[music playing] ANNOUNCER: The following program is a production of Ozarks Public Television.

[music playing] NARRATOR: In downtown Springfield, Missouri, at the historic Landers Theatre, the current incarnation of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils played four sold-out shows in March of 2022.

This was the kickoff of the band's 50th anniversary tour.

As band members and backstage crew prepared for these performances, founding members John Dillon and Michael "Supe" Granda reminisce.

JOHN DILLON: We're in the Landers Theatre, getting ready to go on stage in a number of hours for our 50th anniversary string of shows.

And I'm having the weirdest flashback.

Because I'm just looking at Supe over there.

And 50 years ago, almost within a few weeks, I was sitting in this-- basically, this exact same seat, watching everybody-- the crew-- put everything together for the first show in this theatre, right?

Yeah.

I mean, it was just-- and it's just so crazy to be back here again.

NARRATOR: So after 50 years, what is the secret to the Ozark Mountain Daredevil's longevity and success?

[music playing] "The Ozark Mountain Daredevils-- Backstage."

[music playing] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Springfield, Missouri would become the nexus for the group that would become known as the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

Well, I'm a local boy.

I'm from Springfield.

I went to school in Springfield for high school, then went to four years at Columbia, then moved out to the West Coast for a while, when it was the thing to do.

in '69, and moved back here.

1965, I came up here to go to school and stayed at Drury for four years.

And I think I graduated in 1978 in absentia, I think.

I'm the most rural guy.

I came from the boonies, Hal County.

I came to Springfield in 1969.

At the time, it was the only college around that my family could afford.

It was a state college.

It wasn't a university yet.

There's a lot going on for a town Springfield's size.

And so I eventually-- I think it took me all the way to college before I really start-- felt like I was fitting in and part of the whole thing.

I came to Springfield because I was looking for someplace other than Arkansas to be.

I'd never been anywhere except Louisiana for a couple of years when I was a kid.

And I was interested in a liberal arts education.

NARRATOR: The many colleges in Springfield became places where young men could go to avoid getting involved in the ongoing Vietnam conflict.

MICHAEL GRANDA: The only major I declared was staying out of Vietnam.

That was my main-- I majored in that.

And I minored in-- well, I was always, always been a math head, mathematics.

I didn't goof off because I didn't have the luxury because Vietnam was happening, '68.

It's become well-known now that '68 was the worst year.

That was the Tet Offensive and when they surprised everybody.

And that was the year I graduated.

So I was like, OK, you gotta stay in school, start a family, or you're in the jungle.

NARRATOR: Each of these young men had their own path towards finding their sound.

RANDLE CHOWNING: The Beatle invasion, the British invasion, and everybody went gaga.

That kind of folded into my interest in music.

But I started writing songs in high school, probably halfway through high school.

And I was a slow learner on guitar.

I gave it up two or three times.

MICHAEL GRANDA: When I was a kid in St. Louis, I was in a band.

And I wanted to go see all the other bands.

I'd go around St. And I'd go see the Isley Brothers, and I'd go see Bob Kuban.

And I went and saw-- like I said, Ike and Tina Turner.

They were all kind of local bands up in St. Louis.

My favorite, though, was Chuck Berry.

Chuck Berry had a farm up right outside St. Louis, in Wentzville.

And.

He would have parties out there.

And he had parties out there, and he would be playing and rocking and rolling.

And as a 17-year-old kid who couldn't drink yet, I could go to Chuck Berry's and drink.

And he was up there.

And he was playing.

And it was magnificent.

The thing about Chuck Berry is not only the rock and roll, but his lyrics are so poetic.

But I loved Chuck Berry.

And so when I was in my teens-- I mean, whenever, maybe in '58, '59, I can't remember when it happened-- but I went to the drugstore and bought "Johnny B.

Goode."

That was my first record.

It was also Steve Cash's first 45 that he bought.

I brought some rock and roll sensibilities with me and then got down to Springfield.

And once I got down here, that's when I developed an affinity for country music.

I realized all of a sudden that I always knew that music had power.

But now, based on a lot of things that were happening culturally-- marijuana, for instance, the Woodstock nation, hippie bands with hippie music, that kind of thing-- I mean, that was a real thing.

That was a real era.

And I realized that was where I wanted to-- I wanted to fit in there.

I felt like I fit there better than anyplace else.

And so I began to hone some skills with regard to electric guitars.

NARRATOR: As music became their haven, these artists began to perform in various groups around Southwest Missouri.

And they were becoming quite aware of each other's talents.

The musical groups in this era would exchange band members frequently.

There was a club called The Warehouse that we played.

Shorty Dunn played there.

Granny's Bathwater played there.

And John Dillon played there on a weeknight a couple of times as a solo.

I had become friends with Elizabeth Anderson.

I met her at a club called The Warehouse, I think.

I was just fascinated by her story.

And we became friends.

And if we cut to the chase, we became partners.

And the next thing you know, we are living together.

And she was really good friends with Steve Cash.

And Steve had just moved back from Berkeley, where he went out to do a number of things.

He surfed once.

But mainly, he went to Berkeley and monitored literature classes and met a number of what would become the San Francisco poets.

He was that kind of mind.

I met Steve Cash at SMS.

There was an indep-- there was a student film festival.

So I was there with my friends to see my film.

He was there with his friends to see his film.

Our two groups of friends immediately went like this.

And that's when I met him.

I went, oh, man, that cat's pretty cool.

All right.

Fantastic.

Yeah, all right.

We had a great time.

And so that John Dillon and friends thing with Steve and me and some other people-- Elizabeth was there, as well-- it was a real loose congregation of folks.

There was no structure to it.

I've always believed that music should be inclusive.

And then I went and saw Granny's Bathwater.

And everything changed.

I said, oh, man, I love these guys.

Because I liked what they were playing.

NARRATOR: Granny's Bathwater became the band around the Springfield area.

This group was assembled by Mike Bunge.

CURT HARGIS: Mike Bunge is kind of an institution around Springfield, music-wise.

He played every instrument you could get on a bandstand.

And he was instrumental in bringing pretty heady, kind of high-class music to his bands.

He was a great horn player and kind of a visionary when it comes to arrangements and that sort of thing.

And he put together really great musicians.

These guys were playing.

And I sat in with them.

And it was Mike Bunge on guitar, Dave Pease on bass, and Bobby Lloyd-- Lloyd Hicks-- on drums.

And the next thing you know, we just had a band.

And somebody said, we need to come up with a name.

And somebody said, how about-- because nobody took names seriously-- how about Granny's Bathwater?

Great, that's good.

Let's do that.

CURT HARGIS: The band changed members pretty often.

And they just came and went.

But if I thought about it, I could come up with maybe 12 more people that played with them.

RANDLE CHOWNING: That's the first time I saw Larry Lee play drums and sing was-- he was with Granny's Bathwater.

But the thing is, in Springfield, there weren't that many opportunities.

We had to go to Joplin because there wasn't that many clubs here then.

There was only maybe three.

NARRATOR: The budding songwriters and musicians that would end up forming the Ozark Mountain Daredevils were playing with other musical groups.

And in 1971, the idea for a new music venue came on the scene, the idea of Curt Hargis and his business partner, Steve Canaday.

CURT HARGIS: I didn't know Steve until we met on the day that we shook hands and decided that we'd go forward with this club.

And he'd just gotten out of the Army.

And I was still in the Marine Corps Reserve.

So we set out to build this club.

And as you know, it turned out to be a pretty interesting deal.

MICHAEL KUELKER: 1749 East Trafficway is the address of the New Bijou Theatre.

It was a short-lived but much-loved venue.

It served the 20 to 35 population who were interested in rock music and related music.

Because you had a lot of interest in blues rock and country rock.

CURT HARGIS: We had bands from both coasts and all over the place.

And they were national touring acts that were-- some were supporting new albums that they had made.

And what we really built there and what I envisioned was a music theatre and thus the name.

The New Bijou Theatre, Larry helped drive nails down there, if you will, and was actually tending bar down there.

CURT HARGIS: It was a proper club and had a lot of class, a lot of mood.

And it's a really relaxed place to be.

I had a little gig, by that time, at the New Bijou Theatre.

Randle Chowning actually came up to John, who was playing at this place called the New Bijou Theatre once a week.

John Dillon and Friends, I think, is how it was billed.

And it could be anybody.

I was like a irritating little brother, if you will.

Because I was working on John.

I wanted to get-- because he had all these ideas for original songs-- I was trying to get him to get together with me.

And then when Larry got loose, I'm going, oh, my god.

Larry is not playing with anybody.

And he was down at the Bijou, holding down the fort in the afternoon.

One day, I got a call from I believe it was Larry Lee, and said, there is this guy named Randle Chown-- Randy Chowning is what we called him then.

I've always called him Randy.

Randy wants to-- Randy Chowning wants to get together with some people and share some original songs.

Would you come down at this particular time on this day to the New Bijou Theatre?

And I said sure.

But the first time we got together was in the Bijou club, under the viaduct, under Glenstone and there was a stage and a house PA.

But we sat around with acoustic guitars in an office space back in the building because it was warmer.

This was in December.

And the first, I think, two times we got together-- I know the first, for sure, but it was probably two-- was John and Larry and I. NARRATOR: December 1971, these three unique voices came together.

We jumped in with three-part harmony.

And it was like, whoa.

(SINGING) But there's one thing for certain.

When it comes my time, I'll leave this old world with a satisfied mind.

We were building a club, and they were building a band.

And it was just a-- kind of a perfect storm.

I said, Supe's over on campus, and he's just goofing off.

I said, I don't think he's going to a single class.

And I only had hardly any classes to go to.

So I had the afternoons off.

And I said, do you guys mind if Supe-- I bring Supe over and he sits in and plays a little bass?

So he started coming.

And then maybe we got together once or twice.

And that was four of us.

So Supe sat in there.

He's playing real conscientiously.

They kind of liked it.

And he was a funny guy, funny character.

And so they accepted that.

And then John says, well, he said, I think we really would benefit if Steve Cash came in and sat in with us.

I went over to Steve's house.

He was living-- I think he was living with his dad.

Nobody had a job.

Nobody did anything.

And so I said, I'm going to go down to the Bijou with some of these guys.

And we're going to like, sit around and play music.

You want to come?

He goes no.

I said, why not?

He goes, I don't want to do that.

I can't do that.

I said, yeah, you can.

So we argued for about five minutes.

And I said, Steve, you need to come with me.

Just come and hang out.

Have a beer.

Oh, OK.

When John brought Steve Cash over to the rehearsal, I went, oh, man, cool.

Oh, it's good to see you again.

All right.

So we kind of met-- re-met.

Oh, you play harmonica?

Oh, I didn't know that.

Oh, great.

Well, let's start playing music.

That's how we started playing music.

I know you guys write your own music, and I know Larry Lee writes his own music.

And why don't we get a band together where we do all original stuff, which nobody really did in those days?

I knew the band was going to be successful from the very first song.

Because I knew all of the elements.

I knew all the components.

I knew all the guys.

And I said, well, this could work.

We're all going to get together and play?

Wow, this could be really good.

We started playing.

And we had a different name every time we played.

I think our very first gig was at the St. John's Hospital in the Four North sector is what they called it, which was the loony bin.

[laughs] Every time we would meet, there were new tunes.

Every time we'd get together, somebody had a new song.

It was like a faucet, a waterfall.

Just stuff was falling out of the air.

And they were all great tunes.

The songs I was writing were simple, simple sort of "Standing on the Rock" or "Beauty in the River," "Walking down the Road."

They're really simple tunes.

And then Larry would come in with, like, "Spaceship Orion."

And Randle would come in with "Road to Glory."

And I knew something was going on.

It's almost like the fates had conspired some way to shine a little light on this little group of folks.

NARRATOR: March the 11th, 1972, tragedy strikes.

A fire breaks out at the New Bijou Theatre.

JOHN DILLON: And then the club burned down.

I mean, to the ground, basically.

And we had no place to play.

And so we were just kind of hanging out.

And we sort of dispersed, went here and there.

When we booked a concert down at Landers, just through our own production, if you will, we said, well, we gotta have a name.

So we played it under Family Tree.

But before the club burned down, we were able to record five or six songs on a little reel to reel there.

Somehow or another, Steve Canaday had possession of it when the club burned.

And that was probably the only thing that was saved from the club.

Steve Canaday is of such importance to the story of the Daredevils.

And it's unfortunate that he's not here to speak for himself.

He was a musician.

He was a nightclub co-owner.

He was a singer and a songwriter.

Steve was kind of an unusual guy.

He would do things that weren't too normal.

JOHN DILLON: Next thing you know, I'm getting a call from him from New York.

I didn't know he was in New York.

And he said, are you sitting down?

I said, no.

He said sit down.

He said I just came from John Hammond's office, Columbia Records, in New York City.

And he said, I don't know how I got in there, but I had the cassette that you guys had recorded at the Bijou with me.

And I thought, I'm just going to give it a shot.

And I went to CBS Records at the very top of the building.

I went to a secretary.

She said Mr. Hammond does not see anyone.

It was a cold call.

She said, I'll buzz him.

And she said, you're not going to believe this, but he wants to see you.

And Steve Canaday walked into this gigantic office.

He said John Hammond Sr., the guy that discovered everybody-- Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, I mean, he was like Mr. Columbia Records-- was sitting at his desk, reading the paper, with his back to Steve.

And he said, you have a tape?

He went, yeah, I got a cassette.

He said let me have it.

And he put it there and put it in the player and never turned around, never stopped reading the paper, hit play.

And "Black Sky" came on.

[MUSIC - OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS, "BLACK SKY"] (SINGING) Well, I sure take it with me wherever I go.

And you might like to see it, but it never does show, like a wind in the valley that never does blow, like the grass in the back you never did mow.

It's a black sky formin' on the ridge.

It's a woman waiting, standing on the bridge.

It's a price that you pay for walking on the ledge.

It's everything you do and nothing that you did.

And he put down his paper.

And then he listened to a few more things.

He said, I like this stuff.

He said I'm going to send somebody down from Epic Records to meet the band and figure out what we got here.

We may have something.

NARRATOR: John Hammond sent Michael Sunday down to make a demo tape.

And so we financed a recording session that took place in July 1972, known as "The Lost Cabin Sessions."

Hammond thought he was going to get two songs in finished form.

And the guys churned out nearly two dozen.

We were very together and very efficient.

So we went in and said, let's play this one.

We knew it.

We knew the arrangement.

We knew everything.

We laid it down.

Next.

Let's do this.

[snapping fingers] Let's do this song.

Let's do that song.

Let's do this song.

Let's do that song.

And then we had 24 songs on this demo tape, of which John Hammond had the first option.

The tape went back up to New York.

And Michael Sunday and John Hammond listened to it and went, nah, we pass.

They passed on us.

That was the tape that they paid for that we now owned.

We took this complete demo tape, the whole thing that we'd sent to Epic, we took it to Good Karma Productions in Kansas City.

MICHAEL KUELKER: Good Karma management signed the Daredevils to a management deal in 1972, headed by Stanley Plesser and Paul Peterson.

Their efforts are important in the development of the band.

They put the band on the road regionally, in places like the Cowtown Ballroom and also local colleges.

Stan and Paul went to Los Angeles to do some work at A&M Records with-- they were also managing Brewer & Shipley.

So they went out to A&M Records to do Brewer & Shipley business.

At the end of the meeting, Stan and Paul said, oh, and by the way, we have a tape of another band back in the Ozarks.

You might want to give a listen to this.

Glyn Johns and David Anderle were friends.

He was probably, arguably, the best producer in the world at that time.

And David Anderle was head of A&R for A&M Records.

And they were friends.

And they were looking for something to do together.

GLYN JOHNS: And I went into his office one day to say hello.

And he was playing the demos that he'd just been given of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

And I said, wow, what's that?

Sounds fantastic.

So he told me that he'd just been sent the demos.

And that was about all he knew about it, really.

So I said, oh, they're great.

They're absolutely great.

Come on, you're not doing this on your own.

Let's do it together.

I wanted in on it, basically.

And so he agreed.

And we went to the Ozarks as a result.

We made a trip and met with the lads.

And that's how it all started.

JOHN DILLON: And they flew to Kansas City to see us play at Cowtown Ballroom.

MICHAEL GRANDA: David Anderle went back to A&M.

He went to the M of A&M, which is Jerry Moss, and said, sign these guys.

Jerry Moss signed us.

NARRATOR: Suddenly, the world for these musicians would be expanding beyond their Ozarks hills.

But yet again, the name of the group would become an issue.

We were the Family Tree.

We signed our record contract.

And the first item of business we had to attend to was a name change.

Because there was already a Family Tree who had trademarked the name.

I guess it was a folk group up in New England or something or somebody somewhere.

So we knew we had to change the name.

So we got together.

OK, let's have a change the band name party.

What's the first thing we're going to do?

Well, let's go get some beer.

OK. Then we'll smoke some dope, and we'll drink some tequila, and we'll start.

So we were Burlap Socks, and we were The Emergency Band.

And finally, back in those years, there were, you know, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.

Every band had to have a paragraph in front of-- Pure Prairie League.

One of the names that came up was Cosmic Corncob and His Amazing Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

Ha ha ha.

We all laughed.

We didn't really-- that was at the end of the party.

We kept thinking of names.

And we kept coming back to that.

Because it was kind of a joke.

We thought, ah, come on.

How far can we-- there was always a non-serious element in this, along with the serious element.

I don't know how that blended, but there was.

And so it was actually Steve Cash that coined that name.

The first thing we had to do was drop the word "amazing" because of our friends in The Amazing Rhythm Aces.

So that got it down to the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

Because no one wanted to step to the forefront and be Cosmic Corncob like George Frayne stepped to the front and became Commander Cody.

No one wanted to do that.

And when we got to A&M, they wanted to know our name.

And we went, oh, my gosh.

So we just threw out the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, thinking that they were going to freak out.

And they loved it.

And when they loved it, I was just, oh, I was just-- oh, no.

I mean, we're going to be stuck with that for the rest of our lives-- the Ozark Mountain Daredevils?

I said it's like the Beach Boys.

You want to be a Beach Boy, you know?

And yet I wouldn't change it for the world now, you know?

NARRATOR: With their names set in infamy, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils-- John Dillon, Michael "Supe" Granda, Randle Chowning, Larry Lee, Steve Cash, and Buddy Brayfield-- would set their sights on making their first album with A&M Records.

And then David and I spoke about a time period to make the record and where to make it.

And the decision was made to make it at Olympic Studios in London, which had to have been my idea.

It was somewhere I was extremely familiar with.

And it appealed to everybody to do it there.

Every morning, I'd get up and go [inhales sharply],, oh, yeah, I'm going to London.

[inhales] Oh, I'm in London.

[inhales] Oh, I'm in Olympic Studios.

I'd pinch myself every morning to make sure that what was happening was actually happening.

Yeah, there we were.

I find it fascinating that Glyn Johns worked with the Daredevils so early in their career.

Because by the time of that first album, he had worked with The Beatles, The Who, The Stones.

He was fresh from the Eagles.

And here's this ragtag hippie band from Southwest Missouri.

And they go to London, England to record at Glyn Johns' home base, Olympic Studios, for their first album.

GLYN JOHNS: First of all, it was a very original sound.

The songwriting was quite unusual.

The blend of the voices was probably the key to it all.

But it was a mixture of a lot of things.

It really got me.

And it just made me grin.

I think the major thing about the Ozark Mountain Daredevils is the overriding sense of humor that has always existed with them, coupled with the fact they're actually really good musicians.

I mean, people tend to forget that because of everything else-- the vocal sound or whatever.

But they all played really well.

And they had an incredible approach to what they were doing that was really refreshing, musically, and also the fact that the comedic aspect was extremely refreshing.

Glyn is an artist.

He approaches the recording machine and the board and the faders just like anybody would approach-- a great musician would approach the cello.

[music playing] He is that-- sensibility-wise, he's an artist.

NARRATOR: December 1973, the band's first self-titled album, nicknamed the "Quilt Album," would come to represent the band's diversity, not only in their personalities but also the group's sound.

GLYN JOHNS: They had a great vocal sound.

And when I walked into David's office that day, that's what I heard.

I went, wow.

That's-- the sound they made then.

The sound of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils reflected the place where the Ozarks is.

You know, it's not really Southern.

It's not Northern.

It's not exactly Western.

But it's all of these things.

It brings all of these together.

And the Daredevils were bringing together rock and roll and old rockabilly songs, gospel, blues, country, folk.

They were just mixing all this stuff together.

And you got a really unique sound and a sound that sometimes changed drastically from one track to the next.

GLYN JOHNS: I've never particularly agreed with different genres of music.

Because so many people cross over and are influenced by other.

So I wouldn't-- I suppose if you had to, it would be country rock.

But I mean, even that doesn't apply.

They're not really country.

I don't know.

They're Ozark-- they're Ozark.

[laughs] They certainly are.

That's exactly what they are.

And more power to them.

Yeah, brilliant.

NARRATOR: With the release of the first album, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils were gaining popularity.

At the same time, a Springfield, Missouri record shop was also taking off.

Tom and Pam Pierson's store, Kaleidoscope, would become entwined with the band.

When the album came out, a lot of people-- it was a semi big deal.

Because it was a local band who had an actual album.

It put them on the map.

They were a local group that actually made an album.

And in those days, to make an album, you had to be on a big label.

You can't just go print some vinyl up yourself.

It was kind of an out-of-body experience.

What happens is when you record stuff, your focus is really intense in the moment of doing it.

And I intentionally didn't listen to that first album.

We came back from London.

I refused to listen to it for a full month.

But I remember when it came on the-- driving in my little VW Bug, driving along with the radio-- and I heard it come on the radio.

And I'm like, [gasps] oh, oh, my god.

It's on the radio.

I'm on the radio.

We're on the radio.

Oh, my the road.

We turn it all the way up.

And it was a absolute thrill of my life.

And it still is.

FM radio proved to be enormously important to them, FM radio at a time that was more free-form and eclectic and less beholden to the corporate model that we've seen in the last 35 years.

In the 1970s, FM radio was a more wide-open field, which was perfect for the band.

NARRATOR: Many of the songs on that first album were gaining popularity thanks to radio airplay.

And one tune, in particular, "If You Wanna Get to Heaven," was rising up the charts to become number 25 on Billboard's Hot 100.

JOHN DILLON: The lyrics were perfect.

It was rock and roll, but it was kind of out of a left door somewhere, you know?

"If you wanna get to heaven, you've got to raise a little hell."

Oh, my god.

I was just-- you just think, where does that come from?

[applause] Thank you very much.

[MUSIC - OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS, "IF YOU WANNA GET TO HEAVEN"] Thank you for listening to us tonight.

Everybody at home, thank you for turning on your TV onto this channel at this time.

We got a little song called "If You Wanna Get to Heaven, You Gotta Raise a Little Hell."

Come out, and see us.

Clap!

(SINGING) I never read it in a book.

I never saw it on a show.

But I heard it in the alley on a weird radio.

If you want a drink of water, you got to get it from a well.

If you wanna get to heaven, you got to raise a little hell.

I never felt it in my feet.

I've never felt it in my soul.

But I heard it in the alley.

Now it's in my rock and roll.

If you want to know a secret, you've got to promise not to tell.

If you want to get the heaven, you've got to raise a little hell.

I never thought it'd be so easy.

I never thought it'd be so fun.

But I heard it in the alley.

Now I got it on the run.

If you want to see an angel, you got to find her where she fell.

If you wanna get to heaven, you got to raise a little hell.

Come on.

Help us out a little bit.

[rhythmic clapping] Bill Jones playing the saxophone, ladies and gentlemen.

If you wanna get to heaven, if you wanna get to heaven, if you wanna get to heaven, if you wanna get to heaven.

[cheers and applause] Well, right after we became-- we were signed to A&M, it was suggested that we all move to Los Angeles.

And we just said no, we're not going to do that.

We're from the Ozarks.

This is our home.

This is where we feel comfortable.

And so we never did even consider moving.

This was home.

That in the 1970s, there's still a whole generation of old timers out there, living on the land, living in ways that, by the 1970s, had become quaint and anachronistic.

And if you're a young 20-something countercultural, back to the land or a hippie, that's a real draw to be able to come and live close to these people that, to you, kind of represent history, in a way, and represent an ideal of the way to live close to the land and to sort of buck the system.

NARRATOR: The Ozarks region is a key part of the Daredevils' music.

So for the band's second album, "It'll Shine When It Shines," the decision was made to record the album in the Ozarks.

Band member Randle Chowning and his older brother, Rusty, were renting an old Civil War-era farmhouse in Aldridge, Missouri from Randle's sociology professor at Missouri State University, Dr. Oreen Ruedi.

Bizarre stuff.

So Glyn comes.

We do the album.

He's got all this stuff in the truck.

And it's like a box truck, a Penske, like a larger one.

So you got room for a board and speakers and all that stuff.

GLYN JOHNS: Well, the interesting thing is wherever and how unusual the circumstances are-- for example, the difference between a recording studio in London and a house in the middle of nowhere in the Ozark Mountains-- once you start working, it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever.

Because you're concentrating on the music and the performance.

A lot of people think that you have to have this perfect acoustic environment in order to play music or record it.

And of course, that's complete nonsense.

So in fact, some of the better records I've ever made have been in really unusual circumstances-- in someone's living room or whatever else.

And you make it work.

And very often, I won't say it's an improvement, but it's different from what you'd normally do.

So it can be incredibly stimulating, actually.

And that record that we made in that little wooden house in the Ozarks is a classic example of that.

NARRATOR: At the Ruedi Valley Ranch, an old junior high school friend of Steve Cash, Jim Mayfield, started taking photos of the band, the recording sessions, and life at the ranch.

Well, Lydia was the chef/cook.

She prepared meals for everybody that was there.

And it was like this big entourage of roadies and soundmen and the band and, I mean, hangers on.

There was a lot of people there.

So she was fixing food for everyone that showed up there.

When I'm doing something like that, I just kind of roam around with my camera.

And if something catches my eye, you know, I take a picture of it.

I had pictures of probably everybody that was there.

I just happened to walk by her, and she was sitting there, I think, at a picnic table or something.

And so I'll ask her if I could take her picture.

And she said, oh, you know.

The typical thing you get from people is, oh, I'll break your camera.

So you know, then she just kind of threw her hands up.

And I got that one frame of her.

And the band saw it, and they wanted to use it on the album cover.

Jim's great picture of Lydia, who was cooking for us at Ruedi Valley Ranch.

And we could not come up with a title.

We couldn't come up with an album jacket, a cover, anything.

And finally, the people at A&M said, if you don't name this album, we're going to.

And they chose "It'll Shine When It Shines."

And they took that picture of her and put her in the middle of a blue Willow plate with water on it and-- I mean, we just couldn't believe it, the creativity that was coming out of-- like I say, had it not been for A&M, you know, we wouldn't be here.

NARRATOR: A&M's release of the second album, "It'll Shine When It Shines," in the fall of 1974 gave rise to more Daredevil fans that began purchasing their music from stores all across the country.

But in their home base of Springfield, Missouri, the records were flying off the shelves.

Tom Pierson that runs Kaleidoscope and was one of our biggest fans and sold more records than anybody in the world in the beginning.

The first album put them on the map.

And the song put them on the map.

But when the second album came out, I believe in '74, it came out in the fall, we used that album as a sale item for our store anniversary.

And we bought 50 cases.

We really sold a lot of those albums.

And it was great.

Because if you were a fan, you could get the album.

And there was enough that their fans from around the area could get them, also, not just here in Springfield but Willard or Rogersville, the fans that they had locally, had a place that they could come and know that they would be able to get the album.

And so we sold a lot of those.

And that really, really put us on the map.

I mean, the Daredevils really started in '72, as did the store, and Bass Pro, by the way, and the sub shop.

But that really cemented us as the place to come.

NARRATOR: Little did they know that that album, "It'll Shine When It Shines," would contain the song that would become the Ozark Mountain Daredevils' greatest hit, "Jackie Blue."

We took a break for lunch, and everybody exited the building.

And I came out of the truck, and I went into the house.

Maybe I was going to adjust something or whatever.

I don't know.

And Larry Lee was sitting at the piano.

And he was playing this song.

And now, they'd played me and David 80 songs, I think, for this record.

I mean, they had the most extraordinary catalog of material.

And I'd never heard this particular song before.

And I went, wow, what is that?

It sounds fantastic.

Oh, he said, it's something I'm dicking around with.

I said, well, carry on dicking around with it because we should cut it.

So that's how "Jackie Blue" got on the record, I guess, yeah.

It was another quirk of fate, which we all have every day, I suppose.

"Jackie Blue" was presented to Glyn Johns at Ruedi Valley Ranch during the recording of "It'll Shine When It Shines," when they did the raw recordings those two weeks in the summer of 1974.

Glyn Johns heard that and thought, that's a hit and then told Larry Lee, it's got to be about a woman.

Because Jackie Blue was really a melancholy tale about someone that they knew, I think in the druggy scene.

And once it was retooled by Larry Lee and Steve Cash lyrically to be about a woman, that's what hit.

That hit the sweet spot and became a monster song for them.

[MUSIC - OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS, "JACKIE BLUE"] (SINGING) Ooh-hoo-hoo Jackie Blue lives her life from inside a room.

Makes you think that her life is a drag.

Ooh, Jackie, what fun you have had.

You like your life in a free-form style.

You'll take an inch, but you'd love a mile.

There never seems to be quite enough floating around to fill your loving cup.

Ooh-hoo-hoo Jackie Blue, what's a game, girl, if you never lose?

Ask a winner, and you'll probably find ooh, Jackie, they've lost at some time.

Don't try to tell me that you're not aware of what you're doing and that you don't care.

You say it's easy, just a natural thing, like playing music, but you never sing.

Ooh-hoo-hoo, Jackie Blue, making wishes that never come true, going places where you've never been, ooh, Jackie, you're going again.

Ooh-hoo-hoo, Jackie Blue lives a dream that can never come true.

Making love is like sifting through sand, ooh, Jackie, it slipped through your hand.

Every day in your indigo eyes, I watch the sunset, but I don't see it rise.

Moonlight and stars in your strawberry wine, you'd take the world, but you won't take the time.

Ooh-hoo-hoo Jackie Blue lives a life from inside of a room, makes you think that her life is a drag.

Ooh, Jackie, what fun you have had.

Ooh, Jackie, Ooh, Jackie, ooh, Jackie, ooh, Jackie, hey, hey, hey, hey.

[applause] NARRATOR: "Jackie Blue" reached number three on Billboard's Hot 100 list and number one on the Cash Box singles chart, while also having strong international appeal in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.

[music playing] David Anderle would become the sole producer of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils' next album, which was produced in Nashville.

The first album was made in Olympic.

Oh, my god, that's perfect.

We've got to go there.

The second album we made in the Ruedi Valley.

That was that.

When it came time for the third album, Quad Studios in Nashville was the hip place.

That's where Neil Young was recording.

That's where Jimmy Buffett was recording, the hippie country guys were recording.

So we went there.

We recorded in Quad Studios.

I know that after the big hit single "Jackie Blue" that hopes were high for just a continual ascent in terms of record sales.

And it didn't quite happen that way.

But A&M stuck with the band.

And as a result, we have some great albums to listen to today.

"The Car over the Lake Album," even if it didn't sell great, it's a great album.

The performances, the lyrics, everything about it is something to love.

NARRATOR: To promote "The Car over the Lake Album," the band was getting ready for a European tour.

And as part of this, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils made the leap to television on the BBC.

JOHN DILLON: The first recorded show we did was "The Old Gray Whistle Test" on our first tour of Europe.

That was British television.

The TVs looked great.

I'm going to play a song now about chickens.

[cheers, applause] This tune incorporates the use of this strange instrument right here.

It's called an Ozark Mountain mouth bow.

It also features Steve Cash on harmonica.

[MUSIC - OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS, "CHICKEN TRAIN"] (SINGING) Chicken train is running all day.

Chicken train running all day.

Chicken train running all day.

I can't get on.

I can't get off.

Chicken train, take the chickens away.

Ooh.

It's a laser beam in my drain.

A laser beam in my dream.

A laser beam in my dream.

I can't get on.

I can't get off.

A laser beam like a sawed off dream.

[bawking] Chicken train running all day.

Chicken train running all day.

Chicken train running all day.

I can't get on.

I can't get off.

Chicken train, take the chickens away.

[bawking] [cheers and applause] "Old Gray Whistle Test" had great sound and a great, beautiful, ornate theater.

They had two balconies and a full crowd that was very receptive and great cameras.

And so we were like-- and we were pretty tight.

And that's probably-- that could be the best example of what we were.

So we did the show that night.

It was perfect.

We had amazing reviews on it the next day.

And then we were off on a European tour.

And we did Scotland-- Glasgow and Edinburgh-- Bergen, Norway, where we met Rune Walle, our future guitar player.

He's Norwegian.

MICHAEL GRANDA: And he knew all of our material.

So we went one night.

And it was just a conglomeration of Vikings and hillbillies.

And we were all drinking.

And we were all smoking.

And we were all singing.

And we had a great time.

And then the next night, we did the same thing.

And they came out on stage with us.

And we sang together, and we had a great time.

At the end of the tour, we came home, and Randy quit.

And we were sitting-- we were discussing ourselves, well, what are we going to do?

JOHN DILLON: So we were left without a guitar player, for one thing, and a writer of a lot of our songs that made a difference in the first three records.

And we had a contract to fulfill with A&M.

So we called up Rune Walle, a guy we had met in Bergen, Norway, who played guitar, knew all of our songs.

And I remember he was like a Viking guy, all this hair, stuff, played great guitar.

I said, man, how do you-- every lick was perfect.

I said, how do you know these songs?

He goes, oh, the winters are really dark and long in Norway.

So we called him up and said, you want to be in the Ozark Mountain Daredevils?

He goes, yeah, sure.

We flew him over, got him a green card.

He became our guitar player.

MICHAEL KUELKER: A&M Records was a great label for the band.

I think the personnel involved at the record company worked for them.

It was a very artist-friendly label.

And that's what this band needed, someone who understands who they are.

And I think A&M really got them.

NARRATOR: The band moved forward with plans to record their fourth album with A&M Records, using the new Caribou Ranch studios in Colorado.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Caribou Ranch opened.

Oh, you gotta go out here.

Because you gotta go out here because that's where Chicago's recording and America and the Sons of Champlin and, you know, Elton John.

That was the hip and happening place.

So we went out there and recorded there.

So we recorded this record at Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado, way up in the mountains.

It was owned by Jimmy Guercio, who produced Chicago.

3,000 acres, great studio, 9,000 feet.

We couldn't breathe, but we loved it up there.

And so we were sitting around one night, trying to figure out what to call the name of our next record.

And we had decided to use this amazing photograph of Roscoe and Clarence as the cover.

JIM MAYFIELD: Supe got ahold of me and wanted to know if I would be interested in taking some pictures of those guys.

And of course, I was.

Initially, we asked if we could take pictures of their mules because they had mules and some horses and typical Missouri mule kind of thing.

And then they just kind of, on their own, asked if they could be in the picture.

So it all worked out well.

We had the image.

But we didn't have a name.

So we had another name the band-- no, it wasn't a name-- name the record party.

So we put the picture up on the recording console.

And we looked at it.

And we're drinking beer or whatever was around.

And we stared at it.

And we said, we've got to come up with a name for this record.

And it got way out in the weeds.

The names were very, very esoteric.

And then somebody said, Men from Mars.

We went, ooh, wow.

And then somebody else went, Men from Earth.

[gasps] And that's how that got its title.

Pretty appropriate, too.

NARRATOR: The "Men from Earth" album is released in the fall of 1976.

And the song "You Know Like I Know" reaches into the Billboard Top 100.

Record sales and radio play of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils had plateaued, but the band kept recording while changes in the band's membership were taking place.

Buddy Brayfield is in the band for about four and a half years.

In late 1976, he leaves to resume medical studies, which is what he was doing at the time that he joined the band.

RUELL CHAPPELL: Buddy called me.

He was going to become a doctor, which he did.

And he called me and said, you are the guy that should take this job.

Because I wasn't married.

I knew how to play piano.

I sang.

And I knew most of their songs, just from being around them.

But I practiced for two days, and we left on tour.

And that's how I came to the band.

I mean, it was literally an overnight thing.

Ironically, I had been-- at the very same time, I was ending up my degree at SMS, and I was going to be a teacher.

And so they, OK, you're going to teach at Greenwood.

And I said, OK. And I had hair down to here, you know?

So I went in to meet my Greenwood guy.

And he said, your name Ruell Chappell?

Yeah.

You're supposed to teach at Greenwood?

And I said, yes, sir.

And he said, not with that hair, you won't.

And so I went home and said, you know, this teaching thing probably isn't for me, anyway.

And I swear Buddy Brayfield called me that afternoon.

It was the same day I got told I can't be a teacher I got told I could be a Daredevil.

So that's-- that's it from then on.

NARRATOR: Also adding to the onstage lineup is Steve Canaday, who was instrumental in getting the band their shot in the recording industry.

He joins the band as a guitar player while wearing many other hats.

Steve Canaday is of paramount importance to the Daredevils' story because he road manages the band.

He plays drums.

He contributes songs.

He drives the tour van.

NARRATOR: A&M continues their relationship with the Daredevils with the release of the fifth album, "Don't Look Down," in October of 1977 and a live album entitled, "It's Alive" in 1979, fulfilling their contract with A&M Records.

MICHAEL KUELKER: Their recording contract was in two-album increments, after which the label could release or renew the band.

And so they renewed the band two more times.

So they have five studio albums and a live album for A&M records, also a best of.

And then they get signed to Columbia Records in 1980.

That was a one-off deal, as it turned out.

That album is very good, but it didn't really catch hold the way that the record company apparently wanted.

And so that leads into what I call the wilderness years.

And they continue recording.

They do albums less frequently.

They're still songwriting, and they are performing.

They stay on the road.

When we lost our record contract, everybody went every which way.

Larry went to Nashville.

Rune went for a while, then he went back to Norway.

People were just, you know, diving off the ship, jumping ship.

But we knew we had to keep going.

Larry Lee performs and records with the Daredevils for a solid 10 years and then leaves to go to Nashville to work as a producer and as an engineer.

And he's also songwriting all the while.

But he goes through, up to and including, the 1980 self-titled album on Columbia.

If you look back at the number of people who have come and gone from this band who have contributed is what they did, everybody contributed to this thing that we hold between us, which is called the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

If you didn't have a sense of humor in show business, you just wouldn't last.

I mean, there's so many ridiculous situations and heartaches.

And if you took it seriously, it'd drive you crazy.

The travel got different.

When we were in A&-- when we were still being subsidized by A&M, we were on airplanes.

We were on buses, charter flights.

When we lost the record company support, we were in vans.

We were in rental cars.

The travel got harder.

Like I always tell people, I say, they don't pay me to play music.

The music's free.

They pay me to travel.

But the rest of us, we just had to keep going.

And so for the '80s and '90s, we were just basically lost in the weeds, so to speak.

Supe du jour, Michael Granda, has been there, and he's always been the bass player.

Cash and Dillon took a year's sabbatical in the early 1980s, but then they were back.

From the mid 1980s through the 2000s, it was a five-piece band, and the core membership was Cash, Dillon, and Granda, so you always had them, and then Ron Gremp on drums, Bill Brown on guitar for many, many years.

JOHN DILLON: I mean, the band just kept changing, but we just kept playing.

And we referred to our agency as dartboard tours.

And we knew that our agent was back in his office, his warm office, just throwing darts at a board with a blindfold on.

They're going to play here.

And then they're gonna get to drive 2,000 miles and play here.

We once had a gig that went from St. Louis to Prince George, British Columbia.

We're playing the Veiled Prophet, under the arch.

And the next night, we're in Prince George, upper regions of British Columbia.

And in order to get there, we took a commercial plane, a private jet, a bus, a pickup truck, s a front-end loader to get to the stage.

Because it had been raining for two weeks.

So there was always an Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

They will play your festival or your fair or your venue.

But it oftentimes wasn't the main stage at the VP fair these days.

It was other festivals or county fairs and things like that.

I saw them at many smaller-scale events and occasions.

And they were always great.

It was wonderful just to go after them.

Sometimes you had to be very intentional as a fan to find where they were playing and then enjoy the music.

NARRATOR: While the challenges of touring and not having a record contract to fulfill were daunting, the band persevered.

Bandmates would come and go throughout the '80s and '90s.

In 1990, the release of "Now Hear This!"

was distributed only on cassette tapes.

Following in 1997, the band releases their self-published album entitled "13."

In the year 2000, Universal Music wanted the band's input on what to include on a greatest hits album.

MICHAEL GRANDA: Jerry Moss sold A&M to Universal.

Universal wanted to put out a greatest hits package.

And they said, OK. And we said we just didn't want to fill it with older songs that have been on all the records.

"Time Warp" had never been on a record.

For some reason, it had never made it onto vinyl.

We said, well, shoot, let's put "Time Warp" on there.

That's a great song.

And it was such a strong-- it's still such a strong song that it just became title of the album.

We says, well, it's the title of the song.

"Time Warp" is a perfect title for that album.

NARRATOR: "Time Warp-- the Very Best of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils" became a 21-track love letter to Daredevils fans old and new.

With renewed interest in their music in May of 2007, the original five songwriters-- John Dillon, Supe Granda, Randle Chowning, Larry Lee, Steve Cash, backed by guitarist Dave Painter, who had joined in 2004, drummer Ron Gremp, who had been keeping their beat since 1989, and keyboardist Kelly Brown, who joined two weeks prior-- all gathered together to play at the historic Gillioz Theatre in Springfield for a reunion concert called Revival.

I had attended the Revival shows at the Gillioz in 2007.

I was a guest of Steve Cash through his daughter-in-law, my sister, Alison.

And I was able to attend one of the shows.

I was mesmerized.

I was already a fan of the band, but it was the setting.

It was the music.

It literally took me back to 1974, 1975, 1976.

And that magical memory was in the back of my head for such a long time.

NARRATOR: After the Revival concert, Larry Lee and Randle Chowning returned to their own band called Beyond Reach.

So the Daredevils, in 2008, reached out to familiar friends Ruell Chappell and Nick Sibley.

After Larry and Randy left, they just said, hey, we're playing this thing up at North Glenstone.

You and Ruell want to play with this?

OK.

I thought we we're just jamming.

I didn't know we were really playing with them.

And then we-- so we played with them that night.

And I don't know.

They just kind of kept calling.

You want to play?

OK.

The longest-running member has to be Ron Gremp, 1989 or so to present.

Bill Jones has had a long tenure because he was there in the Family Tree days and then left to have a gig with Granny's Bathwater out of state.

He comes back from 1974 to 1977 and then from 2010 to present.

Well, 2010 comes around.

And I read a story in the "Springfield News-Leader" that the Gillioz was suffering again.

There was the thought that it could possibly go back into bankruptcy.

And I decide out of the blue to cold call Randy Erwin, who is the agent then and now with the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

And I said, my name is Dwight Glenn, and I'd like to do two concerts with the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

And in September of 2010, I did my first two concerts with the Ozark Mountain Daredevils at the Gillioz.

NARRATOR: In October of 2011, a 21-song CD featuring another compilation of their greatest hits and a few new songs was released, entitled "Alive and Wild."

In November of that year, they kicked off their 40th anniversary tour at Drury University with local band Big Smith and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

To round out the band's sound, they looked for a fiddle player to join them.

MOLLY HEALEY: The holy cow moment came when they first asked me to come up and sit in with them on stage for the first time for their 40th anniversary.

And I mean, that was a rush like no other.

We had this arena full of people, and I was playing with his band and this music that people had heard on the radio all across the world.

And I just couldn't believe it.

But then some time would go by, and I wouldn't hear from them.

And I think we did a few shows that year.

That was back in 2012.

And then I didn't do anything with them for a while.

Then they started just kind of asking me to sit in.

And every time, it just got a little bit more comfortable.

DWIGHT GLENN: Steve and John and Supe asked her to sit in on cello on "Colorado Song" or on "Lowlands."

They ask her to play fiddle on a couple of songs.

And then it came to be three or four songs.

And then it came to be five or six songs.

And then it finally got to the point we all knew this band was better because of Molly Healey.

And she became a full-time member in 2014.

But never did I ever dream that they would ever, like, want me to be at every show.

And I think when they told me that that was what they wanted me to do, then that was another holy cow moment.

I've got a job with the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

[MUSIC - OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS, "BACKROADS"] (SINGING) Over them back roads to my home.

I take the back roads wherever I go.

I take the backroads of my home.

Them backroads of my home.

Molly Healey.

[fiddling] [cheers and applause] Dave Painter, Molly Healey.

NARRATOR: With newfound optimism, the current lineup of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils moved forward to record 16 freshly written songs for an eighth album release.

This would be the first time since the "13" album that the band would have a record with all new content.

MICHAEL GRANDA: We decided to do "Off the Beaten Path" for several reasons.

One, it's what we do.

Two, John and Steve and I had songs that we wanted to record.

And three, Steve's health was failing.

And the three of us went in and started recording for those reasons.

And we took the band as it was and went into studio just to document what we were doing at the time, chronicle this little space.

Because the Daredevils have had 50 years.

We had the first five years, the next 10 years, and then the 30 years of slogging through that.

And then, now, the band as it is today is very good, maybe the best version we've ever had.

So we wanted to go in, capture it onto tape, and get these songs down.

Because as songwriters, you don't want to get too constipated.

You want to get these songs out.

Let's get these songs out onto tape, which is what we did.

NARRATOR: With "Off the Beaten Path" ready to release in 2018, the Daredevils needed some behind-the-scenes help.

They needed someone to handle all the aspects that musicians deal with in the 21st century.

And John Dillon called me and said, I know you're not promoting anymore, but would you be interested in helping us?

We recorded 16 or 17 songs.

We've got a CD that's ready to be put out.

We don't have a label.

We don't have a manager.

We have a horrible website, and we're lazy.

And he said, would you be willing to help?

And I said, well, I know nothing about being a manager.

I know nothing about releasing a record.

I know less about websites than you do.

Sure, I'll be glad to help.

NARRATOR: In 2018, Dwight Glenn became the Daredevils' manager and helped release the self-produced album and update their online presence.

I think it's really important that they did that album.

It was a musical statement.

We didn't know it at the time-- the fans didn't know that Steve Cash was in declining health.

And so it was really important to get him recorded at the time that they did.

And it's a great collection of songs.

Those new songs are really strong.

And they're integrated into the live performance.

And they're an important part of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils today, the fact that they're still songwriters, they're still capable of churning out great music.

That's an important element to this band.

NARRATOR: In 2019, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils decided to remaster a song from their first album.

When we decided to do an updated version of "If You Want to Get to Heaven," which we did here in Nick's studio, well, Steve had been starting to have some illness problems.

He wasn't traveling with us anymore.

But we knew we could not do a new version of "If You Want to Get to Heaven" without his harmonica on it.

Because his harmonica is that song, or the driving force behind that song.

And John said, well, I'll come over to the sound booth, and I'll mimic playing the guitar at that same pace.

Because Steve, when he kicked off that song, always looked at John.

They always had a back and forth.

That's how Steve would keep time.

So they go in the sound booth, and Steve knocks out the first-- the first one, he started and then he stopped, just for a second.

He goes, now I've got it.

Then he ran through it again, and it was perfect.

So then he comes up to Nick's sound booth.

We all listen to it.

And he said, I can't do any better than that.

And he left.

When he left, he left his harmonica belt on a stool up in Nick's studio.

And it was like he was saying, I've given all I have to this band.

NARRATOR: The "Heaven 20/20" album was released in August of 2019.

And then Steve Cash passes away in October.

My name is Michael "Supe" Granda.

And after 50 years, we are still the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

For years, Steve Cash said that.

He would go-- Steve, in between songs, he'd introduce the band.

When he died, we kind of went, well, that was pretty cool.

Who's going to say that?

Guess who?

So I kind of say that, one, as a tribute to Steve Cash, and, two, it's true.

After all these years, we are still the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

NARRATOR: The Ozark Mountain Daredevils continue to expand their image and brand.

In 2020, the band partnered with EE Lawson Distillery, which produces and distills the Ozark Mountain Daredevils Ozark dry gin, which is distributed statewide in Missouri.

It's a way that you can extend the brand of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils beyond the music but into a different line but also to be able to tell stories about the spirits that you're creating.

We got in the gin business because I had my first taste of gin in an English pub during the very first record.

And some years ago, we were approached by this distiller.

He said, you know, it's kind of a going thing now that people do their own private labels.

You want to do a moonshine, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils?

Well, moonshine is you just get alcohol and pour it in a bottle and put a label on it.

Well, that didn't sound very creative to me.

And I said, no, let's do a gin.

He goes, I don't know how to do gin.

Gin's hard.

I went that's why we need to do gin.

And I thought of the-- and I had become a gin drinker, loved it, wanted to make a London dry gin with some Ozark botanicals in it.

And I think we accomplished that with our Ozark dry Ozark Mountain Daredevils gin.

NARRATOR: In preparation for their 50th anniversary tour, an icon from the band's past finds its way back to the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

DWIGHT GLENN: Back in the '70s, A&M Records, and a lot of other labels, too, would have these huge signs made to put in Tower Records on the Sunset Strip.

That's the way they promoted when they had a new album come out.

So I was able to reach back out to this guy.

He had recovered it from a storage unit, and it wasn't even his storage unit.

NARRATOR: This person saved the 6 foot by 6 foot painting, not even knowing who the Ozark Mountain Daredevils were.

DWIGHT GLENN: And he said, I've gotten to enjoy this.

I found your music.

I'm a fan of the band.

And he goes if you guys want this, you really deserve to have it.

And he goes, I'd be willing to make that happen.

So we purchased it, had it shipped from California back here.

We had an unveiling party here in Nick's studio of the "Quilt Album."

What was cool about that is John and Supe had not seen that sign since 1973.

And ironically, we all call it the "Quilt Album," but that wasn't the title of that album.

It was "The Ozark Mountain Daredevils."

But because of that patchwork quilt being so iconic, ever since 1973, it's been referred to as the "Quilt Album."

NARRATOR: On October 7, 2021, the band took the center stage in the reopening of the historic Ozark Mill at Finley Farms.

The Ozark Mountain daredevils are iconic to this area.

Johnny Morris is iconic to this area.

And he is trying to preserve history.

And he took the Ozark Mill, which is literally right in our backyard, the same Ozark Mill that Clarence and Roscoe Jones would go get feed from, and he was able to save it, restore it.

(SINGING) --bridge.

I'm going down to the river.

I'm gonna take my swimsuit.

I'm gonna jump into the water.

I don't really give a hoot.

No, I don't really give a hoot.

Woo!

Woo, woo, woo, woo!

DWIGHT GLENN: And we got very fortunate with the weather and had an amazing show in front of 800 of our friends.

I think 8,000 would have showed up, but we only allowed 800 to do it.

But it was a really cool night.

It was really great to be involved with, with Johnny, with Megan, with everything that he did there.

And it was a rewarding night for the band to take part in that and to be asked to do it.

NARRATOR: With the March 2020 to return to the Landers Theatre, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils have come full circle, performing for a packed house of fans both old and new.

The collective joy and love shared by all during these performances was akin to a family reunion.

Clap with me.

(SINGING) Oh country girl.

Oh, won't you come to me tonight?

Oh, country girl, smother me with delight.

Oh, country girl.

NARRATOR: After the four sold-out night at the Landers Theatre, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils received the honor of a lifetime when they were invited to perform live on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

On May 17, 2022, the Daredevils stepped onto the iconic stage and performed three songs for the live radio audience.

Here we go!

If you wanna get to heaven, if you wanna get to heaven, if you wanna get to heaven, if you wanna get to heaven.

Yeah!

[applause] Thank you very much.

EMCEE: Ozark Mountain Daredevils making their Grand Ole Opry debut.

NARRATOR: 50 years and counting, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils continue to be one big family, entertaining audiences with their unique blend of music, humor, and Ozark sensibilities.

So what is the legacy of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils?

MOLLY HEALEY: I think you have a lot of famous fans out there who ultimately fall prey to boredom or apathy or I don't know what it is.

And then they end up trying to do it just for money.

And now that I have played with these guys for almost 10 years, I can tell you just definitively that that's just not what it's about with the Daredevils.

They do it because they love playing music.

And I think that that has ultimately been why they have been able to stay together for 50 years.

The only thing that sells out of the Ozarks is the Ozarks.

Because people can spot a phony every time.

You can't be something you're not.

You gotta find some way to combine your rock and roll roots with country music and just be who you are.

It's still the same guys, you know what I mean?

I don't feel any different about it.

It was the same.

But I will tell you that because we're a little older, I think it's more fun.

No, I don't regret what we didn't do.

But I always enjoyed what we did do.

I'm thankful for what we did do.

Because now, you know, I've had a pretty successful life.

I don't know if I want to answer that question because I don't know.

Merle Haggard used to say if I quit, I'll die.

So I don't necessarily want to quit.

[laughs] [MUSIC - OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS, "STANDING ON THE ROCK"] (SINGING) I've been standing on the rock, waiting for the wind to blow.

I've been standing on the rock, waiting for the wind to blow.

I've been standing on the rock, waiting for my seeds to grow.

I've been walking on the ground, waiting for guns to quit.

I've been walking on the ground, waiting for the guns to quit.

I've been walking on the ground, waiting for the pieces to fit.

Oh, blow it, now.

Piano!