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.

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

1973 Ozark Mountain Daredevils(Remaster)
1974 It'll Shine When It Shines(Remaster)










1975 The Car Over The Lake Album(Remaster)
1976 Men From Earth(Remaster)










1977 Don't Look Down(Remaster)
1978 It's Alive(Remaster)

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils are a country rock band formed in 1972 in Springfield, Missouri. They are most widely known for their singles If You Wanna Get To Heaven and Jackie Blue.
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 '74. The album introduced the band's unique mixture of country & rock to the world and is still the favorite of many of the group's fans.
For the second album, It'll Shine When in Shines (Fall 1974), Glyn Johns and David 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 Daredevil's signature song and a huge hit 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. 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. Personnel shifts within the group also began to change the chemistry. Randle Chowning left in May 1976, after a falling out with the others, to form his own Randle Chowning Band. Norwegian musician Rune Walle then joined to replace him.
That same year the Daredevils headed to the Caribou Ranch, Colorado to record their fourth album which they'd 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 Jerry Mills joined the band on mandolin and also served as the group's advance publicist.
In the fall of '76, Buddy Brayfield departed to study medicine and Ruell Chappell 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) 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 were performing less acoustic numbers in their show by this time.