The Ozark Mountain Daredevils

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils ranked among the more successful country-rock ensembles of the mid-1970s, fitting chronologically and stylistically midway between the Eagles and Firefall. These practitioners of 1970s country-rock achieved five years of prosperity with A&M Records before persisting in various incarnations through the 1990s, sustained by a fanbase sufficiently devoted to support sporadic album issuances in subsequent periods.

Formed as a six-piece in Missouri at the outset of the 1970s, the lineup featured guitarists John Dillon and Steve Cash alongside blues harpist/singer/guitarist Randle Chowning, drummer/guitarist/singer Larry Lee, keyboardist Buddy Brayfield, and bassist-vocalist Michael Granda; A&M Records secured their signature in 1973.

Under the guidance of Glyn Johns—who had previously collaborated with the Eagles—their inaugural album achieved critical acclaim and produced the Top 30 single “If You Want to Get to Heaven.”

One year afterward came their all-time peak with the number-three chart entry “Jackie Blue,” a subdued country-rock number that continues to surface occasionally among 1970s classics.

An otherworldly quality infused their music and compositions, drawing particular favor from college-aged audiences throughout the decade’s midpoint.

The self-titled debut established the pattern for the ensuing four albums, though the 1978 release Don’t Look Down shifted nearer to country-pop territory than its country-rock predecessors. Their appeal extended to collegiate women and their male companions, augmented by a playful wit evident in the third album The Car Over the Lake Album, whose artwork depicted precisely that image.

Larry Lee, John Dillon—who subsequently appeared with fellow Daredevil Steve Cash on the Waylon Jennings/Jessi Colter concept album White Mansions—and Randle Chowning composed the majority of recognizable tracks including “Jackie Blue,” “Following the Way I Feel,” and “Fly Away Home.”

FM airplay drove their primary success spanning 1973 to 1978, and their popularity warranted a double-LP live recording. A label change to CBS occurred in 1980; by decade’s end Lee and Chowning had departed while steel guitarist Buddy Emmons and mandolinist Rune Walle joined the ranks.

Recording halted during the 1980s, yet the band regrouped in the mid-1990s to resume album-making, accompanied by unexpected yet gratifying archival issues such as pristine early country and bluegrass sessions plus a reunion performance. Their complete A&M catalog has resurfaced on compact disc, sometimes repeatedly with enhancements, particularly across Europe, and into 2007 the ensemble maintained live performances for eager crowds throughout Missouri.

Brown perished in a residential blaze during 2004, prompting the group to stage a commemorative concert that autumn; thereafter they entered a phase of limited activity, surfacing intermittently in shifting formations until stabilizing around the configuration of John Dillon, Steve Cash, Michael Granda, Ron Gremp, Dave Painter, Kelly Brown, Bill Jones, Ruell Chappell and Nick Sibley.

Alive & Wild, a fresh concert album, emerged in 2011.