Oak Ridge Boys
Over the past decade, few acts in music have been any more prolific than the Oak Ridge Boys. In addition to performing 150-plus shows each year, the vocal quartet has released eight albums— five studio releases, a live album and two Christmas records—in that span.
Every album, naturally, was important to the group, but a couple of years ago, the Oak Ridge Boys decided to set their sights on really making a statement with their next studio release.
“We were inducted (in 2015) into the Country Music Hall of Fame,” Oak Ridge Boys bass vocalist Richard Sterban explained. “After that we felt like we wanted to do something special, something different, something kind of monumental to commemorate now being members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.”
As Sterban, lead vocalist Duane Allen, tenor vocalist Joe Bonsall and baritone vocalist William Lee Golden pondered what kind of album project could achieve that lofty goal, one idea kept coming up. The group could work with producer Dave Cobb.
The Oak Ridge Boys first met and worked with Cobb on the 2009 album The Boys Are Back, and that experience in the studio had remained etched in the memories of the four singers.
“We were so excited about that project, because he took us down some roads musically we had never traveled before, like doing a cover of the White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army,’ and (John Lee Hooker’s) ‘Boom Boom,’ songs we would not have done on our own,” Sterban said. “But Dave kind of just took us in that direction.”
Since that 2009 album, Cobb has become arguably the hottest producer in country/Americana music, thanks to his work with the likes of Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson and the Zac Brown Band. So getting back in the studio with Cobb, who these days can pretty much take his pick of what acts to produce, would be a coup.
As it turned out, Cobb must have enjoyed his work with the Oak Ridge Boys, which during the late 1970s and ’80s became one of country music’s most popular acts, reeling off 17 No. 1 country singles and at one point 10 straight top-10 albums, including three that topped the country album chart.
When the group met with Cobb to discuss the project, the producer already had a clear idea for the kind of album he wanted to make with the Oak Ridge Boys.
“(He said) ‘What I want you guys to do to think about Elvis [Presley], think about Ray Charles, think about Jerry Lee Lewis, think about the old blues guy,” Sterban recalled. “‘What was it that turned them on?’ And the common thing they had between all of them was the fact that they grew up in church. They went to church and their first singing was done in church.”
The gospel emphasis for 17th Avenue Revival was a natural enough direction for the group. The original Oak Ridge Boys began in the 1940s as a gospel group. By the time Golden and Allen joined in 1964 and 1966 respectively, the Oaks were one of the leading gospel acts going. While the shift to country in the late 1970s brought the Oak Ridge Boys their huge success, the group’s gospel roots have remained present.
Gospel is certainly the primary ingredient on 17th Avenue Revival, but the brand of gospel on several songs is something a bit different for the group. The early rock ’n’ roll elements infused into gospel tunes like “Brand New Star,” “God’s Got It” and “Let It Shine On Me” give these songs a shot of rootsy energy.
Sterban said the Oak Ridge Boys figure to perform perhaps five songs from 17th Avenue Revival in their live shows, while covering plenty of other musical ground.
“We realize that people want to hear the hit songs. So you can count on the fact that when we come to town, you’re going to hear ‘Elvira.’ That is the law. That is our signature song,” he said. “I can list all of our hits and you’re going to hear most of those hits. We always change it around. We never do the same show twice. But we always include, there are several songs we have to do on every show, like ‘Elvira’ and ‘Y’all Come Back Saloon.’”
The Oak Ridge Boys play Potawatomi Hotel & Casino on Wednesday, March 20, at 8 p.m.
