Not to mention the already established ‘Lake Of The Ozarks’ recreational region, which had been a draw to the southern mid-state area for decades previous. For those not familiar, it is a sizable man-made lake/reservoir, created to generate electric power, with an anchor town that grew around Bagnell Dam which makes it all possible. It wasn’t exactly a WPA project, like the Tennessee Valley Authority, but serves the same purpose.
Initially drawing vacationers from KC, were I was, and St. Louis, scores of high-end resorts sprung up throughout the 50’s and 60’s, along with weekend getaway residences. My parents always knew someone who “had a place at the lake”, and when I was a kid we went down and stayed at a resort, but the music there was a third rate lounge band. I did see a rock band from St. Lou banging out Cream songs at a place on the tourist trap strip at the dam, but yes there were also these “country jamboree” hillbilly venues dotted throughout the area.
A bit of trivia, there was a Kansas City area native, Paul Henning, who worked in local media there, including industrial film production, before migrating out to Hollywood. On a camping trip to the Branson area, which supposedly included his mother-in-law, he came up with the premise for a TV show. Now, I have no idea what incident in particular sparked this idea, and oil fields are primarily way to the west, across the state line in Oklahoma, but I’m sure most of you have heard of the poor mountaineer who one day was shooting at some food…
