Seems Like Everyone Is Out Looking For The Sun
November 27, 2017 12:38 PM   Subscribe

You might have heard of Ozark Mountain Daredevils. You might have heard their mid-70s hit Jackie Blue. But that's not who they were. Here's the full album Jackie Blue came from, their sophomore album, It'll Shine When It Shines. Surprising with every new turn, starting with track one, You Made It Right. posted by hippybear (21 comments total) 19 users marked this as a favorite
 
I really enjoyed their first album but Jackie Blue, although it's not bad, turned me off and I basically forgot about them. It's obvious they hadn't changed as much as that one single made it seem.
posted by tommasz at 1:00 PM on November 27, 2017


I always thought Jackie Blue was sung by a woman but this video says otherwise.
posted by doctor_negative at 1:04 PM on November 27, 2017


I forgot all about those guys. They did make one perfect song - Chicken Train
posted by rtimmel at 1:13 PM on November 27, 2017 [4 favorites]


We had a long running joke in uni days (80's) hilariously mixing up Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Good times.
posted by parki at 1:46 PM on November 27, 2017 [7 favorites]


great album. Lowlands deserves some kind of award for restrained, low key melancholy
posted by philip-random at 2:28 PM on November 27, 2017 [1 favorite]


1976 ... Old Grey Whistle Test
posted by philip-random at 2:34 PM on November 27, 2017


Like it or not, "Jackie Blue" kind of epitomizes the kind of early 1970s song that made punk and new wave necessary a few years later.
posted by Modest House at 2:36 PM on November 27, 2017 [3 favorites]


Strangely, I am a pretty big Ozark Mountain Daredevils fan. Somehow my dad was, and so my brother and I were, and when kids were like, "What's your favorite band? J. Geils or AC/DC?" we'd be all "Ozark Mountain Daredevils!!" and get wedgied.

But yeah, I really am a fan. The self-titled album with the quilt on the cover (with Chicken Train) is one of my all-time most favorite records. Such an interesting band.

From that S/T:
The aforementioned Chicken Train is so great and weird.
Standing on a Rock is an off-kilter bluegrass-ish rave up. Should be more of a standard than it is.
If You Wanna Get to Heaven is an off-kilter pop-rock jam with a huge hook. Should be all over classic rock radio.
Spaceship Orion is a (yes) off-kilter sunshiney AM gold type song that touches on the Todd Rundgren-ey intricate delicacy that Jackie Blue would later just kill.
posted by dirtdirt at 2:39 PM on November 27, 2017 [2 favorites]


As much as I love the alt country peeps (Uncle Tupelo, et. al.), I keep learning/remembering that it was there all along.
posted by sjswitzer at 3:48 PM on November 27, 2017


I grew up in the Ozarks, in Arkansas, and this band wasn't considered southern enough for people to talk about or listen to. I'm a bit surprised how much I like some of these tracks now, though. They were born a couple decades before that non-regional indie vibe was commercial. Haven't lived in Arkansas in a long time and the outdoor critter recording at the beginning of 'E.E. Lawson' gives me some feelings.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 3:53 PM on November 27, 2017 [2 favorites]


Like it or not, "Jackie Blue" kind of epitomizes the kind of early 1970s song that made punk and new wave necessary a few years later.

You mean quirky, interesting pop songs?
posted by thelonius at 4:08 PM on November 27, 2017 [5 favorites]


Huh, all this time I thought that punk was a response to prog rock and increasingly complicated music that was heavy with music theory and training. Not front porch bluegrass rock. Interesting.
posted by hippybear at 4:11 PM on November 27, 2017


“If You Wanna Get to Heaven” is definitely podworthy.
posted by wintermind at 4:56 PM on November 27, 2017 [1 favorite]


I always mix up Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Black Oak Arkansas. Watching the videos in the post and I'm like, "where the hell is that Jim Dandy dude?"
posted by NoMich at 5:26 PM on November 27, 2017 [4 favorites]


I always mix up Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Black Oak Arkansas.

This explains some things. It's all good.
posted by ovvl at 6:32 PM on November 27, 2017 [1 favorite]


Black Oak Arkansas were the ones who lived in their own remote compound, like some Southern boogie cult. (Although Wikipedia says it was because they had been convicted in absentia of stealing their high schools' P.A.)
posted by thelonius at 7:17 PM on November 27, 2017


I always thought E.E. Lawson had a couple of cribs in the back of the store for hookers to use on the weekends. ;/

The first 4 studio albums plus "It's Alive" have been on every one of my IPods. I used to run into Clarence and Roscoe (the two ol' boys with their mules on the cover of "Men from Earth") loading their buckboard at Nixa Hardware back in the '60s -'80s. A pair of illiterate hillbillies from down toward Crane Creek and two of the nicest guys I ever met. Clarence never remarried after Roscoe's mom died in 1925. Its a goddamn shame what being on that album cover cost them. Three men, looking for the nonexistent proceeds from that photo shoot killed Clarence and put Roscoe in a nursing home. His obituary was one of the better ones The News-Leader ever did.

The Daredevils' upbeat answer to "The Fool on the Hill" is about Roscoe and his harmonica.
posted by ridgerunner at 7:19 PM on November 27, 2017 [5 favorites]


Wow, "Lowlands" is fantastic. Added to my repertoire, thanks.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:27 PM on November 27, 2017 [3 favorites]


Roscoe reminded me of this Midlake song and I wonder if it's connected in some way.
posted by sjswitzer at 8:49 PM on November 27, 2017 [1 favorite]


I love this band. I'm friends with the bass player, "Supe". A buddy and I made this video for him a couple of years ago.
posted by DaddyNewt at 10:35 AM on November 28, 2017 [4 favorites]


"The Car Over the Lake Album" is my favorite.
posted by andreap at 6:48 AM on December 3, 2017 [1 favorite]


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