COLUMN: Oak Ridge Boys bring decades of experience, new songs, high energy to Macon

The Oak Ridge Boys are a marvel and they hit the Macon City Auditorium stage tonight at 7:30.

A marvel?

They’ve garnered 12 gold, three platinum and one double-platinum album, plus a double-platinum single and enjoyed more than a dozen national number one singles and 30-plus Top Ten hits.

And they’ve been around – mostly – since the 1940s, first as southern gospel’s the Oak Ridge Quartet then as the Oak Ridge Boys who’ve maintained their current member lineup – mostly – since the 1970s.

The name comes from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the Manhattan Project was underway in the group’s early days and the fact they somehow got security clearance to perform for workers there who couldn’t leave the facility to find their own entertainment.

Actually, before that, the group was known as the Georgia Clodhoppers, circa 1943.

Zoom forward to the mid-1960s when baritone William Lee Golden and lead singer Duane Allen became part of the group and to the early-1970s when tenor Joe Bonsall and bass singer Richard Sterban joined. This is the lineup that’s seen the bulk of Oak Ridge Boys hits, awards and who moved the outfit from Southern gospel to country, keeping a good measure of gospel in the mix.

Country and crossover pop hits have included the well-known “Elvira,” “Bobbie Sue,” “Dream On,” “I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes,” “Y’all Come Back Saloon” and more.

“Elvira” is that song you’ve heard but may not remember until the chorus comes around with its deep “oom pa-pa, oom pa-pa, oom pa-pa mow mow.”

It’s Sterban who brought the bass chorus to life. To look at him, you’d never suspect such a voice would emerge but you would probably pick him out as the group’s ‘Jersey boy.

“Believe it or not, hearing my speaking and singing voice now, you’d never guess I was a boy soprano at six singing in church in Camden, New Jersey,” he told me. “My high voice continued through junior high glee club until the summer before eighth grade when it dropped almost overnight. I think it may have scared my mom a bit but going back to school that fall, my teacher couldn’t believe it. From then on it was bass for me.”

A few years later, Sterban started a gospel group and before long got tapped to sing with the Stamps Quartet taking the legendary J.D. Sumner’s place. Then – wouldn’t you know it – within a few months the Stamps were picked as Elvis Presley’s backup singers.

“So in my 20s I was touring with the biggest star in the world,” Sterban said. “The first time Elvis came in for rehearsal my jaw dropped. I had been a fan, but a casual one. But when he walked through that door and I saw him in person for the first time I realized why he was the biggest. He had an air about him, a charisma or whatever you want to call it that filled the place. He came over, welcomed us, hugged us and called each of us by name. I’d never had anyone do that.”

Sterban said in off moments Elvis enjoyed finding a piano and gathering the group to sing old gospel hymns with him.

“That time with Elvis was such a learning experience,” Sterban said.

After a time with the Stamps, Sterban began his long, to-this-day gig with the tight-knit and tightly-four-part-harmonied Oak Ridge Boys.

On average, the group spends 150 days a year on the road.

“During the pandemic, with just about everything shut down, we recorded a new album with Dave Cobb, one of the hottest producers in Nashville now,” Sterban said. “We used all the safety protocols and it was about only us in the studio. We decided to go for the feel of just four friends on a front porch singing in harmony and I think we really captured it. I think it has a very inspirational and healing nature and we’re all proud of the way it turned out.”

The album is called “Front Porch Singin’.”

With all the hits and recognition, Sterban said he believes it’s the group’s stage show that keeps them a popular favorite.

“I have no plans to retire – we have no plans to retire,” he said. “We love what we do. Since I was a youngster, six years old, I believed my gift and calling was to sing and perform for people. We’re still having fun and love working together with each one of us in the group bringing their own unique part.”

For ticketing and more information on the Oak Ridge Boys go to www.maconcentreplex.org/auditorium and www.oakridgeboys.com.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.