Sloan’s Secret Stash- Ozark Mountain Daredevils

This week's offering covers a request that came in more than once in the last couple of months. Unforgivably, I'm not recollecting who asked for it. But I'm pretty sure it was one of our regulars, possibly T-Bone from Small (Little) Falls.

For some reason many of us Yankees have an unhealthy appreciation for Southern Fried Rock. We dig the Allmans, Skynyrd and .38 Special, we'll even hoist a Wild Turkey shot to Charlie Daniels. Check through your vinyl, you'll probably find several minor Southern bands with one or two discs that you played incessantly in your youth.

Many rock stations above the Mason-Dixon line shun the guys who 'Sound too Country'. That eliminates several bands that we've known for too long. One of those is The Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

Although 'If You Wanna Get To Heaven' their one and only Top 30 single, and 'Jackie Blue' get a ton of spins on virtually every rock station in the Bible Belt, Left Coast and America's Mid-section- The East Coast and Blizzard Belt stations seem to overlook both.  'Heaven' is much more Ozarky, while Jackie Blue tends toward a 'smoother' sound.

The Missouri-based Daredevils reluctantly relocated to Cali in the midst of their success and the ensuing downfall was evident in their latter releases.

The tune I have for you is 'Chicken Train' . It's culled from their debut self-titled disc. The video comes from a British music show 'Old Grey Whistle Test''. If you recognize it, you either had the vinyl or partied with someone who was rabid about The Ozarks, because I'm not sure this tune was EVER on the radio. Sorry, I know the video is sketchy. My advice is to hit the pause button first and let it load. This is the only video for it I could find for you.

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