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Black Oak Arkansas

Introduction

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Despite being a small town by any standard, Black Oak was introduced to all of the United States by the 60's Southern Rock group Black Oak Arkansas. The founding members of the group were born and raised in the town that gave them their name and achieved the peak of their success in the 70's with their hit song "Jim Dandy".

Images

Brick, Font, Art, Graffiti

Backstory and Context

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While the town itself is currently on a decline, Black Oak is the quintessential small town with a focus on farming in Arkansas. The Black Oak Gin, gravel roads, and beautiful sunsets over a cotton field are things that every resident of Black Oak thinks of when thinking of home. For a musical group to come out of somewhere that is essentially in the middle of nowhere to gain a fair modicum of success is such a great story and goes to show what is possible despite of where someone is originally from. The wild style and distinctive vocals of lead singer and founder James Mangrum (also known as "Jim Dandy" himself) has gone on to influence multiple generations of front-men in music, most notably the legendary David Lee Roth of Van Halen. When discussing the contributions of Arkansas to the musical world, it is virtually impossible to omit the band Black Oak Arkansas and by association the town itself from the discussion. As a tribute to the band that brought the name of the small town across the United States, there is now a mural of the band painted on a brick wall that can be viewed on Main Street.

Sources

"Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Black Oak town, Arkansas". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder.

Additional Information