Known by one name or another in various membership incarnations, the Oak Ridge Boys have been making music for over 80 years. The quartet originally made their name in Southern Gospel, and even though they became stars of country music in the ‘70s (and sang backgrounds on pop star Paul Simon’s “Slip Slidin’ Away”), they’ve always been true to their Gospel roots.
Now the Oaks have released a new album and are touring in support of it. Buried Treasures is the name of the new recording, which features classic songs by such artists as Hoagy Carmichael, Joe Cocker, Louis Armstrong and others. With a title track written by Grammy winner Aaron Raitiere (Ella Langley, Lady Gaga), the album’s first single is a cover of legendary songwriter Billy Joe Shaver’s “Live Forever,” sung by the group’s legendary “Mountain Man” William Lee Golden.
Produced and recorded by engineer/musician Anderson East (David Nail, Lukas Nelson), and executive produced and mixed by Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, the Red Clay Strays), the new album also features such Christian-themed material as “How Great Thou Art” and “Softly and Tenderly,” hearkening back to the sound that has made the group famous for decades. The quartet lost longtime tenor singer Joe Bonsall in 2024 to complications of ALS, and the iconic bass singer Richard Sterban, who makes an appearance on the new album, has been sidelined from touring due to medical issues. But that hasn’t stopped Golden and lead singer Duane Allen from hitting the road with the new material, with friends like new tenor singer Ben James (Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver), and bass men Aaron Lee McCune (Dailey & Vincent) and Dove-winning Tim Duncan, sitting in to cover the parts.
Golden talked about the new record from his longtime Hendersonville home, and about what it’s been like for the group to work with a couple relative youngsters in Cobb (52) and East (38). “Well, they kind of understand who we are and where we’re coming from,” he said. “We started working with Dave Cobb 12 years ago, we’ve got six albums with him now. Anderson also plays some of the guitars on this, he’s a talented guy.”
The album opens with Golden’s baritone on the Simon and Garfunkel classic “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” “Dave Cobb asked me to do ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water,’ which I had never thought about doing,” Golden said. “But it was Dave’s idea one afternoon, we had just finished doing ‘Live Forever,’ and Dave said tomorrow morning he wanted me to come in and be ready to sing it. So I come home and listened to it some and the next day we did it.”
To accompany the first single, “Live Forever,” the group shot a nature-inspired video. “We shot it at a farm out near Clarksville and over at the Oak Ridge Boys Bridge (in Hendersonville),” Golden said. “We’re excited about it, and my wife Simone has a cameo in it, it’s the first one she’s done.”
While Buried Treasures contains classic compositions and the new title track, the group also made sure to include three Christian songs in keeping with what they’ve done for so much of their career. “It takes us back to our roots and it’s something that we’re never far from,” he said. “Throughout the years of all the other albums that we cut in the heyday of ‘Elvira’ and ‘Bobbie Sue’ and ‘Thank God For Kids,’ we always put a Gospel song on the album.”
You can follow the Oaks’ tour dates at oakridgeboys.com.
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