993 . Conor soon turned over his role in the company to Robb Nansel...
- Maha music festivalMaha Music FestivalThe MAHA Music Festival is an independent indie rock music festival held in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The festival is owned and operated by YFC, Inc., a non-profit organization.-MAHA 2011:...
External links
- http://www.reverbnation.com/guerrillax
- http://www.guerrilla-x.com / Guerrilla X website.
- Saddle Creek Records website.
- Omaha Hip Hop website.
- Kyle Knapp website.
- Worlds of Wayne Podcast website
- S.L.A.M.Omaha website
- Omaha Hip Hop Network website
- Maha Music Festival website
- http://nebraskapunk.spruz.com/ Nebraska's Source for Anything Punk
- (2005) A Rich Music History Long Untold, The Omaha Reader. - Describes Omaha's influence on many genres of musicMusic genreA music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
, including jazz, blues, soul, R&B, and rock.