This afternoon Judy and I went to see a concert by The Oak Ridge Boys. I've never been a particular fan of the group, but the concert was part of a package we bought, so we went.
The group got started back in the 1940s, but the members of the current quartet have been singing together since 1973. Originally they were a gospel group, but in the late '70s they went country. Some of you oldsters will recall "Elvira" and "Bobby Sue" and others. They still do a very high energy show, and for me listening to them was well worth the price of the tickets. I was most impressed by the bass singer, whose amped voice was capable of rattling the foundations of the building we were in when he hit the really low notes. And as low as some of them were, I'm convinced he hadn't reached the bottom of his range. Best song of the afternoon was an a capella version of "Amazing Grace" just before the intermission, but they were all good. The group closed the show with the aforementioned "Elvira" and "Bobby Sue," and they rocked the house.
6 comments:
Did they do "Flowers on the Wall"? Man, that is one strange song. Country my aunt fanny.
My dad had some tapes of their as they were making the transition from gospel to country. Those were very odd, as well. Not really your typical musical group, at all.
Jayme: You want strange, you ought to hear the Grateful Dead do "Flowers on the Wall."
And all the tiime I was reading this entry, the Austin Lounge Lizards' "Let's Put the Oak Ridge Boys in the Slammer" kept going through my head...
"Flowers on the Wall" is a Statler Brothers song. Easy to confuse the two groups, because they are both four-part male harmony groups, but the Statlers predate the Oak Ridge Boys by about ten years.
Couldn't stand the Oak Ridge Boys in the 80s, but that was when I was working as a country music DJ and basically couldn't stand any of it. Playing any song hundreds of times will do that to you.
By golly, you're right. I'd blame it on the fact that I haven't listened to either the Oak Ridge Boys or the Statler Brothers in about 20 years, but thinking back, I couldn't ever keep them separate when I was listening to the regularly, either!
Couldn't stand the Oak Ridge Boys in the 80s, but that was when I was working as a country music DJ and basically couldn't stand any of it. Playing any song hundreds of times will do that to you.
To this day, I cringe when I hear Elvira because I was forced to listen to it as many times as Glen (we shared the same profession). I do like the Oaks, though--particularly for tunes like Y'all Come Back Saloon and Cryin' Again.
They did a great live version of "The Y-all Come Back Saloon" on Sunday.
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