Ozark Mountain Daredevils more than country rock
Staff writer
"Everyone show up. We'll have fun," said Steve Cash. He's the harmonica player for the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, featured concert band Saturday for the seventh annual Chingawassa Days in Marion's Central Park.
The Daredevils will play at 9 p.m. Admission is by possession of a Chingawassa Days button only, and it must be the $20 button. Those who did not get a button by Friday will now pay $25, at the gate.
Seating will be lawn chairs and blankets — bring your own.
This is one of the few chances, perhaps the only one, people will have to see and hear this legendary band in Kansas or anywhere else this summer.
Cash, an original member of the band since it was formed 31 1/2 years ago, lives in Springfield, Mo., which is somewhat the home base for the 'Devils.
Three of the original six members still are in the now-five-member band. Besides Cash, they are Mike "Supe du Jour" Granda on bass, and John Dillon on rhythm guitar and fiddle.
"Supe" lives in the Nashville, Tenn., area, but the other four call the Springfield environs home.
The drummer is Ron Gremp and Bill Brown plays lead guitar.
Cash said the band has played more times in Kansas than in Missouri in its four decades of musical activity and eclecticism.
"We've played all over Kansas, more than anywhere else," he said. "We played Hays several times — but this will be our first time in Marion. We're looking forward to it."
"We're cutting back quite a bit," Cash said Thursday. They have no immediate plans to cut another record (CD), "but you never say never in this business," he said.
He said the band would consider making a new album, or doing a little more touring, if someone came up with a plan or a concept.
The band's big hits in the 1970s included "Jackie Blue," "If You Wanna Get to Heaven," and "Chicken Train." "Jackie" was their biggest single.
Their longtime label, A&M, pigeonholed the OMD as a "country rock" band. "What IS country rock?," Cash asked rhetorically Thursday.
He was not offended by the label, but feels the band is much more than just that. Very eclectic. They play, and have written, songs influenced by all sorts of genres: folk, bluegrass, jazz, country, rock 'n' roll, and others.
"We just let it go, writing and playing," Cash said. "I think our music is a little more expansive than just that (country rock)."
He said he misses the old, large, album covers that used to encase the 33 1/3 LP vinyl recordings. Such as the Beatles' "Abbey Road" crossing the street cover, or one of the Daredevils, showing a car over a lake.
That one's name evolved as "The Car Over the Lake" album. Cash said a female fan came up to the band after a gig a few years ago and told the musicians "you don't look the same as you did 30 years ago."
Gee, he told her, I don't know what to tell you. Life goes on, we all get older, etc.
The band's first two albums "went gold." The second one was "It'll Shine When It Shines."
Cash said, "When we play, we play for every generation, and people like it."
Cash told of one middle-aged or younger man who said his 10-year-old son was delighted with the songs on the Devils' "Time Warp" CD, an anthology of their hits, especially "Chicken Train," a funny, melodic song that really is country rock seasoned with fun.
"Time Warp" has a good selection of songs from the band's first five albums, Cash said. It's available in stores. Their third album was "The Car Over the Lake," and the fourth was "Men from Earth."
For any albums hard or impossible to find, Cash suggests going to ozarkdaredevils.com.
How did they choose their name? "John Dillon is to blame," Cash said. "We started out in December 1971 as a hippie band, and didn't think we'd probably last. We called ourselves Burlap Sock for a while, and Emergency Band, among other names."
After they started calling themselves the OM Daredevils, A&M insisted they not change the name again.
Later, Universal bought A&M.
"Thirty-one years on the road is a lot!," said Cash.
