Rodney Dillard, a young psychology major and professional blue grass musician, had just nine bucks in his pocket when he hitched a one-wheel trailer to his '55 Cadillac and left college, heading out to Hollywood.

As the Branson music exeutive and entertainer talks about following his dreams, Dillard laughs -- and says he still remembers being "very motivated" back in 1963.

Raised in the Ozarks, Dillard says he always knew there would be more to see in life and no sooner than he and his 60s band arrived in Los Angeles, they found themselves jamming with the Greenbriar Boys, a seminal northern bluegrass music group who first got together in jam sessions in New York's Washington Square.

The young musical group played up a storm in the popular Ash Grove on Melrose Avenue in West Los Angeles, a musical and social entity that served as a refuge and breeding ground for people's music; the Ash Grove was well on its way to becoming a major musical power center -- a perfect place for Dillard and the young, motivated musicians to get a start.

The band from the Ozarks, spotted by the same manager as the popular rock band, the Byrds, quickly picked up a contract with Elektra Records and in that year released their debut album, Back Porch Bluegrass. The Dillards spent their formative musical years recording and playing alongside some of the greatest rock stars of those turbulent times, including Bob Dylan.

When he wasn't performing, Rodney Dillard wrote and produced music, all while working to make a difference in those turbulent years of Vietnam protests.

But Rodney Dillard missed his Missouri roots and returned home in 1979 to play and sing, and eventually become a Branson recording studio executive -- after playing the role of Rodney Darling for three years on the Andy Griffith television series. As vice president of production and operations for Branson's Caravell Recording Studio, Dillard told of his early introduction to music that comes from the soul.

"Original hills music was played by people to entertain each other. They'd grab any instrument and play for get togethers called kitchen sweats or play parties. Music and instruments of English, Irish, Scotch and Appalachian heritage all blended to make the unique melting pot of Ozark mountain music."

His dad, Pop Dillard, a well-known Salem, Missouri musician who had come to the hills out of Tennessee, first introduced hill music to Rodney and his siblings. "Pop was an old time fiddler. Every morning he would wake us up to play some music, and then at night when he came home from work, he would bring out the instruments and we would play more music -- sometimes into the early morning."

Branson's first live music shows featured much of the music Dillard grew up with, often adding hillbilly humor and gags borrowed from traveling medicine shows and vaudeville, with a touch of the Ozarks' mystique. "Early performers and their music were little jewels, drawing visitors who enjoyed the innocence of a small town."

Birth of Branson's Music Industry

The little town of Branson opened its doors for business at the turn of the 19th century as the new railroad line brought fishermen, floaters, hunters, and nature lovers to southwestern Missouri. In tracking the development of its music industry -- growing eventually into one of the top three national centers for live entertainment, with musical offerings that rival Broadway and Las Vegas -- development and expansion actually took place over a number of years.

But Branson's professional music scene did not appear until 1959 with one family production opening followed by four more family music shows, all laying the foundation for later growth and then an unrivaled boom as a country music Mecca.

Who were Branson's first professional entertainers? The Baldknobbers Jamboree makes this claim with a family show named after the earlier, well-known vigilante group bringing live entertainment to Branson in 1959. The Mabe brothers -- Bill, Jim, Lyle, and Bob -- began performing twice a week as the Baldknobbers in an old skating rink located on the Lake Taneycomo waterfront.

Mostly fishermen and their wives came to listen to the Mabe's music in the 50 seat auditorium. Coming from a family of 11 children -- their father was pastor of two churches -- the entire family, like the Dillards, enjoyed music and by the time they were in high school, all four brothers were playing for local pie suppers, festivals, fox hunts, churches and country fairs.

The Mabe brothers combined popular country music with Ozark corn comedy, treating audiences with songs like "How Much is That Doggie in the Window." Two brothers, Jim and Lyle, constructed comic characters which became focus of their show. Jim played the character Droopy Drawers while Lyle brought laughs with his character George Aggernite.

Large audiences were hard to attract, so the Baldknobbers would rig up their car with a loudspeaker and drive around Branson to announce the show, inviting audiences to their performances when they played square dance music weekly at the Shepherd of the Hills outdoor theater.

In 1968, the Baldknobbers built an 865 seat theater on Highway 76 and are credited for having the longest continuously running show in Branson.

Right behind the Mabes family were the Presleys (not related to Elvis) who actually built their family theater on 76 Country Boulevard a year before the Baldknobbbers constructed their own. The Presley family had first entertained as an underground group in the early 1960s in nearby Kimberling City -- actually using a cave as a small theater.

The Presleys invited guest stars from the Ozark Jubilee to perform with them, including Red Foley. It was a smart move, as the Jubilee was the first live country music program on network television, helping to popularize the genre in the United States during the 1950s and launching or advancing the careers of many significant recording artists including Brenda Lee, Wanda Jackson, Sonny James, Porter Wagoner and Jean Shepard. Gary Presley developed his own Hillbilly comic character Herkimer, who in 1962 became the show's trademark. Their expanded theater currently seats 2,000.

The Foggy River Boys, Branson's third musical group, was already a nationally known gospel singing group originated in Joplin. Led by Bob Hubbard, the Foggies opened a Kimberling City theater in 1971 where they entertained with gospel and popular songs. Three years later, they moved their show to the Branson Strip after getting tired of being on the road. (Late Branson historian, Jerry Coffelt, once recalled "the days in Branson when you could put up an Armco metal building and go into the entertainment business.")

The Plummer Family, Darrell and Rosie Plummer and their two children, came onto the Branson music scene as the fourth entertainment group with a show that remained open until 1990 when they sold the theater to national entertainer Moe Bandy (later becoming Jennifer's Theater). Randy Plummer went on to perform at the Roy Clark Celebrity Theater with the Doug Gabriel show.

In 1977, Bob Mabe, a founder of the Baldknobbers, left that show to build an 1,800 seat theater called the Bob-O-Links Country Hoe Down, Branson's fifth show. Performers played country music and presented lots of local humor. This was the first show to have full time dancers on state. The Burdette family and their four children performed until the late 1980s. Burdette and his son went on to perform traditional clogging with Country Tonite. Mabe's theater was later sold to the Osmond Family.

These five early shows brought thousands of visitors to Branson through 1980 as the small Ozarks town was becoming known for family-oriented country music entertainment.

Then in 1981, Branson saw major entertainment changes, first as the Hee Haw theater opened up on the Strip with some of the television show's stars. While Hee Haw didn't take off and closed just two years later, another troupe, The Campbell Ozarks Country Jubilee also opened that year, using the name made famous by Red Foley who had hosted a nationally televised show from nearby Springfield in the 1950s. Foley hosted such stars as Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline and Porter Waggoner but the Branson show emphasized, instead, performers like the singing dentist, Dr. David Struble.

It was the next year, when Chisai Childs of Grapevine, Texas, bought the year-old Starlite Theater and produced an entertaining show in which she emceed, sang, and performed comedy, that Branson entertainment came of age.

It would be Childs, with a strong background in theatrical production and performance, who brought needed transition to Branson's musical entertainment industry, moving the small Ozarks entertainment venue into a more upscale, professional theatrical world.
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Susan Klopfer, journalist and author, writes on travel and tourism and civil rights. She is a member of the American Writers & Artists, Inc. (AWAI), and TravelWriters.com. Her newest books, "Where Rebels Roost: Mississippi Civil Rights Revisited" and "The Emmett Till Book" are now in print. "Where Rebels Roost" focuses on the Delta, Emmett Till, Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry, Amzie Moore and many other civil rights foot soldiers. Emphasis on unsolved murders of Delta blacks from mid 1950s on...