This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

recordBar is Kansas City’s artist-run independent live-music venue and bar/restaurant in the Crossroads Arts District. Founded in 2005 by working musicians Steve Tulipana and Shawn Sherrill — originally an unassuming Westport bar that became a music room almost by accident when The National asked to play — it spent eleven years in Westport before relocating to 1520 Grand Boulevard in 2016, and marked its 20th anniversary in 2025 as one of the city’s defining stages for original music.

Description

recordBar is an independently owned live-music venue and bar/restaurant at 1520 Grand Boulevard in the Crossroads Arts District of Kansas City, Missouri, one block from the T-Mobile Center.12 It is owned and operated by co-founders Steve Tulipana and Shawn Sherrill, and is widely described as “artist-run” — its staff, including sound engineers and bookers, are drawn largely from the local musician community.32 The venue’s self-styled tagline is “Kansas City’s home for live music.”1

The room books roughly 80% original music — local, regional, and national touring acts — supplemented with tribute and cover acts that help carry operating costs.2 Alongside the stage and full bar, recordBar runs an in-house kitchen; its menu has centered on pizza (offered in 7- and 14-inch sizes) and sandwiches, with rotating heartier and lighter dishes.4 The business is part of a small locally owned group that also operates miniBar and the outdoor Lemonade Park venue, and is a member of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) and the Missouri Entertainment Alliance.12

The business remains open and operating as of May 2026.1

Ownership and history

recordBar was opened in 2005 in Westport by Steve Tulipana and Shawn Sherrill, who bought a space that had been a Molloy Brothers Irish pub at 1020 Westport Road in the Old Westport Shopping Center.35 Tulipana is a veteran Kansas City musician — frontman of the noise-rock band Season to Risk and a member of Dan Jones & the Squids and Violenteer — and has lived in Kansas City since 1989.67

The partners initially ran recordBar as a neighborhood bar, not a music venue. The pivot was unplanned: in October 2005, promoter Jackie Becker of Up to Eleven Productions asked whether the then-up-and-coming band The National could perform there. The show went well, the owners invested in a proper sound system, and recordBar grew into a full-time music room.2 Over its Westport years the venue built a reputation for catching artists on the way up; sources credit early KC appearances by acts such as The National and Mumford & Sons, and the venue has hosted names ranging from Black Flag to Nathaniel Rateliff.83

In late 2015 the landlord of the Old Westport Shopping Center declined to renew recordBar’s lease, intending to convert the space to retail. recordBar closed its Westport location at the end of 2015, with a sold-out final show (local band Making Movies) on January 2, 2016, after eleven years there.53 After a search for a space with the right kitchen, bar, stage, and loading layout, the partners reopened recordBar at 1520 Grand Boulevard in the Crossroads in the summer of 2016.73 Because of difficulties licensing the new building’s kitchen configuration, food service was absent for a stretch after the move and returned around 2018 under chef James Landis (formerly chef de cuisine at Le Fou Frog).4

During the COVID-19 pandemic the venue was largely shuttered for about a year and the owners helped launch Lemonade Park, an outdoor venue in the West Bottoms, to keep the local music community working; recordBar’s survival was aided by NIVA’s federal relief effort (Save Our Stages).2 In 2025 recordBar celebrated its 20th anniversary.93

See also

Sources

Footnotes

  1. recordBar — official website (home / menu) — https://therecordbar.com/ — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. The Pitch — “Save Our Stages Kansas City: recordBar and the future of live music at a crossroads in the Crossroads” — https://www.thepitchkc.com/save-our-stages-kansas-city-recordbar-and-the-future-of-live-music-at-a-crossroads-in-the-crossroads/ — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. FOX4 KC — “‘It’s our church’: recordBar owner talks venue history ahead of 20th anniversary” — https://fox4kc.com/news/entertainment/its-our-church-recordbar-owner-talks-venue-history-ahead-of-20th-anniversary/ — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. Feast Magazine — “RecordBar Returns to Food Service with a New Chef and Updated Menu” — https://www.feastmagazine.com/the-feed/kansas_city_news/article_055f79d0-ffa9-11e7-a46b-b32af8bb30a6.html — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩ ↩2

  5. The Pitch — “RecordBar owners Steve Tulipana and Shawn Sherrill prepare to say goodbye to their music club… for now” (2015) — https://www.thepitchkc.com/recordbar-owners-steve-tulipana-and-shawn-sherrill-prepare-to-say-goodbye-to-their-music-club-for-now/ — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩ ↩2

  6. Season to Risk — Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Season_to_Risk — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩

  7. dō816 — “steve.tulipana” artist profile — https://do816.com/tulipana — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩ ↩2

  8. Glide Magazine — “recordBar at 20: The Artist-Run Heartbeat of Kansas City’s Live Music Scene” — https://glidemagazine.com/324789/ — accessed 2026-05-30 (search-summary only; page returned 403 on direct fetch) ↩

  9. The Pitch — “Steve Tulipana talks Play Loud Festival, reflects on 20 years of recordBar” — https://www.thepitchkc.com/steve-tulipana-talks-play-loud-festival-reflects-on-20-years-of-recordbar/ — accessed 2026-05-30 ↩

See also

Categories
  • Locally owned
  • Crossroads