Ozark Mountain Daredevils – Treasure Island Event Center – Welch MN – April 11th 2025

Ozark Mountain Daredevils (with Rare Earth) – April 11, 2025 at Treasure Island Resort & Casino, Welch, MN

When I saw that Rare Earth and the Ozark Mountain Daredevils were coming to Treasure Island Resort & Casino, just north of Red Wing, MN, I was excited!  I had never seen Rare Earth, so I was eager to finally hear these guys. To me, the fact that the Ozark Mountain Daredevils would also be playing was just an added bonus!

First up: the current lineup of Rare Earth.  Rare Earth has actually been around in some shape or form since the 1960s, but it wasn’t until they signed with Motown in 1969 that they finally had some commercial success in the early 1970s with covers of a couple of Temptations songs (that actually charted higher than the Temptations originals!) and a few originals.  The band that rolled into Treasure Island features a few long time performers with the group (Mike Bruner on keys since 1998 and Wayne Baraks on lead vocals and rhythm guitar on and off since 1987) and other great musicians who took a packed house through an hour long set of fantastic early 1970s music. Rare Earth recorded a lot of albums, but didn’t score a ton of hits, so they punctuated their set with a few covers like “Tobacco Road” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” but when you think of it, some of their biggest hits were covers, like “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and “Get Ready” which they also brought to life at Treasure Island. It was a great set!

Next up, the evening’s headliner: the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.  I gotta be honest; I wasn’t expecting much from these guys.  The last time I saw them was well over 20 years ago, I think, at this little outdoor festival called “Rock ‘N The Country” that was held in a baseball diamond at bar in rural Tilden, Wisconsin. This festival was so small, and so poorly attended, that I can’t find any reference to it on the internet .. at all! It’s almost like it never happened .. and I know it did, because I was there!  The reason I bring this up is because the Ozark Mountain Daredevils were the one of the headliners … and from what I remember, it was a horrible performance: bad sound, horrible vocals, ugh. So, I wasn’t expecting much at Treasure Island some 20+ years later.  How wrong I was! 

First, some history.  The Ozark Mountain Daredevils have been around since 1972, and still feature original members John Dillon and Mike “Supe” Granda, in addition to six other musicians and vocalists who have been with the group on and off mostly since the 2000s.  At Treasure Island, Supe Granda had fallen ill that week, so they actually had a substitute bass player, Captain Sibley, the 21 year old son of the Daredevils guitarist/harmonica player Nick Sibley, who had to learn all the music in just a few days!

Ozark Mountain Daredevils’ music is hard to categorize: country rock, bluegrass, blues, jug music, and the set at Treasure Island featured all those musical styles, and more!  From their opening song, 1973’s “Standing On The Rock” which has a classic bluegrass vibe, to their biggest hit, 1975’s “Jackie Blue” which is all rock and roll, their set had something for everyone’s musical tastes! And wow: such tight vocals, harmonies and musical performances!  I was absolutely blown away at how good these guys are!  There were also plenty of stories in between songs, with John Dillon stepping into the storyteller role that is normally handled by Supe Granda, so for true “Dareheads” they got to see and hear something unique during this performance.  Something else unique: John Dillon’s sister is a Twin Cities resident, so she actually joined the band on stage to sing along during their encore performance of “It’ll Shine When It Shines.”  I loved this show so much that I already made plans to see them next month at the Pablo Center in Eau Claire .. and you should too!