Branson is Entertainment

We heard about an abundance of live shows and attractions in the small Ozark Mountain town of Branson, Missouri. We decided to make it a primary destination so we could check it out for ourselves and we’re glad we did. What an amazing place this is!

Even our campground was impressive with nearly 600 RV sites spread over 340 acres of rolling hills and lots of recreational amenities.

The first night we were here, the park hosted a “theater sampler” on the club house stage. We were treated to a free 90 minute sample of about a dozen different Branson area shows. It was very entertaining and a good way to be introduced to the local possibilities.


The park had a Saturday night country dance, BINGO, a fish fry dinner and many other events. It’s the most active RV park we’ve encountered anywhere. Fortunately, we took along our Hawaiian shirts and were properly dressed for the Hawaiian Luau.  You never know where you might find a luau, so it's good to be prepared.

The weather continued to be hot, humid and occasionally stormy during our week in Branson. It was uncomfortable and slowed us down, but it didn’t stop us. We played a round of early morning mini-golf and Ron was ready to compete in the shuffleboard tournament. But, due to the hot weather, only five other hardy souls showed up and it was cancelled.

For a small town of about 7,000 residents, Branson has an incredible amount of talent and entertainment. It’s sort of a low-profile mini-Las Vegas without the casinos and huge hotels. There are more than 50 live-performance theaters here and hundreds of different shows and attractions to choose from. And it seems that most of them are along Highway 76 (the strip). It’s only a two-lane highway and traffic bogs down and moves very slowly. But, we soon found the faster alternate routes and had no problems getting around town.

Shows range from Ozark down-home country music to Broadway musicals, rock-n-roll, pop, etc. The theaters are very nice and most of the entertainers are fairly young. There’s a lot of talent and lots of competition, which means we could hear good music in the Branson Mall, in restaurants and other locations where musicians play for donations, hoping to hit the big time. Music everywhere!

At the other end of the spectrum are the proven old-timers, such as Andy Williams, the Osmonds, Yakov Smirnoff and, of course, Elvis (many impersonators). We went to performances of two favorites from our earlier years, Bill Medley (Righteous Brothers) and country rocker Mickey Gilley. (More about them later)


We were pleased to find that everything in Branson is family-oriented. Kids can go anywhere, often for free. Even the comedians keep their shows clean and free of foul language. Very refreshing. Here in the Ozarks the local folks are very friendly and polite. This is also a very religious place. On Sunday there are live gospel shows around town and it’s hard to find anything on TV other than church services. Going with the flow, we attended a free Gospel Hour at the Little Opry Theater just outside our RV park. The small but enthusiastic crowd got a good taste of some down-home Ozark country gospel music.

One of the most visually impressive museums in Branson is the Titanic, a partial replica of the original ship.An interesting Branson attraction is the World’s Largest Toy Museum. It claims to have over a million toys and it was fun finding a few old relics that we recognized or played with as kids. Ron especially liked the collection of trains and trucks, while Bonnie found lots of interesting old dolls.

Branson Landing, along the shore of Lake Tanycomo, is a major addition to the downtown area. It’s an intense assortment of upscale stores and restaurants with several stories of condos above. We took an evening walk along the lakefront pathway and through the interior. The meandering pedestrian-only street is a real people-place with artwork, fountains, benches and other nice features.

The main fountain entertains visitors each hour with dancing waters, colored lights and flames, all choreographed to music. Pretty cool.

A couple highlights of our Branson visit was to see Bill Medley and Mickey Gilley in concert. We understand that many of our younger friends, kids and grandkids may not recognize these names. So, for their sake, we’d like to provide a little information about them.


The Starlite Theater is where Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy Award winner Righteous Brothers’ Bill Medley does his show, along with his daughter McKenna.

Medley sang many of his hit songs, including “Soul Inspiration”, “I’ve Had the Time of My Life”, “Unchained Melody” and the most often played song in the history of American radio, “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling”. His Righteous Brother partner Bobby Hatfield died in 2003. Bill shared stories about their long music career and did a music/video tribute to Hatfield. It was clear that he misses his partner and friend a great deal. Bill’s daughter McKenna Medley was named Branson’s 2007 Female Vocalist of the Year. She has a great voice and sang several songs and a few duets with her dad.

Bill Medley and Hatfield met at Cal State Long Beach and began singing together in 1962 as part of a five-member group called the Paramours. They later sang in Orange County clubs and were told they had a gospel sound. They named their act "The Righteous Brothers" after a fan remarked of their singing, "that's righteous, brothers." Their first hit single was Little Latin Lupe Lu and their first #1 hit was You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling in 1964. Later hits included (You're My) Soul and Inspiration, Unchained Melody and Rock and Roll Heaven.


Following the show, Bill and McKenna signed autographs and chatted with some of the audience members. Bonnie has been a fan for a long time and she made sure we were first in line. We had our picture taken with Bill and McKenna Medley. It was a real treat to meet them personally.

Country music fans probably know the music of Mickey Gilley. He was one of our favorite country music artists in the 1970s and 1980s.  His hit song "All the Girls Get Prettier at Closing Time" has become the unofficial anthem of honky tonk bars.  Mickey and his sidekick Joey Riley provided an evening of laughs and good old country music.  Mickey and his Urban Cowboy Band played many of his 39 hits, including 17 that made it to #1 on the country music charts in the 1970s and 80s.  He told a few stories about his life and career. He played for years at “Gilleys” in Texas, the world’s largest country music night club.  Gilley’s was featured in the John Travolta movie “Urban Cowboy”. Unfortunately, the club burned down. So, in 1990, Mickey opened a theater in Branson and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

In July 2009, Mickey had a bad fall while moving furniture. He landed on his neck, broke several vertebrae and was paralyzed from the neck down. He is gradually recovering and working hard at rehabilitation. He can’t play the piano and does his show from a swivel office chair, but his voice is strong and it was great to see him walk onto the stage after an accident that nearly killed him less than a year ago.  He's still a great entertainer.

One of the most popular shows in Branson is Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede. They didn’t allow photos, but we want to describe it to you anyway. We were among an audience of about 1,100 seated at rows of tables around an indoor rodeo-type arena. The show was 90 minutes of non-stop entertainment. There was a herd of 1800 pound longhorns. There were horse races, buckboard races, stage coaches, pig races, barrel races, stunt riders, comedy, and an on-going audience participation verbal battle that waged the North against the South, complete with union and confederate mounted soldiers. There were aerialists and sets dropping from the ceiling and continuous special lighting and music. While all this was going on, we were attempting to eat our dinner, which consisted of soup, a whole rotisserie chicken, a slab of pork, half a baked potato, roll, corn on the cob and dessert. And it was served without utensils . . . eaten as finger-food in some strange southern tradition. It was a pretty intense experience but we survived and had a good time.


After eight days in Branson, it’s time to move on down the highway. This time we’re headed for Indiana with a “side trip” to New Jersey. Stay tuned . . .

Ripley's Believe-it-or-Not is an interesting piece of architecture.