Quartet to return to Honeywell on Nov. 24
By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH, Ind. – Families throughout the area can begin a new holiday tradition on Saturday, Nov. 24.
“The Oak Ridge Boys: Shine the Light on Christmas” holiday tour will take to the Honeywell Center’s Ford Theater stage at 7:30 p.m.
“Believe it or not, this year will be our 29th annual Christmas tour,” Richard Sterban, bass singer for the quartet, told The Paper of Wabash during a recent telephone interview. “We do a Christmas tour every year and it really has over the course of the years become the biggest part of our year. If we could stretch the Christmas season into like a three-month season, we could probably fill almost every day.
“Over the years the Christmas show has become very much in demand, and it’s the most successful part of our year. I think over the course of the years we’ve become known for our Christmas music. I think we have seven Christmas albums out now. Joe Bonsall (the group’s tenor) jokingly says we have more Christmas music out now than Andy Williams and probably Kenny Rogers does, combined.”
The group originally toured with Rogers as part of his annual Christmas tour.
“For a couple years, we went around the country with Kenny Rogers singing Christmas songs,” Sterban said. “One day we got in the bus and we were talking among ourselves … one night after singing Christmas songs with Kenny, we said, ‘We could do this, too.” That was 29 years ago and, like I said, it’s become an annual event.”
The Nov. 24 concert will be the group’s eighth appearance at the Honeywell Center.
“We’ve been to Wabash, period, several times,” Sterban joked. “We’re looking forward to coming back.
“A lot of places that we go to, it’s become like a tradition. People and their families come out and spend a part of their Christmas season with the Oak Ridge Boys. It’s become a very special thing for us.”
Just because it’s billed as a Christmas show, that doesn’t mean the Oak Ridge Boys’ favorite hits will not be performed.
“The Christmas show is kind of like two shows,” Sterban said. “It’s a real bargain. It’s like two shows for the price of one in a number of ways. We come out in the very beginning and for about 45 minutes or so we do our regular music. When I say our regular music, it’s going to include a lot of our hits, including “Elvira,” of course. Quite often when people find out we’re bringing our Christmas show to town, quite often the next question is, ‘Even though it’s a Christmas show will we still hear ‘Elvira’’? The answer to that is yes, you will. You will definitely hear me doing ‘giddy up a oom papa oom papa mow mow.’”
After about 45 minutes — which include other hits such as “Thank God for Kids” and “Y’all Come Back Saloon,” as well as some numbers from their new album, “Seventeenth Avenue Revival” — the group will take a brief break and return with the Christmas show.
“In that Christmas show we try to find a nice balance, a nice mixture of traditional familiar Christmas music that takes people back to their childhood, and then we like to do some new songs written by some of today’s contemporary writers that kind of tells the Christmas story in just a more contemporary way,” Sterban said. “In that Christmas segment we cover just about every aspect of Christmas. We sing about the romantic side of Christmas. The fun side of Christmas. The secular side of Christmas. Santa Claus. We have a great Santa Claus.
“Santa comes out and makes an appearance. We have a lot of fun with Santa Claus on stage. Santa actually goes out into the audience and interacts with the kids and the crowd. It’s really a fun part of the show. It’s kid friendly, it really is.”
The Christmas show also includes a segment Sterban affectionately refers to as the rocking chair segment.
“In recent years it’s become a very popular part of the show and a part of the show that people request now,” he said. “The four Oak Ridge Boys sit in Cracker Barrel rocking chairs, and I mention Cracker Barrel because, yes, they did provide the rocking chairs for us. We sit in Cracker Barrel rocking chairs in front of a fire place and each man takes a turn talking about childhood Christmas memories and what Christmas means to us individually. We sing interspersed between these little talks. We sing traditional Chrismas carols. It’s a very down home part of the show.
“People love it. It gives the audience a chance to get to know each, individual Oak Ridge Boy just a little bit better. It shows by example the fact that we love singing Christmas music and, in the case of most of us, it goes back to our childhood days.”
Sterban is now in his 46th year with the Oak Ridge Boys. Bonsell has been with the group for 45 years, while William Lee Golden and Duane Allen have been with the group for more than 50 years.
During his career, Sterban has performed with the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, J.D. Souther and more.
“There is no question about it,” Sterban said about the group’s career. “All four of the Oak Ridge Boys can tell you the same thing, we have been very blessed.
“When I look back on my life, the years I spent singing with Elvis, getting to know Johnny Cash, getting to sing for six presidents of the United States, spending the night in the White House. There are so many good things. Singing the national anthem at World Series games; the list goes on and on. I would not want to change any of that. I have had a very special life and a very special career. All the Oak Ridge Boys would tell you a very, very similar thing.
“It all culminated about three years ago when we were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. If you sing country songs for a living, that is the ultimate, ending up in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
You look at the Country Music Hall of Fame and you see Elvis is there, you see Johnny Cash is there, George Jones, Dolly Parton, the list goes on and on. For the Oak Ridge Boys to be a part of that family is so special. Along with all the great things that happened to us, that is probably the greatest. But, yes, sometimes I look back and I pinch myself and say has all this really happened. I remember years ago singing with Elvis. I had no idea I would end up being in the same Hall of Fame with him.
“It’s amazing how things happen in the course of your life.”