Oak Ridge Boy says he’s fine ‘not being country enough’

Richard Sterban, bass vocalist in the Oak Ridge Boys, can’t help but see the irony when he compares today’s mainstream country music with the music the Oak Ridge Boys continue to make more than four decades into their country music career.

“People accused us back then of not being country enough,” Sterban said in a recent phone interview. “Now we’re classic country.

“We’re too country in today’s country, if that makes sense.”

Sterban doesn’t hear much of anything in the genre today that sounds country to him. But he’s fine with that.

“I’m not trying to be critical. I’m really not. But to me it does not sound very country. It really doesn’t,” he explained. “I look at the awards shows, and I can understand why we’re not on those award shows anymore. We really do not fit there. It’s not our style anymore. But I don’t have a problem with it because these young people who have come into our business have raised the bar several levels and they’ve made the (country music) business bigger and better than it’s ever been before, and I can’t argue with that.”

Country may not have a place for the Oak Ridge Boys these days, but that isn’t stopping the veteran group from touring, recording and reaching fans old and new. The Oak Ridge Boys, a regular Kansas State Fair staple over the years, will return for a performance Tuesday. Their Grandstand concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

The past four years have been some of the busiest in the career of the vocal quartet of Sterban, lead vocalist Duane Allen, tenor Joe Bonsall and baritone William Lee Golden. Last fall, the Oaks released their first-ever live album, “Boys Night Out,” and Cracker Barrel restaurants are now carrying the group’s latest gospel release, “Rock of Ages,” an album featuring the group’s updated versions of classic hymns.

These two releases join three other albums that have arrived in that span – “It’s Only Natural” (2011), “Back Home Again: Gospel Favorites” (2012) and the holiday CD, “Christmas Time’s-A-Coming.”

Sterban said fans had been asking about a live album for years, and the band found the right time for the project in 2013 when it had a run of concerts in Laughlin, Nev. – a series of shows that has become an annual early-year tradition for the group.

“We do 11 shows in seven days, which makes for a long week. It’s a lot of work,” Sterban said. “But our fans plan their vacations around that particular week. So we have our hardcore fans sitting right there in the front in the audience and we change the show around every day. So after we recorded 11 shows in seven days, we had a wealth of material to choose from.”

Fourteen songs spanning the Oaks’ career – including signature hits like “Elvira,” “Thanks God For Kids,” “Dream On” and “Y’all Come Back Saloon” – make up the album.

Sterban said the Oak Ridge Boys plan to include most of the songs that appear on “Boys Night Out” in its live sets this winter and spring, and will start to slowly add songs from the “Rock of Ages” gospel album as well. But don’t expect a cookie cutter set list.

“We have a wealth of songs,” Sterban said. “We rehearse all the time and we keep bringing back old songs to put back into the show. We do our best to keep it interesting. So if you come to an Oak Ridge Boys show, regardless of where it is, you’re not going to hear the same show you heard last year. It’s going to be different. And we pride ourselves on that, we really do.”

The country music on “Boys Night Out” and the hymns on “Rock of Ages” highlight two major parts of the group’s career.

The original Oak Ridge Boys began in the 1940s as a gospel group. But by the time Sterban and Bonsall joined Golden and Allen in the Oaks in 1972 and 1973 respectively, the group was setting its sights on moving from gospel to country.

After a few tough years, the group broke through in 1977 with the hit single, “Y’all Come Back Saloon.” Over the next dozen years, the Oak Ridge Boys routinely cranked out hit albums and singles, including its signature single, “Elvira,” which not only topped the country charts, but crossed over to become a top five pop hit.

The potential Sterban saw in the Oak Ridge Boys was enough to lure him away from his gig with the gospel group J.D. Sumner and the Stamps. At the time, the Stamps also were serving as a backup vocal group for Elvis Presley.

“He was on top of things when I was there,” Sterban said. “He was still ‘The King.’ He was packing out arenas and stadiums. It was a pretty amazing thing to be a part of.”

Still, Sterban didn’t hesitate to leave the Stamps and Presley for the Oaks.

“When they called me up, the thought of me just being able to be a part of the Oak Ridge Boys just thrilled me to death,” Sterban said.

This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Oak Ridge Boy says he’s fine ‘not being country enough’."