Oak Ridge Boys greet spring with book, CD, hall of fame
The Oak Ridge Boys have turned new pages this year for three more chapters in their storied history.
Besides induction in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn., and release of the quartet’s “Rock of Ages: Hymns and Gospel Favorites” CD through the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store chain — both in March — the group’s all booked up again.
“On the Road with The Oak Ridge Boys: Forty Years of Untold Stories and Adventures,” a 272-page paperback that Harvest House Publishers will release May 1, marks the second group biography written by the Oaks’ tenor, Joe Bonsall, perhaps best known for his lead voice on “Elvira” from 1981.
The quartet — rounded out by lead Duane Allen, baritone William Lee Golden and bass Richard Sterban — will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, and 7 p.m. Sept. 26, at the Alabama Theatre, at Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach.
Telephoning from home in Tennessee March 24, a day before the hall-of-fame announcement, Bonsall spoke about how keeping an author’s feather in his cap, including the children’s “Molly Book” series, gives him another outlet for expression and creative freedom. This new journal about the Oaks continues footsteps made from Bonsall’s hardcover that New Leaf Press published in 2004, “An American Journey: Over 30 Years on the Road to Memories, Music & Legend.”
“As a writer, I need a challenge,” Bonsall said, explaining how Harvest House personnel approached him about penning this new book, complimenting him on his other titles and “your voice” on the pages, making them “alive and vibrant.”
Bonsall said the 2004 biography covered “so much ground,” but another decade paved the road for “a new, fresh look at the group from within the group,” such as the people they meet, the tours and “how a song is found.”
Touching again on their history — which goes back to the predecessors who started their namesake World War II-era gospel quartet, through this current lineup that first sang as one unit in 1973 — takes a different angle, Bonsall said, liking this direction that “reads more fun,” instead of the in-depth, “matter of fact” approach that drove “An American Journey.”
“It’s just a fresh look,” Bonsall said. “Not only will Oaks fans like it, but even if you’re not a fan, any music fan will get a kick out of it.”
‘The ORB Doctrine’
One “very poignant chapter” in the new chronicle, he said, covers “The ORB Doctrine” and “how we treat people.”
“I think it’s the backbone of why we’re together,” Bonsall said, voicing endless gratitude from the foursome being welcomed back by fans to such places as a state fair “we’ve been to seven to eight times,” and for one of many “traditions”: concerts twice a year at the Alabama Theatre, “where everybody’s glad to see us, and we’re glad to be there.”
Bonsall, a native Philadelphian who wishes that hopes were higher for the Phillies in this new baseball season, called himself probably the “No. 2” sandlot fan, behind Sterban, who spent many years as a part-owner of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. With that team’s affiliation change this past autumn from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Oakland Athletics, Bonsall said the Oaks are rooting for the “baby As,” who inaugurate their “brand new ballpark” on Friday.
The Oaks have hit a homer with their “Rock of Ages” CD, part of the Gaither Gospel Music series. Bonsall said Bill Gaither originated the idea for this gospel album.
The 15 songs in the package, starting with “In the Sweet By and By,” showcase “just great old hymns of the church,” Bonsall said, “the songs that endured for hundreds of years, great songs still going today.”
“It came together relatively fast,” Bonsall said. “It was one of those things where the stars lined up, God smiled, and a special project happened. We went in there and sang those things, with no retakes.”
Guests: Isaacs, ‘The Hag’
With Allen as co-producer, Bonsall said, “we stretched out just a little bit” to make this collection stand out, especially with the powering-down, closing number, “Peace Within,” an “old bluegrass gospel song we’ve had for 120 years,” which Allen saved for this CD, and the Isaacs siblings — Becky, Sonya and the other album producer, Ben — adorning the vocals.
On “Sweet Jesus,” the Oaks pair up with a fellow Country Music Hall of Fame member, Merle Haggard, who sings and gives a narrative. Bonsall said “The Hag” had pitched this number, and although “it just didn’t fit anywhere” in previous gospel projects, the men liked its flow on “Rock of Ages.”
The Oak Ridge Boys have provided harmonies on other records by such artists as Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, George Jones and Paul Simon, “but we’ve never done anything with Merle,” Bonsall said, and though “Sweet Jesus” does not fall among classics, “we treated it as such.”
Contact STEVE PALISIN at 444-1764.
The Oaks by the numbers
One | Take needed in 1981 to record “Elvira,” named after a street in Madison, Tenn., and written and first recorded in the mid-1960s by Dallas Frazier.
Second | Major U.S. musicians’ tour to play the then-Soviet Union, in 1976, opening for Roy Clark.
Three | U.S. presidents entertained through the years: the late Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Four | Harmony background voices provided for Paul Simon’s recording of “Slip Slidin’ Away,” in 1977.
Five | Honors from special groups: induction into the Gospel Music, Vocal Group and Country Music halls of fame, in 2000, ’01 and ’15, respectively; membership in the Grand Ole Opry, since 2011; and Silver Buffalo Award, from Boy Scouts of America, in 2001.
This story was originally published April 15, 2015 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Oak Ridge Boys greet spring with book, CD, hall of fame."