The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - The Ozark Mountain Daredevils [10]

Title: The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - The Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 1973, Country Rock, Southern Rock, Springfield, Missouri 10/26
Matrix #: SP-4411 (A&M, tan label, label code SP-4722); runout not legible in photo
Condition: EX (LM) | Members: John D (47' - ), Steve C (46' - 19'), Supe G (50' - ), Larry L (47' - 25'), Randle C (50' - ), Buddy B (51' - ) | Producer: David Anderle, Glyn Johns
Cultural Facts: [10]

1. Cold Call to John Hammond: Before any record deal, band friend Steve Canaday, co-owner of Springfield's New Bijou Theatre, walked unannounced into Columbia Records in New York with a cassette of the band. The secretary said Mr. Hammond, the man who signed Bob Dylan and Billie Holiday, did not see anyone, but he waved Canaday in and played the tape with his back turned, reading the newspaper. When "Black Sky," which is on this record, came on, Hammond put the paper down. By then the Bijou had burned to the ground in March 1972, and that tape was about the only thing saved.
2. The Name-the-Band Party: Right after signing with A&M, the band learned another group had already trademarked their name, Family Tree, so they threw a change-the-band-name party fueled by beer and tequila. After Burlap Socks and the Emergency Band, they kept laughing their way back to a Commander Cody-style joke, Cosmic Corncob & His Amazing Ozark Mountain Daredevils. "Amazing" went out because of their friends in the Amazing Rhythm Aces, nobody wanted to step up and be Cosmic Corncob, and when they pitched what was left to A&M expecting a no, the label loved it.
3. The Harmonica Belt on the Stool: When a bandmate went to invite Steve Cash, then living with his dad, to sit in at the Bijou in late 1971, Cash flatly said no, he couldn't do that. They argued for about five minutes until Cash agreed to just come hang out and have a beer, and only at rehearsal did the others learn he played harmonica. His harp drives "If You Wanna Get to Heaven," the hit from this record, and when the band re-cut it in 2019 he nailed it on the second pass, said he couldn't do any better, and walked out, leaving his harmonica belt on a stool in the studio. He died that October.