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What is your take on how Steve Walsh's replacement John Elefante fit in throughout the '80s, especially considering he's also a Christian?

Livgren John came in at an awkward time for him and the band. He was a very young kid who'd been in nothing but a garage band before and was propelled into arenas and major deals. He was a young Christian kid replacing Steve Walsh, whose shoes were very hard to fill. So there was that dilemma, plus dealing with fame and fortune, so it was a very difficult time for him. But at the same time we were trying to keep the ship afloat and he did great work with the band. Even though it was short-lived, it was a good thing to launch him as solo artist.

I find it strange that Walsh rejoined the group and is now singing a lot of those hit songs that came after your Christian conversion.

Livgren I find it strange as well. If you go to a Kansas concert [nowadays] it's inevitable you'll hear a group of songs that chronicle my personal journey to finding Christ. They're out there every day, and I'm glad they are. Those songs defined who that band is.

Would you say "Dust In the Wind" was perhaps the pinnacle of you putting spiritual subjects into the mainstream?

Livgren "Dust In the Wind" was certainly the most well-known song, and the message was out of Ecclesiastes. I never ceased to be amazed at how the message resonates with people, from the time it came out through now. The message is true and we have to deal with it, plus the melody is memorable and very powerful. It disturbs me that there's only part of the [Christian] story told in that song. It's about someone yearning for some solution, but if you look at the entire body of my work, there's a solution to the dilemma.

Have you remained in touch with your old Kansas bandmates since participating in the 2000 reunion album?

Livgren I haven't completely cut ties because they're my lifelong friends. I think the time has passed for me to have an active part, but I still contribute, like on the most recent album Somewhere to Elsewhere. I wrote the entire album and performed on it, but I drew the line at that because I spent so many years living out of a suitcase. I came home from tour once when my daughter was three years old and she didn't look real sure who I was when I walked in the door. That was it for me, because if I missed out on that, there was no second chance. I temporarily retired from music, but am back again maintaining the balance with family and church.

Let's talk about some of your other projects.

Livgren I'm a bit of a musical chameleon. When I went out of Kansas into AD, it was a different kind of band. It was the first time the bond of fellowship existed in a band for me because it was a band of Christians. I hesitate to call it a Christian band because that term has certain implications. The CCM industry didn't quite exist [like it does today] at the time, and we were basically playing secular venues. Proto-Kaw is a different group with different goals and motives, but is quite musically productive and I'm very proud of what we've accomplished.

How did the roots of Proto-Kaw form?

Livgren It's a fascinating episode. Proto-Kaw as we know it today was the original Kansas band, which started in the very early '70s as a bizarre psychedelic meets symphonic rock sort of thing. It was an incredibly strange, most intense déjà vu [when we got back together], because the other members had not been active in music for almost three decades. The music I write is very challenging, and they were not only able to pull it off, but did it incredibly well. We basically picked up where we left off, and after an album and a year and a half of playing concerts, we went into recording [our second album] as a confident, fully functioning band.

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