Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Encyclopedia
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils are a Southern rock
/country rock
band formed in 1972 in Springfield, Missouri
, USA. They are most widely known for their singles "If You Wanna Get To Heaven" in 1974 and "Jackie Blue
" in 1975.
The Daredevils are also mentioned in the "Don's Story" chapter of American
humorist David Sedaris
' book Barrel Fever
. Bassist Michael "Supe" Granda has also written a book about the band, It Shined.
during that decade. It is mentioned in the book about the band "It Shined," by Michael Granda, that the band name was derived from "Cosmic Corn Cob & His Amazing Ozark Mountain Daredevils," a name that John Dillon came up with at a Kansas City
"naming party" after the band was told that the name they had previously been using, "Family Tree," was already taken. The band shortened the name because none of the band members at the time wanted to be called "Cosmic Corn Cob," and they did not want the name to sound similar to The Amazing Rhythm Aces
.
via the hands of band friend Steve Canaday, who was co-owner of the New Bijou Theater. Hammond sent a producer, Michael Sunday, to the band's Ruedi-Valley Ranch in Aldrich, Missouri
, the house rented from Randle Chowning's Southwest Missouri State teacher Mrs. Ruedi, where the band rehearsed and where Chowning and his brother Rusty lived. Sunday offered the group $500 to make another demo tape but ultimately decided to pass on offering them a contract.
The band later sent a tape to the team who managed fellow Missourians Brewer & Shipley
, Kansas City's Paul Peterson and Stan Plesser (who also owned the Vanguard, a popular coffee house), who gave the band a chance and became their managers as well. The band then changed their name to the Ozark Mountain Daredevils in 1972 (see "Name") and saw the departure of Campanelli and Jones and the additon of Buddy Brayfield, a friend of Granda's, as the piano player. Anderson, though still romantically involved with Dillon, retired from the stage. Campanelli left on his own to pursue a masters degree in music; Jones joined the Daredevils briefly later and would continue to appear as a guest player on some of their shows and recording sessions.
staff producer David Anderle
, who was looking for an Eagles country rock type of band to place on the label. Anderle and the Eagles' first producer, Glyn Johns
, flew to Missouri to catch one of the band's performances. But the band, nervous about Johns and Anderle being in the audience, did not play their best. Later on, Peterson invited the two men back to his place to hear the band give an unplugged performance by candlelight. This time Anderle and Johns were blown away and they were signed to A&M and sent to England to record their first record with Johns at the helm.
The first record, Ozark Mountain Daredevils (also referred to as "The Quilt Album"), was released in December 1973 and spawned the Top 30 hit "If You Wanna Get to Heaven" in the summer of 1974. The album introduced the band's unique mixture of rock, country, bluegrass and pop to the world and is still the favorite of many of the group's fans.
For the second album, It'll Shine When It Shines (October 1974), Johns and Anderle came to Missouri to record, utilizing a mobile recording truck set up outside of the band's rehearsal home. During the sessions, Johns overheard Larry Lee sitting at a piano playing and singing a song about a mysterious friend of his who sometimes dealt drugs on the side. Johns loved the melody and thought it could be a smash hit if the lyrics were altered to be about a girl and the drug references downplayed. Lee and Cash did as Johns asked and the song, "Jackie Blue," became the Daredevils' signature song and a huge hit (No. 3) in early 1975.
The Ozark's third release, The Car Over the Lake Album (Fall 1975), produced by Anderle alone, featured their old compatriot, Bill Jones, joining them to play and arrange their songs. He also toured with them in 1975-1976. Another face from the past, Steve Canaday, also came back into the group's life at this same time as road manager and opening act before joining the band in 1976. The album sold fairly well but produced no hits. One reason why the band's fortunes began to falter might have been their reluctance to relocate to Southern California
after being asked to do so by A&M co-head Jerry Moss
. As a result, A&M might also have begun to lose a bit of their enthusiasm for the act at this point.
Personnel shifts within the group also began to change the chemistry. Randle Chowning left in May 1976 (following a European tour), due to the bad work ethic of other band members and their unwillingness to do a major tour, to form his own Randle Chowning Band. Norwegian musician Rune Walle, whom the band had met while on tour in Europe with his band The Flying Norwegians, then joined to replace him.
That same year the Daredevils headed west to the Rockies
, to Caribou Ranch
near Nederland, CO, to record their fourth album, which they had originally titled Nuclear Fishin ' but then changed to Men From Earth after A&M objected. The Nuclear Fishin title was later used up in Canada for a greatest hits pack. Anderle was once again in the producer's chair and Evergreen, CO native Jerry Mills joined the band on mandolin and also served as the group's advance publicist.
In the fall of 1976, Buddy Brayfield departed to study medicine and Ruell Chappell (vocals, keyboards) from the popular Springfield group Spillwater Junction came in. But the band's next several releases -- Men From Earth (fall 1976), Don't Look Down (fall 1977, produced by David Kershenbaum
) and It's Alive (September 1978) -- sold in lesser quantities than their previous records had. Jerry Mills and his mandolin were dropped from the group after It's Alive since the band was performing fewer acoustic numbers in their show by this time.
During the summer of 1978, the Daredevils went out for a short run of shows where they opened for Fleetwood Mac
. Granda was not available since he was at home helping his wife with the birth of their second child. Springfield bassist Larry Van Fleet (from the Randle Chowning Band) sat in for 'Supe' for these dates
.
, which documented life in the Confederacy
during the American Civil War
. Waylon Jennings
, Eric Clapton
, Jessi Colter
, Bernie Leadon
and several other musicians appeared on this record as well.
Also in 1978, Larry Lee recorded a solo album for A&M that was not released.
By 1979 the group had moved over to Columbia Records
and put out the self-titled Ozark Mountain Daredevils in May 1980. This album was produced by famed country rock pioneer producer John Boylan and did not feature Chappell or Canaday, and Walle only appeared on two songs, since Boylan insisted on bringing in session players for a more typical "California country-rock laid-back sound," which was popular at the time. But the country rock sound's popularity seemed to be on the wane at the dawn of the 1980s as groups such as the Ozarks, Poco
, Firefall
, etc. saw their sales begin to slip away. Columbia dropped the group after only one record.
In 1980 Walle left the Daredevils to be replaced by Springfield guitarist Terry Wilson.
In December 1980 Brayfield, Chowning, Jones and Walle reunited with the band for two shows, one in Springfield and one in Kansas City. The first was at Hammons Student Center
on December 9 and the second, on December 31, occurred at the Uptown Theater
in K.C. The latter show was later put out (in 2006) on CD and DVD as 1980 Reunion Concert: Rhythm & Joy.
Larry Lee left the band and relocated to Nashville, Tennessee
, to pursue a solo career in 1982. He also worked as a songwriter and country producer (for Alabama
, Juice Newton
and others) and would still play drums on occasion with other acts. In the mid-'80s he even did a stint with Jimmy Buffett
's Coral Reefer Band
. Chappell also split in 1982.
Later the same year, there was another major upheaval as Dillon and Cash decided that they'd had enough as well. After some consideration, it was decided that the group would continue with Granda and the returning Randle Chowning leading a new lineup that included Bobby Lloyd Hicks (vocals, drums, percussion, ex-Steve Forbert
), Joe Terry (vocals, keyboards, from the St. Louis group The Couch Dancers) and Tulsa guitarist Gary Smith. Canaday stayed on and once again became the band's road manager.
This new grouping was short-lived. Hicks took a job with Kerry Cole & the Lefty Brothers, Joe Terry joined a new band, The Morells
, and Gary Smith relocated to Branson, MO in 1984. At this point, Dillon and Cash agreed to rejoin. The 1984 Ozarks lineup was: John Dillon, Steve Cash, 'Supe' Granda, Steve Canaday and Jason LeMasters (guitar), the latter soon replaced by Chowning, back for his third stint with the Daredevils.
In 1985 the band followed their erstwhile singer/drummer, Larry Lee, to Nashville to record a new album produced by Wendy Waldman. Lee briefly rejoined for this project. There was no interest at all from any of the labels in Nashville in this project. A small French company, Dixie Frog Records, eventually picked up the record and it was released in France as Heart of the Country in 1987. Many of the same songs were released in England in 1989 as Modern History on the Conifer label.
In the meantime, the Daredevils continued on with Morells guitarist Don Clinton Thompson joining after Chowning left again. A group of mostly unreleased tracks (the demos that they used to send around to the record companies) from 1972 was released on Varese Sarabande Records in 1985 as The Lost Cabin Sessions.
There were more personnel changes as Canaday left to move to Nashville in 1988 (Sadly, he was killed on September 25, 1999, when the small plane he was traveling in crashed in Nashville, Tenn., while he was working as an aerial photographer) and was briefly succeeded on drums by the band's roadie, Rick 'Lumpy' Davidson, who previously had sometimes joined the group onstage playing washboard.
At the end of 1989 Thompson quit to reform his old band, The Skeletons, and Davidson moved to Branson to take a job as sound mixer at Ray Stevens
' theater. In 1990 guitarist Bill Brown (from Supe's side band Supe & the Sandwiches) and Morells drummer Ron Gremp came aboard. The band continued their now-limited touring.
A 1990 release, Now Hear This!, was put out on cassette tape only.
Granda, like Lee and Canaday before him, decided to uproot himself and settle in Nashville where he peddled his songs, searched for a deal for his side band, Supe & the Sandwiches, and became involved in other projects, including a stint as bass player in Michael Clarke
's Byrds. In the summer of 1992, the Daredevils resumed their ever-dwindling schedule of gigs.
The Ozarks were approached by their former manager, Stan Plesser, to re-record some of their best-known songs for a company called Eclipse Records. This was recorded in Nashville with producer Bob Wright with only Dillon, Cash and Granda (Larry Lee and Steve Canaday guested on backup vocals) playing on this project accompanied by session players. The CD was titled Jackie Blue and appeared in 1996 as a budget product sold mostly at truck stop
s.
New Era Productions, a company formed by an old Springfield buddy of the group's, Benny Smith, agreed to fund another album of brand new material, 13. This was produced, mostly in Nashville, by Larry Lee, who played and sang on it as well (Chowning too was slated to appear on the album but due to the poor quality of the project opted out). 13 was released in June 1997. Also that year came Archive Alive, a CD of one of their 1973 shows.
On July 23, 2004, Bill Brown died of smoke inhalation in a house fire in Springfield. On October 16 of this same year, the group and several other Springfield bands appeared at the Shrine Mosque in a memorial show for Brown and benefit for his family.
Since that time the band has gone into semi-retirement but usually emerges each year to play shows, sometimes joined by former members Larry Lee and Randle Chowning. The current lineup contains Dillon, Cash, 'Supe,' Ron Gremp and Dave Painter (who joined for the 2004 Shrine Mosque show). Beginning with a series of shows in May 2007 at Gillioz Theater in Springfield, Kelly Brown joined as the group's new keyboardist. These shows were recorded for a later DVD release.
A brand new live album by the Daredevils, a two-disc set featuring 21 tracks, including old favorites, rare songs and a couple of new ones, titled Alive & Wild, was made available in October 2011. This was taken from shows performed at Wildwood Springs Lodge in Steelville, Missouri in the fall of 2010. The band line up for these shows was John Dillon, Steve Cash, Michael ‘Supe’ Granda, Ron Gremp, Dave Painter, Kelly Brown, Bill Jones, Ruell Chappell and Nick Sibley (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals).
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music, and genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals...
/country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
band formed in 1972 in Springfield, Missouri
Springfield, Missouri
Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...
, USA. They are most widely known for their singles "If You Wanna Get To Heaven" in 1974 and "Jackie Blue
Jackie Blue (song)
"Jackie Blue" is a single by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils off their 1974 album It'll Shine When It Shines. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975. The song was sung by group drummer Larry Lee....
" in 1975.
The Daredevils are also mentioned in the "Don's Story" chapter of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
humorist David Sedaris
David Sedaris
David Sedaris is a Grammy Award-nominated American humorist, writer, comedian, bestselling author, and radio contributor....
' book Barrel Fever
Barrel Fever
Barrel Fever and Other Stories is a 1994 collection of short stories and essays by David Sedaris. The book is divided into two sections. The first section consists of short fiction and the second half contains autobiographical essays. The most famous of the essays is "SantaLand Diaries", the essay...
. Bassist Michael "Supe" Granda has also written a book about the band, It Shined.
Name
The "Daredevils" name has much to do with the long hair and beards sported by the band in the 1970s, a rejection of the more conservative style of their native OzarksThe Ozarks
The Ozarks are a physiographic and geologic highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the southern half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwestern and north central Arkansas...
during that decade. It is mentioned in the book about the band "It Shined," by Michael Granda, that the band name was derived from "Cosmic Corn Cob & His Amazing Ozark Mountain Daredevils," a name that John Dillon came up with at a Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
"naming party" after the band was told that the name they had previously been using, "Family Tree," was already taken. The band shortened the name because none of the band members at the time wanted to be called "Cosmic Corn Cob," and they did not want the name to sound similar to The Amazing Rhythm Aces
Amazing Rhythm Aces
The Amazing Rhythm Aces are an American country rock group. The band has characterized their music as "American Music" or "Roots Music" — rock, country, blues, R&B, folk, reggae and Latino...
.
Formation and the Family Tree
In 1971 Steve Cash, Randle Chowning, John Dillon, Elizabeth Anderson, Larry Lee and Michael Granda began playing together with Bill Jones (flute, horns, formerly of Mike Bunge's band Granny's Bathwater) and Rick Campanelli (piano) at Springfield, Missouri's New Bijou Theater for small crowds of friends on Wednesday night under the name "Family Tree" ("Emergency Band," "Burlap Socks" and "Buffalo Chips" were other names they considered for this grouping in the early days). Larry Lee was working at the New Bijou as a bartender. The band recorded a demo at Springfield's Top Talent studios and that demo, containing such early songs as "Rhythm of Joy," found its way to New York music executive John HammondJohn H. Hammond
John Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
via the hands of band friend Steve Canaday, who was co-owner of the New Bijou Theater. Hammond sent a producer, Michael Sunday, to the band's Ruedi-Valley Ranch in Aldrich, Missouri
Aldrich, Missouri
Aldrich is a village in Polk County, Missouri, United States. The population was 81 at the 2009 census. It is part of the Springfield, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Aldrich is located at ....
, the house rented from Randle Chowning's Southwest Missouri State teacher Mrs. Ruedi, where the band rehearsed and where Chowning and his brother Rusty lived. Sunday offered the group $500 to make another demo tape but ultimately decided to pass on offering them a contract.
The band later sent a tape to the team who managed fellow Missourians Brewer & Shipley
Brewer & Shipley
Brewer & Shipley were an American folk rock music duo of the late 1960s through 1970s, consisting of singer-songwriters Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley. They were known for their intricate guitar work, vocal harmonies and socially conscious lyrics. Their greatest success was the song "One Toke Over the...
, Kansas City's Paul Peterson and Stan Plesser (who also owned the Vanguard, a popular coffee house), who gave the band a chance and became their managers as well. The band then changed their name to the Ozark Mountain Daredevils in 1972 (see "Name") and saw the departure of Campanelli and Jones and the additon of Buddy Brayfield, a friend of Granda's, as the piano player. Anderson, though still romantically involved with Dillon, retired from the stage. Campanelli left on his own to pursue a masters degree in music; Jones joined the Daredevils briefly later and would continue to appear as a guest player on some of their shows and recording sessions.
The A&M years
The group's demo tape eventually caught the attention of A&M RecordsA&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
staff producer David Anderle
David Anderle
David Anderle is a well-known record producer. His production credits include albums for Judy Collins, Rita Coolidge, Amy Grant, Delaney and Bonnie, David Ackles, Kris Kristofferson, Aaron Neville, Chris De Burgh, Rhinoceros, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Doc Holliday and the Circle Jerks...
, who was looking for an Eagles country rock type of band to place on the label. Anderle and the Eagles' first producer, Glyn Johns
Glyn Johns
Glyn Johns is a musician, recording engineer and record producer.-Career:He has worked with such artists as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Ozark...
, flew to Missouri to catch one of the band's performances. But the band, nervous about Johns and Anderle being in the audience, did not play their best. Later on, Peterson invited the two men back to his place to hear the band give an unplugged performance by candlelight. This time Anderle and Johns were blown away and they were signed to A&M and sent to England to record their first record with Johns at the helm.
The first record, Ozark Mountain Daredevils (also referred to as "The Quilt Album"), was released in December 1973 and spawned the Top 30 hit "If You Wanna Get to Heaven" in the summer of 1974. The album introduced the band's unique mixture of rock, country, bluegrass and pop to the world and is still the favorite of many of the group's fans.
For the second album, It'll Shine When It Shines (October 1974), Johns and Anderle came to Missouri to record, utilizing a mobile recording truck set up outside of the band's rehearsal home. During the sessions, Johns overheard Larry Lee sitting at a piano playing and singing a song about a mysterious friend of his who sometimes dealt drugs on the side. Johns loved the melody and thought it could be a smash hit if the lyrics were altered to be about a girl and the drug references downplayed. Lee and Cash did as Johns asked and the song, "Jackie Blue," became the Daredevils' signature song and a huge hit (No. 3) in early 1975.
The Ozark's third release, The Car Over the Lake Album (Fall 1975), produced by Anderle alone, featured their old compatriot, Bill Jones, joining them to play and arrange their songs. He also toured with them in 1975-1976. Another face from the past, Steve Canaday, also came back into the group's life at this same time as road manager and opening act before joining the band in 1976. The album sold fairly well but produced no hits. One reason why the band's fortunes began to falter might have been their reluctance to relocate to Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
after being asked to do so by A&M co-head Jerry Moss
Jerry Moss
Jerome S. "Jerry" Moss is an American recording executive, best known for being the co-founder of A&M Records, along with trumpeter and bandleader Herb Alpert....
. As a result, A&M might also have begun to lose a bit of their enthusiasm for the act at this point.
Personnel shifts within the group also began to change the chemistry. Randle Chowning left in May 1976 (following a European tour), due to the bad work ethic of other band members and their unwillingness to do a major tour, to form his own Randle Chowning Band. Norwegian musician Rune Walle, whom the band had met while on tour in Europe with his band The Flying Norwegians, then joined to replace him.
That same year the Daredevils headed west to the Rockies
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, to Caribou Ranch
Caribou Ranch
Caribou Ranch was a recording studio built by producer James William Guercio in 1972 in a converted barn on ranch property in the Rocky Mountains near Nederland, Colorado, on the road that leads to the ghost town of Caribou...
near Nederland, CO, to record their fourth album, which they had originally titled Nuclear Fishin ' but then changed to Men From Earth after A&M objected. The Nuclear Fishin title was later used up in Canada for a greatest hits pack. Anderle was once again in the producer's chair and Evergreen, CO native Jerry Mills joined the band on mandolin and also served as the group's advance publicist.
In the fall of 1976, Buddy Brayfield departed to study medicine and Ruell Chappell (vocals, keyboards) from the popular Springfield group Spillwater Junction came in. But the band's next several releases -- Men From Earth (fall 1976), Don't Look Down (fall 1977, produced by David Kershenbaum
David Kershenbaum
David Kershenbaum is an American record producer and entrepreneur, born in Springfield, Missouri. He has worked with many artists including Duran Duran, Tracy Chapman, Joe Jackson, Bryan Adams, Supertramp, Cat Stevens, Elkie Brooks, and Tori Amos. As a producer he has earned 75 international gold...
) and It's Alive (September 1978) -- sold in lesser quantities than their previous records had. Jerry Mills and his mandolin were dropped from the group after It's Alive since the band was performing fewer acoustic numbers in their show by this time.
During the summer of 1978, the Daredevils went out for a short run of shows where they opened for Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
. Granda was not available since he was at home helping his wife with the birth of their second child. Springfield bassist Larry Van Fleet (from the Randle Chowning Band) sat in for 'Supe' for these dates
.
Later years
In 1978, John Dillon and Steve Cash contributed to an album, White MansionsWhite Mansions
White Mansions is a 1978 album by various artists documenting the lives of white people in the Confederacy during the Civil War. The songs on the album were written by Paul Kennerley and are performed by Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, John Dillon and Steve Cash...
, which documented life in the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, Jessi Colter
Jessi Colter
Jessi Colter is an American country music artist who is best known for her collaboration with her husband, country singer and songwriter Waylon Jennings and for her 1975 country-pop crossover hit "I'm Not Lisa"....
, Bernie Leadon
Bernie Leadon
Bernard Mathew "Bernie" Leadon, III is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Prior to the Eagles, he was a member of two pioneering and highly influential country rock bands, Dillard & Clark and the Flying Burrito Brothers...
and several other musicians appeared on this record as well.
Also in 1978, Larry Lee recorded a solo album for A&M that was not released.
By 1979 the group had moved over to Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
and put out the self-titled Ozark Mountain Daredevils in May 1980. This album was produced by famed country rock pioneer producer John Boylan and did not feature Chappell or Canaday, and Walle only appeared on two songs, since Boylan insisted on bringing in session players for a more typical "California country-rock laid-back sound," which was popular at the time. But the country rock sound's popularity seemed to be on the wane at the dawn of the 1980s as groups such as the Ozarks, Poco
Poco
Poco is an Southern California country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay and Jim Messina following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968. The title of their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of Buffalo Springfield. Highly influential and creative,...
, Firefall
Firefall
Firefall is a rock band that formed in Boulder, Colorado in 1974. It was founded by Rick Roberts, who had been in the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement in Zephyr. The band's biggest hit single, "You Are the Woman", peaked at #9 on the Billboard charts...
, etc. saw their sales begin to slip away. Columbia dropped the group after only one record.
In 1980 Walle left the Daredevils to be replaced by Springfield guitarist Terry Wilson.
In December 1980 Brayfield, Chowning, Jones and Walle reunited with the band for two shows, one in Springfield and one in Kansas City. The first was at Hammons Student Center
Hammons Student Center
The Hammons Student Center is an 8,846 seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. It was built in 1976, and is the home of the Missouri State Bears. The arena was replaced by the JQH Arena in 2008....
on December 9 and the second, on December 31, occurred at the Uptown Theater
Uptown Theater
Opened as the Lagoon Theater in 1913, the Uptown is one of the oldest surviving theaters in the Twin Cities area. It operated as the Lagoon until 1929 when it was remodeled and renamed...
in K.C. The latter show was later put out (in 2006) on CD and DVD as 1980 Reunion Concert: Rhythm & Joy.
Larry Lee left the band and relocated to Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, to pursue a solo career in 1982. He also worked as a songwriter and country producer (for Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, Juice Newton
Juice Newton
Judith Kay "Juice" Newton is an American Pop music and Country singer, songwriter and guitarist...
and others) and would still play drums on occasion with other acts. In the mid-'80s he even did a stint with Jimmy Buffett
Jimmy Buffett
James William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...
's Coral Reefer Band
Coral Reefer Band
The Coral Reefer Band is the touring and recording band of American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. Originally it was a fictional band consisting of the imaginary members Marvin Gardens, Kay Pasa, Al Vacado and Kitty Litter....
. Chappell also split in 1982.
Later the same year, there was another major upheaval as Dillon and Cash decided that they'd had enough as well. After some consideration, it was decided that the group would continue with Granda and the returning Randle Chowning leading a new lineup that included Bobby Lloyd Hicks (vocals, drums, percussion, ex-Steve Forbert
Steve Forbert
Steve Forbert is an American pop music singer-songwriter. He is best known for his song "Romeo's Tune", which reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1980....
), Joe Terry (vocals, keyboards, from the St. Louis group The Couch Dancers) and Tulsa guitarist Gary Smith. Canaday stayed on and once again became the band's road manager.
This new grouping was short-lived. Hicks took a job with Kerry Cole & the Lefty Brothers, Joe Terry joined a new band, The Morells
The Morells
The Morells are an American rock band from Springfield, Missouri. They released an album titled Shake and Push in 1982. The band's members have included bassist and producer Lou Whitney, guitarist D...
, and Gary Smith relocated to Branson, MO in 1984. At this point, Dillon and Cash agreed to rejoin. The 1984 Ozarks lineup was: John Dillon, Steve Cash, 'Supe' Granda, Steve Canaday and Jason LeMasters (guitar), the latter soon replaced by Chowning, back for his third stint with the Daredevils.
In 1985 the band followed their erstwhile singer/drummer, Larry Lee, to Nashville to record a new album produced by Wendy Waldman. Lee briefly rejoined for this project. There was no interest at all from any of the labels in Nashville in this project. A small French company, Dixie Frog Records, eventually picked up the record and it was released in France as Heart of the Country in 1987. Many of the same songs were released in England in 1989 as Modern History on the Conifer label.
In the meantime, the Daredevils continued on with Morells guitarist Don Clinton Thompson joining after Chowning left again. A group of mostly unreleased tracks (the demos that they used to send around to the record companies) from 1972 was released on Varese Sarabande Records in 1985 as The Lost Cabin Sessions.
There were more personnel changes as Canaday left to move to Nashville in 1988 (Sadly, he was killed on September 25, 1999, when the small plane he was traveling in crashed in Nashville, Tenn., while he was working as an aerial photographer) and was briefly succeeded on drums by the band's roadie, Rick 'Lumpy' Davidson, who previously had sometimes joined the group onstage playing washboard.
At the end of 1989 Thompson quit to reform his old band, The Skeletons, and Davidson moved to Branson to take a job as sound mixer at Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...
' theater. In 1990 guitarist Bill Brown (from Supe's side band Supe & the Sandwiches) and Morells drummer Ron Gremp came aboard. The band continued their now-limited touring.
A 1990 release, Now Hear This!, was put out on cassette tape only.
Granda, like Lee and Canaday before him, decided to uproot himself and settle in Nashville where he peddled his songs, searched for a deal for his side band, Supe & the Sandwiches, and became involved in other projects, including a stint as bass player in Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke may refer to:* Michael Clarke * Michael Clarke , Australian cricketer* Michael Clarke , American musician* Michael Clarke , Australian ornithologist...
's Byrds. In the summer of 1992, the Daredevils resumed their ever-dwindling schedule of gigs.
The Ozarks were approached by their former manager, Stan Plesser, to re-record some of their best-known songs for a company called Eclipse Records. This was recorded in Nashville with producer Bob Wright with only Dillon, Cash and Granda (Larry Lee and Steve Canaday guested on backup vocals) playing on this project accompanied by session players. The CD was titled Jackie Blue and appeared in 1996 as a budget product sold mostly at truck stop
Truck stop
A truck stop is a commercial facility predicated on providing fuel, parking, and often food and other services to motorists and truck drivers...
s.
New Era Productions, a company formed by an old Springfield buddy of the group's, Benny Smith, agreed to fund another album of brand new material, 13. This was produced, mostly in Nashville, by Larry Lee, who played and sang on it as well (Chowning too was slated to appear on the album but due to the poor quality of the project opted out). 13 was released in June 1997. Also that year came Archive Alive, a CD of one of their 1973 shows.
On July 23, 2004, Bill Brown died of smoke inhalation in a house fire in Springfield. On October 16 of this same year, the group and several other Springfield bands appeared at the Shrine Mosque in a memorial show for Brown and benefit for his family.
Since that time the band has gone into semi-retirement but usually emerges each year to play shows, sometimes joined by former members Larry Lee and Randle Chowning. The current lineup contains Dillon, Cash, 'Supe,' Ron Gremp and Dave Painter (who joined for the 2004 Shrine Mosque show). Beginning with a series of shows in May 2007 at Gillioz Theater in Springfield, Kelly Brown joined as the group's new keyboardist. These shows were recorded for a later DVD release.
A brand new live album by the Daredevils, a two-disc set featuring 21 tracks, including old favorites, rare songs and a couple of new ones, titled Alive & Wild, was made available in October 2011. This was taken from shows performed at Wildwood Springs Lodge in Steelville, Missouri in the fall of 2010. The band line up for these shows was John Dillon, Steve Cash, Michael ‘Supe’ Granda, Ron Gremp, Dave Painter, Kelly Brown, Bill Jones, Ruell Chappell and Nick Sibley (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals).
Current members
- John Dillon - vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, fiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, mouth harpMouth harpMouth harp may refer to:* Harmonica* Jew's harp...
, autoharpAutoharpThe autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
, dulcimerAppalachian dulcimerThe Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States...
, percussion, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Mike 'Supe' Granda - vocals, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, mandolin, percussion - Steve CashSteve CashSteve Cash is a singer-songwriter and author, most notable as a founding and continuing member of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.-History:...
- vocals, harmonica, percussion, keyboards - Ron Gremp - drums, percussion
- Dave Painter - vocals, guitars
- Kelly Brown - keyboards
Former members
- Buddy Brayfield - vocals, woodwinds, keyboards, percussion
- Randle Chowning - vocals, lead electric & acoustic guitars, steel guitar, harmonica, mandolin
- Larry Lee - vocals, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, acoustic guitar, keyboards, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, percussion, sawMusical sawA musical saw, also called a singing saw, is the application of a hand saw as a musical instrument. The sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin... - Steve Canaday - vocals, drums, percussion, guitar, bass (deceased)
- Bill Jones - woodwinds, horns
- Rune Walle - vocals, guitars, sitarSitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
, banjoBanjoIn the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new... - Jerry Mills - mandolin
- Larry Van Fleet - bass
- Ruell Chappell - vocals, keyboards
- Terry Wilson - vocals, guitars
- Bobby Lloyd Hicks - vocals, drums, percussion
- Joe Terry - vocals, keyboards
- Gary Smith - vocals, guitars
- Jason Le Masters - guitars
- Don Clinton Thompson - vocals, guitars
- Rick 'Lumpy' Davidson - drums, percussion, washboard
- Bill Brown - vocals, guitars (deceased)
Official US studio albums
| Year | Album | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | The Ozark Mountain Daredevils | 26 |
| 1974 | It'll Shine When It Shines It'll Shine When It Shines It'll Shine When It Shines is the second album by the country rock band, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Their debut album was successful enough to give the band the clout to record its sophomore effort. "It'll Shine When It Shines", on the musicians' home turf... |
19 |
| 1975 | The Car Over the Lake Album | 57 |
| 1976 | Men from Earth Men from Earth Men From Earth is the fourth album by the Country rock band The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Founding band memberf Randle Chowning left to go solo after The Car Over The Lake Album and was replaced by Rune Walle in time for "Men From Earth"... |
74 |
| 1977 | Don't Look Down Don't Look Down (album) Don't Look Down is the fifth album by the Country rock band The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. The band lost another founding member, Buddy Brayfield, gained a new producer David Kershenbaum, and added three new players, including singer/guitarist and longtime pal Steve Canaday, who as owner of the New... |
132 |
| 1980 | Ozark Mountain Daredevils Ozark Mountain Daredevils (The Columbia 1980 Album) Ozark Mountain Daredevils is the seventh album issued by the country-rock group The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. It is their first and only album for the Columbia Records label after having issued six previous albums on A&M Records.-Track listing:#"Take You Tonight"#"Jump At The Chance"#"Sailin'... |
170 |
| 1997 | 13 13 (Ozark Mountain Daredevils album) 13 is the last studio album released by country rock band The Ozark Mountain Daredevils.-Track listing:#"Dream-O'#"Everywhere She Goes"#"Bad Road"#"Standing On The Corner Of Live And Learn"#"Over Again"#"New York"#"Where Are We"... |
— |
Official US live albums
| Year | Album | US |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | It's Alive It's Alive (Ozark Mountain Daredevils album) It's Alive is the sixth album by The Ozark Mountain Dardevils and is a 2-record set recorded live in concert and issued in 1978. It contains their hits and well known album cuts.It is their final A&M Records release before moving to Columbia Records.... |
176 |
| 1997 | Archive Alive Archive Alive Archive Alive is a live album released by country rock band the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.It was recorded live at the Cowtown Ballroom in Kansas City, Missouri and the Kiel Opera House in St. Louis, Missouri on consecutive nights in March 1973. A couple of months later they would sign to A&M... |
— |
| 1999 | Concert Classics | — |
| 2006 | Rhythm And Joy Rhythm and Joy Rhythm And Joy 1980 Reunion Concert. Recorded on the last day of 1980at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Missouri. This was the first time in five years the Ozark Mountain Daredevils all played together... |
— |
European releases
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1987 | Heart of the Country |
| 1989 | Modern History |
| 1990 | Now Hear This! Now Hear This! Now Hear This was a self-produced & distributed album by country rock band the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, sold only at concerts on cassette tape.-Track listing:#"I'm Still Dreamin'"#"Everywhere She Goes"#"Hilltop Girl"#"Over Again"#"Love Is Calling"... |
| 2006 | Our Most Dangerous Stunts Our Most Dangerous Stunts Our Most Dangerous Stunts is an album of re-recorded songs by The Ozark Mountain Daredevils recorded in 1996 and originally released as Jackie Blue in the U.S... |
Solo albums
| Year | Album | Solo |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Hearts On Fire | Randle Chowning Band |
| 1982 | Marooned | Larry Lee |
| 1987 | Profit Man | Michael(Supe)Granda |
| 2005 | Beyond Reach | Randle Chowning/Larry Lee |
Live DVDs
| Year | DVD |
|---|---|
| 2006 | Rhythm And Joy Rhythm and Joy Rhythm And Joy 1980 Reunion Concert. Recorded on the last day of 1980at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Missouri. This was the first time in five years the Ozark Mountain Daredevils all played together... |
| 2008 | Live At The Gillioz |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
|||
| 1974 | "If You Wanna Get to Heaven" | 25 | — | The Ozark Mountain Daredevils |
| 1975 | "Jackie Blue Jackie Blue (song) "Jackie Blue" is a single by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils off their 1974 album It'll Shine When It Shines. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975. The song was sung by group drummer Larry Lee.... " |
3 | — | It'll Shine When It Shines |
| 1976 | "If I Only Knew" | 65 | — | The Car Over the Lake Album |
| "You Made It Right" | — | 84 | It'll Shine When It Shines | |
| 1977 | "You Know Like I Know" | 74 | — | Men From Earth |
| 1980 | "Take You Tonight" | 67 | — | Ozark Mountain Daredevils |