Ozark Mountain Daredevils

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils
The band in 1975. From left: Buddy Brayfield, John Dillon, Larry Lee, Mike "Supe" Granda, Randle Chowning, Steve Cash.
Background information
Origin	Springfield, Missouri
Genres	Southern rock, country rock
Years active	1972 (1972)–present
Labels	A&M
Website	ozarkdaredevils.com
Members	John Dillon Mike 'Supe' Granda Steve Cash Bill Jones Ruell Chappell Ron Gremp Dave Painter Kelly Brown Nick Sibley
Past members	Buddy Brayfield Randle Chowning Larry Lee Steve Canaday Rune Walle Jerry Mills Larry Van Fleet Terry Wilson Bobby Lloyd Hicks Joe Terry Gary Smith Jason Le Masters Don Clinton Thompson Rick 'Lumpy' Davidson Bill Brown

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils are an American Southern rock/country rock band formed in 1972 in Springfield, Missouri, United States. They are most widely known for their singles "If You Wanna Get To Heaven" in 1974 and "Jackie Blue" in 1975.

Bassist Michael "Supe" Granda has also written a book about the band, It Shined.

According to the book, "It Shined", by Michael Granda, 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.

In 1971 Randle Chowning formed a band which included 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 Hammond 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 and ran their own Good Karma Productions), 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 addition 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 master's degree in music; Jones rejoined the Daredevils briefly later and would continue to appear as a guest player on some of their shows and recording sessions.