'Elvira' still sounds good at Christmas to the Oak Ridge Boys

Oak Ridge Boys bass singer Richard Sterban says it feels good to perform the group's hits alongside Christmas favorites. The group is, from left, Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, William Lee Golden and Sterban.

It's been 30 years since the Oak Ridge Boys first harmonized about a bedeviling beauty named "Elvira," but it seems audiences never tire of it.

"If you told any one of the four of us if we thought 30 years later we'd still be singing 'Elvira' and still doing this at the level we're doing it, we wouldn't have believed it," says Oak Ridge Boys bassist Richard Sterban.

The group even performs the song on its Christmas tour, which will conclude in Knoxville on Dec. 21.

"We started doing the Christmas show in 1989 and it's become the biggest part of our year. We left home on Thanksgiving Day and, except for a few hours, we won't be home till Dec. 22," says Sterban.

The Oak Ridge Boys actually started in Knoxville in the 1940s as Wally Fowler and the Clodhoppers. The vocal group that sang on local radio and, often, for workers in Oak Ridge, which led to the group re-christening itself the Oak Ridge Quartet. In the 1950s the group switched to purely gospel music and in the 1960s, when current members William Lee Golden and Duane Allen joined the group, the act changed its name to the Oak Ridge Boys. All of the original members were long gone from the group by that point. It was when Sterban and Joe Bonsall joined the act in 1972 and '73, respectively, that the Oak Ridge Boys set on the path to become country stars. In 1977, the group released the secular album "Ya'll Come Back Saloon." Country hits followed, including 1981's "Elvira," which went to No. 1 on the country charts and No. 5 on the pop charts.

Suddenly, the Oaks seemed to be everywhere — headlining tours, television and even in the White House.

"We've sung for five presidents of the United States," says Sterban. "We've flown on Air Force One. We can look back on all these things and really feel truly blessed. Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves and say, 'Did this really happen to us?' "

The hits stopped in the 1990s, but the group continued to be a successful touring act. Golden, who dropped out of the group in 1987, returned to the fold in 1995.

"We've certainly seen ups and downs over the years," says Sterban. "But I think our music, through the course of the years, has done a lot of good. We've made a real contribution to the music business and our music has helped a lot of people over the years. We made a lot of people happy. We still get a lot of correspondence from fans telling us how our music has helped them get through difficult times in their lives."

Good things continue to happen with the band.

The group was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in August. While most people would assume the group had been inducted into Opry long ago, the act had never been invited until then.

"That was a tremendous honor," says Sterban. "Of all the great things that have happened to us, to be able to say we are members of the Grand Ole Opry is a tremendous honor — especially if you think about the history. In many ways, it is country music."

The group has a new album, "It's Only Natural," out on the Cracker Barrel label.

"They allowed us to go into the studio and reinvent ourselves with some new music that is made for the current marketplace. And we have a single that is starting to get some radio airplay. That's pretty phenomenal."

And, the group released the new Christmas CD, "Christmas Cookies," prior to beginning the 2011 Christmas tour.

In addition to a regular touring schedule, the group performs between 20 and 30 dates per year at the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre in Branson, Mo.

The band has no plans to slow down.

"The most important thing is we're still having fun doing it," says Sterban. "We're booking dates for next year and we have another album coming out next year. I feel like we're in a great place in our career where we can look back at a lot of great things, but we can still be optimistic about our future."

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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