Eclectic Company: The Oak Ridge Boys’ Richard Sterban Speaks To Me

If you’re going to catch the country-chart-topping long-lived vocal harmony group the Oak Ridge Boys at the Isle of Capri (Lake Charles, LA) this weekend, you can count on a family-friendly show packed with country-gospel and country-pop hits like their 1982 GRAMMY winner, “Elvira,” a few patriotic songs (they were named the “official leading singers of our National Anthem,’” by the National Music Council, and they’re outspoken supporters of our troops), and some new numbers including a cover of John Denver’s “[Hey It’s Good To Be] Back Home Again,” from their May 2012 release Back Home Again, a bluegrass-country-gospel album that also sports a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors.” Maybe they’ll even find out who’s naughty or nice, and sing something from their unreleased newest Christmas album, Christmas Time’s A’ Comin’, that’s on its way to us this fall.

The Oak Ridge Boys – Duane Allen (lead), Joe Bonsall (tenor), William Lee Golden (baritone), and Richard Sterban (bass) – have been together since 1973, and like many other groups of that longevity, have reinvented themselves a number of times to stay current for the sake of their old and new fans: Their 2009 album, The Boys Are Back, for example, featured covers of songs by blues and rock icons John Lee Hooker, the White Stripes, and Neil Young, while their 2011 album It’s Only Natural, released by and sold in the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant chain (check out the store for the upcoming Christmas record, and some in-store promotions featuring the Oak Ridge Boys live, too), reprised “Elvira” alongside other old favorites and a handful of new songs, and stayed on the Billboard Country albums chart Top 40 for two months.

That’s pretty amazing for a bunch of guys pushing 70 whose greatest fame was achieved 30 years ago, when they racked up numerous Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association awards and a GRAMMY in four short years. Well I’m here to tell you that 70 is the new 40, because these guys show no signs of slowing down, and the mature, muscular energy in their golden throats can still be heard live as well as on record. Youtube up an old version and a recent one of “Elvira” and you’ll see what I mean. In a lengthy phone interview with the band’s bass vocalist and author of From Elvis to Elvira: My Life on Stage, Richard Sterban, I learned what gives the Oak Ridge Boys the power and drive that keeps the wheels turning, 150 dates a year.

The number one reason Sterban gives for their continuous touring is that they regularly mix in new material and that “puts new energy and new life into [the] group. We still approach our show the way we always have. We give it all we have, and that’s the key reason why we’re 40 years older but are still doing it every time we get onstage. We love touring, taking our music live onstage to fans all over the country. And after all these years, we’re still having fun doing this. We go into the studio, but performing live is what we’re all about.”

The music industry has changed substantially since the Boys’ early-1980s heyday, especially the way that music and information about music is delivered, and they’ve risen to meet the challenge. “We like to think that we do not leave any stones unturned,” Sterban laughed in his deep bass rumble, that’s been known to drop to very low octave Cs and E-flats. “We’re aware that there are a large block of people – like my 16-year-old daughter – who don’t go into record stores.” So they keep current with social media through facebook and twitter accounts, but never neglect traditional print publications. You can buy downloads of their music, but their core audience is a bit older and still likes to buy physical CDs, “which,” Sterban admits, “in this day and age is difficult to do, as even the Wal-Marts have less space to rack CDs.”

That’s one reason why the Boys have begun releasing records on the Cracker Barrel label. Sterban told me that “they’re not only a great restaurant, but they make music a big part of what they do. Their customers look very much like our audience, so it’s a natural thing” to join forces. With 600 stores, Cracker Barrel has moved loads of Oak Ridge Boys CDs, which is what kept their It’s Only Natural release front and center on the Billboard charts for so long, and why there will be future Oak Ridge Boys records released on the stores’ label.

Apart from all the changes in the music business, I wondered if the Oak Ridge Boys – who inherited the brand from a harmony gospel group started in the late 1940s – had any feelings about the changes in the styles of music now selling under the Country music rubric. The Boys, of course, have both Country gospel and Country pop repertoires, in the past they’ve gone over to the rock side, and with their 2012 release – the acoustic-focused bluegrass-country-gospel album, Back Home Again on the Gaither Music Group label, produced by label mate Ben Isaacs of the Isaacs family gospel group – they’ve covered those genres and more. Looking at the current Country music scene, Sterban said that he’s an adamant supporter: “First of all, for the most part I like what is happening to Country music. When I see the new artists who have come into our business, [I see that] the future of Country music is in very good hands. The songwriters now are writing some of the best songs that I’ve ever heard. Today’s Country music artists have raised the bar, made our industry bigger and better, and that means it becomes better for all of us.”

Which brings us to the music of the vocal quartet, the Oak Ridge Boys. Their backup band may change every now and again, but the players can all pick the hell out of any musical style thrown at them. And over the years, as the Boys have tweaked their sound to stay current, the band has expanded to meet the challenge. All the music, though, comes down to the vocals. Choosing the songs, and deciding on the arrangements, Sterban told me “is a very democratic process. We all make the decisions and work together with whoever is producing to choose the songs. Duane Allen is really the song man in the group. He spends lots of time listening to songs and talking to publishers and songwriters to find the best new material to suit us. The final decision is between the four of us and our producer. And as far as the arrangements go – we don’t usually have to arrange the harmonies most of the time, because we know each other so well we almost fall into the arrangements naturally.”

That was true when they arranged the rock instrumentals of their cover of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” for four voices. You have to hear it to believe it.

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