The Oak Ridge Boys

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Press photo of The Oak Ridge Boys.

The Oak Ridge Boys is a country and gospel band in the United States. The group was founded in 1945 as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular during the 1950s. Their name was changed to the "Oak Ridge Boys" in 1961, and they remained a gospel-oriented group until the late 1970s, when they changed their image and concentrated more on country and pop music. The band's most well known lineup consists of lead singer Duane Allen, tenor Joe Bonsall, baritone William Lee Golden, and bass singer Richard Sterban.

[edit] History

The Oak Ridge Boys first recorded together in a group known as Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers. When Wally Fowler decided to focus on creating gospel music, he formed The Oak Ridge Quartet with himself, Lon "Deacon" Freeman, Curly Kinsey, and Johnny New. Those three men split from Fowler to form a new group, Fowler hired an existing group, the Calvary Quartet to join the Oak Ridge Quartet. After touring for a few years, Fowler disbanded the Oak Ridge Quartet and sold the rights to that name to group member Smitty Gatlin in 1957 in forgiveness of a debt. After more personnel changes, they lost their tenor. They lowered their arrangements had Gatlin sing tenor and their pianist, Tommy Fairchild, sing lead. They recorded an album for Cadence. Soon, in 1958 they hired Willie Wynn to sing the tenor. At this point the group was Willie Wynn on tenor, Smitty Gatlin on lead, Ron Page on baritone and Herman Harper on Bass. They recorded an album on Checker, one on Starday, and three on Skylite.

In 1962, Ron Page quit, and the group hired Gary McSpadden (who had filled in for Jake Hess in the Statesmen quartet) for baritone. They recorded another album on Skylite, and then two ground breaking albums on Warner Brothers. The name of the group was changed to The Oak Ridge Boys because their producer, Bud Praeger thought Oak Ridge Quartet sounded too old fogyish for their new contemporary sound. After three albums with them, McSpadden (being hand picked by Jake Hess himself) quit to be an original member of the Imperials. Jim Hammill (later a mainstay in the Kingsmen) was chosen to be his replacement. They cut one album for Festival, one for Stateswood (Skylite's budget label), and two more for Skylite. The boys and Hammill did not get along, and fan of the group, Bill Golden thought that he was hurting the group as McSpadden (unlike Hammill) had been a good looking guy with tons of energy and charisma. He recommended himself as the baritone of the group. The group did not immediately act, but eventually did.

Bill (William Lee) Golden joined the group in January 1965. They cut another album for Starday and another on Skylite. In 1966, Duane Allen joined the group to replace Gatlin who left the group to become a minister of music. They cut another on Skylite, one on United Artists, and from 1966-1973 they had 12 on Heart Warming (in addition they had several compilations there.) They also had an album on Vista (Heart Warming's budget label) that included unreleased songs from previous sessions. In 1970, the Oak Ridge Boys earned their first Grammy with "Talk About the Good Times".

Richard Sterban joined the group in 1972. Sterban had been a member of "J.D. Sumner and The Stamps Quartet". Most notably, that band backed Elvis Presley live in concert during Sterban's time as a member. Shortly after Presley's 4 June 1972 Madison Square Garden concerts, Sterban left the group (this has been reported as October of 1972.) Joe Bonsall (a member of the Keystones and on Oaks lead, Duane Allen's Superior label) joined in October of 1973. The group's lineup would remain consistent for the next 15 years. They moved to the Columbia label and cut three albums and some singles there. They went from being one of the top acts on Heart Warming to about the bottom on Columbia as far as priorities. They cut some great material there, but Columbia did not service the gospel radio stations like Heart Warming did, and many people thought the Oaks were leaving gospel music which also hurt the group. They cut a live album on their own label which was a mix of gospel and country. In 1977, The Oak Ridge Boys switched from gospel to country, with the release of their first ABC (later MCA album, Ya'll Come Back Saloon. They then cut Room Service, The Oak Ridge Boys Have Arrived, and Together.

The group's 1981 album, Fancy Free, contained the Dallas Frazier-penned song "Elvira". It remains the group's most widely known song. It would become a #1 country chart hit, as well as a #5 pop hit.

Bobbie Sue, their seventh album (including a Greatest Hits album), was released on February 10, 1982. The title song was another crossover hit, reaching #1 on the country chart and #12 on the pop chart. They then did a Christmas album (simply called Christmas) and then their American Made album.

The 1983 single "American Made", which begins this way:

My baby is American made

Born and bred in the USA

...became the source of a TV ad for Miller Beer:

Miller's made the American way

Born and brewed in the USA

The song was recut, but the Oaks would not sing it and did not want it used, but had no say in the matter.

Then they cut "Deliver" and released Greatest Hits 2 which had two new cuts on it.

In 1985, Step On Out was released. In 1986 Seasons and Christmas Again were released and in 1987 Where The Fast Lane Ends was released. It was the group's last album before the 1987 departure of William Lee Golden. Golden's departure was preceded by discussion, both by the public and other members of the group, about his beard and "mountain man" lifestyle. Golden complained that he felt like the "odd man out". He was replaced by the band's guitarist, Steve Sanders, who remained with the group until the end of 1995.

They released "Heartbeat", "Monongahela", Greatest Hits 3 (which had a previously unreleased single they had cut for the Take Pride In America campaign)and "American Dreams." They switched labels to RCA and cut two albums there "Unstoppable" and "Long Haul" as well as "Best Of The Oak Ridge Boys" which included a single they had cut for the "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" movie soundtrack. Their move to RCA had not worked out because the one who signed them moved to another label shortly after them moving there. They were stuck in limbo with his replacement wanting to promote Alabama and not so much the Oaks. They then switched again and signed with Liberty (which became Capitol.) They cut their third Christmas album, "Country Christmas Eve" there.

Oaks baritone, Steve Sanders, had been dealing with many problems (including several with his ex-wife) and those problems were increasingly becoming problems for all of the Oaks. He gave notice in late 1995, but then walked out before fulfilling it and left the group hours away from a concert without a baritone. They called Duane Allen's son Dee, to fly there and fill in. He did so for the remainder of the year with help from his brother-in-law Paul Martin (former lead singer of Exile) when he could not do so. At midnight on New Year's Day 1996, in Indiana, Golden returned to the group. They cut a two disc gospel set, "Revival" (their first full gospel album since 1976) with Leon Russell producing. This was sold on TV and later by the Oaks in concert and through the mail. They then cut half of an album with Polka instrumentalist, Jimmy Sturr and then an album for Platinum ("Voices").

After dealing with labels that did not seem to want to promote them (as Columbia had been years before), studio breakdowns (while recording their gospel set), the label they were on going "belly up" (Platinum) etc. their fortunes changed when they signed with Spring Hill. They cut a full length gospel album there ("From The Heart"), another Christmas one ("Inconvenient Christmas"), a patriotic one ("Colors"), a bluegrass one ("The Journey") and then cut gospel songs to be added to a special edition version of "From The Heart" which was available only from Feed The Children. Later, to recoup some of the costs of the gospel songs, the label took those songs, two from "The Journey" and had them recut some of their previous gospel hits to make up their "Common Thread" album. They then cut another Christmas album ("Christmas Cookies"). The Boys were going to record "Fresh Cuts" albums which would have some new songs and some of their hits re-recorded. These plans were stalled by MCA releasing their country stuff on a new hits compilation. In 2006 they completed a new album, Front Row Seats, on Spring Hill Records. The album is a welcome return to mainstream country music with modern, fresh arrangements and song selection. The first single from the project, "Hard To Be Cool (In A Mini-Van) is fast approaching the Top 40, a place where the boys haven't been since 1992.

Herman Harper died in December 1993. Steve Sanders (baritone from 1987-1995) died from a self inflicted gunshot wound on 10 June 1998. Noel Fox (bass singer 1969-1972) died at age 63 on 10 April 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee, after surgery following a series of strokes.