For the love of Branson: Mountain music

     “Oh, Mama, I’m in fear for my life from the long arm of the law.” I sing as I beat my hand against the dash of my car to simulate the iconic John Panozzo drum beat from the song “Renegade” by my all-time favorite band, Styx! Recently Styx was set to perform at the Johnny Morris Thunder Ridge Amphitheatre just south of town, and I’m sure that was part of the inspiration for the Haygoods to cover this classic song as part of their new “Mountain Music” series. As my buddy Tim Haygood put it when we were chatting recently, “mountain music isn’t bluegrass, bluegrass doesn’t have a harmonica.”

     As soon as he said that, my musically curious mind lit up with a spirit of inquiry and exploration. Our third article in the For the Love of Branson series took a look at the history of mountain music especially in the Ozarks, and even went as far as dubbing our area “the Music Mountains” to compete with Nashville’s “Music City” moniker. But what we didn’t do is look at mountain music through a “music theory” lens.

     Tim went on to say in our recent conversation that what further distinguishes mountain music from bluegrass is the way he is picking his banjo in these covers with rolling patterns. And while bluegrass bands don’t have harmonicas, the Haygoods don’t feature a mandolin.

     Now that isn’t to say the Haygoods or Branson for that matter are strangers to Bluegrass. Tim’s brother Michael is married to Ellen (nee Petersen) of the world famous Petersen’s Bluegrass Band, and we even named their song “My Ozark Mountain Home” as the first official song of Branson.

     But overall, people are loving the original music that the Haygoods are releasing along with this emphasis on mountain music (sometimes also referred to as Old-Time, Appalachian Folk or early string band music). Because even though we’ve added our Ozarks flare to it, this unique style traces its roots through Appalachia stemming from Scots-Irish, English and African influences. Bill Monroe would ultimately take this style and make it sharper, faster and more technically complex in his bluegrass innovations but there are still those that crave that original “Old-Time” sound. While bluegrass became a performance genre influenced by jazz and the blues, the “Old-Time” style remained “community music.” In short, all bluegrass is mountain music but not all mountain music is bluegrass.

     With the innovations that the Haygoods are bringing to the genre while maintaining traditions, you could easily find them breaking into a rendition of “Old Time Religion” followed by Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train.” And the brilliant thing about all of this is you will find it right here in Branson. Tim (aka Banjo Boy) and his siblings are uber talented musicians who have spent years refining their craft. The rolling patterns that he has mastered are distinguishable as mountain music while still showing some Earl Scruggs influence and I, for one, can’t get enough of it!