I absolutely love everything that has to do with getting away from big city life, taking it easy and enjoying the country every once in awhile.
So it was no surprise that when my supervisor at work planted the bug in my ear about a potential feature story at the Oldfield Opry, I jumped at the opportunity and took some time last Saturday to shoot some video.
Oldfield is a town pretty much in the middle of nowhere, about 20 or so miles out of Springfield located on Missouri Route 125. It is the epitome of “blink and you miss it.”
But if you don’t blink, chances are you’ll see a building that houses one of the rare gems that is exclusive to the Ozarks — the Oldfield Opry.
People pack out the building each Saturday night for a show that begins at 7 p.m. and includes everything from folk music to clog dancing, and even a time where people from the audience can sign up to sing or play their own instruments. It’s very laid back, unrehearsed and feels like a family gathering more than it does a musical performance.
When I say unrehearsed, I’m not implying by any means that the musicians aren’t good at what they do — in fact, a lot of the bandmembers have been around since 1977, when the Opry first started. After listening to the first song, I was hooked simply because of their musicianship and the way they all collaborate well with each other…on the night I was there, there were two female vocalists, two gentlemen on rhythm guitar, one on lead, another on bass, and another gentleman who played the fiddle (NOT the violin, there’s a difference), dobro and steel pedal guitar.
All in all, the Oldfield Opry is a musical treat that is very special to the Ozarks, and anyone living here would be remiss if they didn’t check it out sometime. It’s completely free to the public, and they even serve food from a concession stand before the show starts. Can’t go wrong with $1 slices of homemade pie while you listen to some good old folk tunes originally sung by early settlers to the area, and lovingly recreated by musicians who gather just for the fun of it.
To get to the Oldfield Opry, take Hwy 65 to Ozark. Take the last Ozark exit, heading east toward Sparta — stay on 125 past Sparta and take the fork in the road to the right, following 125 southbound. The Oldfield Opry will be on your right, two miles past the fork. Shows start at 7 p.m. but the doors open at 5 each Saturday.
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As a long-time violinist, I feel compelled to state that the difference is in how they are played, not in the actual instrument itself :-P
Yes, I forgot to state that.
I met a fiddler once who threatened to whap me over the head with his fiddle because I told him “you play the violin real well.”
My husband and I discovered the oldfield opry in the early ‘*90′s” and never missed going. Johnny Walker was still very active in the show at that time even though he was paralyzed from the neck down.I told Steve once that the theme song was true about not hearing anything better in Branson and he said he played there for three and and half years but liked playing in Oldfield better.These people have God given talent and I’d defy anyone that loves their kind of entertainment to find better music ANY where. I videoed one of their shows, taped several of them and we played them while travelin.Now I’m too old to drive that distance but I still have my tapes. There’s not enough space for me to brag on the “Opry”
You have found another secret treasure of the Ozarks. Most of them are east of 65.
At one time, if my memory serves me correctly, the Opry had a one-armed guy playing a string instrument.
Check the newspaper morgue, the SN-L did quite a story about the Opry back in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
If you were lucky, you’d get invited to a house party —- Brownbranch always seemed to be having on the nights the opry wasn’t running.
Sure wish you would have been there on a night that I was playing. LOL A shameless plug.
The lead guitar player that night is one of the best, if not the best in the area.