Yo, Kansas City! It's time to rock the vote!

Scotty Boy's Steady Rollin' Band
Alas, this, the incarnation of the Steady Rollin' Band that brought cool, peppy jump-swing blues to Kansas City over the past year, is no more. Top-billed harp player Scott Daniel and drummer Jerry Riccardi have parted ways with fellow Steady rollers, and all we'll say about that is even blues bands get the blues. Fortunately, upright bassist and singer Bill Morlan and ax slinger Mark Rollings have teamed with former 12-bar grinders from Shannon and the Rhythm Kings to make sure the band keeps rollin' on. (www.steadyrollin.com)

Billy Ebeling and the Late for Dinner Band
Veteran music man Billy Ebeling's career spans three decades and much of the globe. The Lawrence native's foot-stompin', genre-hoppin' catalog has roused audiences in Hong Kong, Fiji and Australia. From rollicking zydeco to traditional R&B to children's folklore, Ebeling has churned out 12 albums and shows no signs of stopping. The world-weary guitarist and singer-songwriter hangs his hat in KC for now, where you can catch him just about any night either as a soloist or with the band. (www.billyebeling.com)

Millage Gilbert
Last summer, Millage Gilbert was named "Living Heritage Tribute King" of the Kansas City, Kansas, Street Blues Festival. With a 40-plus-year career as one of the city's premier blues guitarists (and one of many to have played guitar with the late Little Hatch), there are few on either side of the state line more deserving of recognition for a lengthy, lustrous career. Gilbert's tours in Europe have been winning new fans of his Delta-meets-Kansas City blues concoctions, and he still floors blues fans each week at Club Paradox gigs in KCK.

Blues Notions
The Blues Notions bill themselves, with increasing inaccuracy, as "the Midwest's best-kept secret." If anything, this five-piece, formed in 1987, might be Kansas City's best-known active blues band. It earned three invitations to the annual International Blues Challenge, most recently in 2004. Tom "Trashmouth" Baker boasts a unique delivery, alternately smooth and gravel-addled, and horns and keys bolster the group's juke-joint tunes. Though they're capable of sounding roadhouse-rough, the Notions don't want any trouble -- they're only here to party. (www.bluesnotions.com)

Best Country/ Roots/Bluegrass
The Wilders
When we say the Wilders are old-school, we don't mean George Jones; we mean Ma Carter, mountain music, Dobros -- the musical teat that Loretta Lynn was weaned from. Oh, for Betse's fiddle and Ike's gruff yodel on a clear spring day. God help us, is this not a great country? In times when it's hard to be proud of our nation, there is the sound of the Wilders, more upright and American than a holler full of George W. Bushes. (www.wilderscountry.com)

Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys
The data would have us believe that Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys are "alt-country," mainly because they released three albums on Chicago alt-country label Bloodshot Records. We hate to get into semantics, but we think Tim McGraw and the lot of modern Nashville should be called alt-country and Rex should just be called, well, country. His music is true honky-tonk -- reverent but original. And damned if he don't look a little like Merle. (www.rexhobart.com)

Split Lip Rayfield
If you were lucky enough to catch this fierce foursome's unique brand of bastard bluegrass at Wakarusa this year, you witnessed one of the last appearances of mandolin player Wayne Gottstine with the group. Unable to cope with a grueling touring schedule, Gottstine is leaving the band, rendering the title of the quartet's 2004 release, Should Have Seen It Coming, oddly prophetic. We hope his remaining co-conspirators will find a way to forge on in his absence. (www.splitliprayfield.com)

Buffalo Saints
The Saints' image is hard to pin down. At last look, the band appears to be made up of two hipsters, a rockabilly and a lumberjack, though rumor has it the lineup may soon change because guitarist Mike Alexander and bassist Nate Harold are full-timing it in the Architects and Kelpie, respectively. For now, the Saints form a sound that is indeed a little hip, a little rock and lot of country woods that grow dark and alternative. Which might be why we detect a hint of Nick Cave in the Saints' divine "Off Her Rocker." (www.buffalosaints.com)

The Gaslights
Can a band be a little bit country and a little bit pop without sounding like Donny and Marie? The Gaslights can, and with authority. A heavy dose of jukebox country styling and twanged-out vocals from singer and guitarist Abigail Henderson give the group its early-Nashville feel, and Chris Meck kicks out the guitar-rock jam. With a full-length on the résumé and shows from here to Texarkana, the Gaslights are sure to set fire to every honky-tonk they play. (www.thegaslights.com)