Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Cosmic Corn Cob & His Amazing Ozark Mountain Daredevils (Part II)

1980 Ozark Mountain Daredevils
1987 Heart Of The Country










1997 Archive Alive
1997 13








2003 Lost Cabin Sessions


By 1979 the group had moved over to CBS and put out Ozark Mountain Daredevils in May 1980. This album did not feature Chappell or Canaday, and Walle only appeared on two songs, since producer Boylan insisted on bringing in session players for a more typical California country rock laid back sound that was popular at the time. But the country rock sound's popularity seemed to be on the wane at the dawn of the 80's as groups like the Ozarks saw their sales begin to slip away. CBS dropped the group after only one record.
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, but Chowning quit again during the recording and once the album was finished, there was, surprisingly, no interest at all from any of the labels in Nashville. 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.
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. 13 was released in June 1997.
Also that year came Archive Alive, a live album. This CD features a selection of recordings taken from around 1973 at the Cowtown Ballroom in Kansas City and the Kiel Opera House in St. Louis. This CD only includes songs written and played up until March 1973. Although it does feature songs which would appear on future album releases.
2003 saw the release of the remastered Lost Cabin Sessions with long lost recordings that were made during their early days together. Sometime during that period, they assembled a little eight-track studio in Springfield, and recorded 28 songs over a thirteen-hour day. The recordings on this CD represent that period, before the band even had a name. These are the recordings that impressed A&M enough to sign them to a long-term contract.