A Middle-American Las Vegas with all the tackiness and none of the exuberant style, Branson is a century-old Ozark resort that hit the big time in the 1980s through clever promotion and cunning repackaging of country-and-western music and God-fearing recreation. There are over 30 major performance venues in Branson, and looking down the list of people who make a living playing here all summer—Jimmy Osmond, Tony Orlando, and Jim “I Don’t Like Spiders and Snakes” Stafford—you’d think that anyone who had a hit record or a TV show, or who can sing in a twang and impersonate a country-western star, can have their own showcase theater. Most offer two shows a day plus optional breakfast shows at 10 am—imagine Hank Williams doing one of those. Bus tours throng and clog the streets and highways around Branson all summer long.
However cruel this assessment sounds, once you visit, you may feel it is, if anything, not biting enough. Branson simply embodies everything that’s annoying and disappointing about mass-merchandising of “culture”—a cloyingly sentimental version of American music without the slightest sense of humor or moment of sincere feeling. Then again, millions of people like it, so they must be doing something right.
What originally put Branson on the tourist map was not music but a book: The Shepherd of the Hills, by Harold Bell Wright. Set in and around Branson and published in 1907, it was a huge bestseller. Adapted in the 1930s into an outdoor stage play (417/334-4191), Shepherd of the Hills has been drawing millions here ever since.
But the best thing about Branson is Silver Dollar City (daily; $29; 417/338-2611), nine miles west of Branson via Hwy-76, a turn-of-the-20th-century theme park devoted to Ozark arts, crafts, and music—and roller coasters. Nearby: the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum (daily; $12.95; 417/339-1900), at 3950 Green Mountain Drive, where it recently moved from its longtime home in Victorville, California, at the other end of Route 66.
The Ozark Mountain area around Branson is still a lovely place to explore; just about any road south, east, or west will take you through beautifully scenic mountain landscapes.
