Heart of America is a simple, standard march, composed to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Kansas Bandmasters Association (1972-2022).The composer's intent was to write a simple piece that any school band in Kansas could play. While working on the beginning of the march, Barnes came up with the idea of using the Kansas State Song, Home on the Range by Dan Kelly, as the trio melody. This little march is carefully scored and cued so that it can be played with almost any instrumentation.