MATTHEW BURNETTE, Staff Writer

A lot can happen at a live music event.

When The Oak Ridge Boys take the Caverns underground stage on May 18 as part of their American Made Farewell Tour, however, the group’s long-tenured bass singer Richard Sterban says one thing is for sure.

“You can count on the fact, for sure regardless of what happens, that you’re going to hear me do ‘Giddyup oom papa oom papa mow mow,’ he said. “That will definitely happen. “Elvira” is something you can count on.”

Released in 1981, “Elvira” went on to become the group’s biggest hit and, according to Sterban, was one of two platinum singles for that year, the other being Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration.”

The song was originally written by Dallas Frazier who found inspiration while driving through Madison, Tennessee on his way home from a writing or recording session. He came upon a sign for Elvira Street and immediately pulled over.

“Right there on the spot he pulled out a piece of paper or an envelope or something and he wrote right there on the spot ‘Elvira, Elvira, my heart’s on fire for Elvira,’ and then right there he wrote the ‘Giddyup oom papa oom papa mow mow’ part,” Sterban recalled from conversations he had with Frazier. “I heard him tell the story that Elvira Street had a lot of potholes, a lot of bumps, and the ‘oom papa mow mow’ part imitated the bumps in the road that were on Elvira Street.”

Frazier originally recorded the song in the 1960s but it didn’t perform nearly as well as The Oak Ridge Boys’ version. Sterban said that producer Ron Chancey, affectionately referred to as the “Fifth Oak Ridge Boy” by the group, was the one that suggested he perform the famous “Giddyup oom papa oom papa mow mow” line.

“Basically, what I did, you know, I just adapted it to my way of doing things, and I guess it turned out okay,” he explained. “It’s probably one of the most well-known bass lines in all of the music business. It’s such a fun song, and I was just having fun with it that day in the studio.”

Sterban said that the group knew the song was special when they recorded it but didn’t realize how big of a hit it was until they performed it for the first time live at the Opera House in Spokane, Washington.

“When we did “Elvira” right in the middle of that show, right in the middle of that song, people started standing up, started cheering, started screaming, and at the end of the song, the applause would just not quit, it just kept going on and on and on, so we had to encore it right there in the middle of the show,” he remembered. “We encored it three or four times right in the middle of the show, and then at the end of the show, we put it on the end of the show again and had to encore it again at the end of the show again.”

You can also expect to hear other Oak Ridge Boys’ hits such as “Y’all Come Back Saloon,” “Thank God for Kids” and “American Made,” the farewell tour’s namesake.

“It’s a great night of good Country music, but it’s family entertainment. That’s really, really what The Oak Ridge Boys are all about,” said Sterban. “For well over 50 years, that’s been our standard, to have a family show. When we come to the Caverns, it will be no exception.”

Though it is a farewell tour, Sterban commented that they haven’t officially stated an end date for the tour and have already discussed adding some dates for next year as well.

“We’re still doing what it is we love doing and that makes us feel so good because we just love getting out there on stage and taking our music live to our fans and to our audiences. That has not gotten old,” he added.

Sterban joined The Oak Ridge Boys in 1972. Prior to that, he performed with JD Sumner and the Stamps Quartet who sang backup for Elvis Presley for a year and half of Sterban’s time with the quartet which Sterban remembers as a “very special time.”

“Even before becoming an Oak Ridge Boy, I walked around pinching myself going ‘How has this actually happened to me personally?’” he said. “Here I am on the biggest tour in the music business singing on stage with the biggest star in the world, so it was a special thing and it kind of led to other things.”

His time touring Elvis gave Sterban some insight into what touring with The Oak Ridge Boys would be like.

“I remember we played a lot of dates in Las Vegas with Elvis, but touring out on the road, we’d hit all the big arenas and never saw an empty seat, and just a few years later, I ended up going back to those same arenas with The Oak Ridge Boys, just as packed house,” he explained. “It was a learning experience for me, and it was an experience that helped prepare me for what’s to come later on in my life with The Oak Ridge Boys.”

When Sterban joined the group in 1972, The Oak Ridge Boys were strictly a gospel group. After meeting and befriending manager Jim Halsey and hiring him to represent the group, they started to make a shift to the country genre.

“He said ‘You know fellas, there’s something very special about your group.’ He said ‘You guys are just three minutes away from being a major act in not just Gospel music but the total music industry. He said ‘By three minutes, I mean a hit record,’ so basically Jim shopped around, if I can put it that way, and he negotiated our first recording contract for us with the label called ABC Dot Records, which later became MCA Records,” he recalled.

Halsey recruited Ron Chancey to produce their records and arranged for the group to start appearing on television to promote their songs. The Oak Ridge Boys made several appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

“Jim Halsey taking the bull by the horns and pulling the reins helped guide our every step and helped direct a major career for The Oak Ridge Boys along with all the hit records we were able to have,” said Sterban. “We’ve been very fortunate and very blessed. So many great things have happened to us over the years.”

Sterban says those blessings that he and all of The Oak Ridge Boys have received are the reason they wanted to do a farewell tour.

“We wanted to take time to go to as many places as we can possibly go to and say thank you for the great career we’ve been able to have. We wanted to say thank you to everyone,” he said.

The current Oak Ridge Boys lineup includes Sterban, Duane Allen (lead), William Lee Golden (baritone) and Ben James (tenor). James took over as tenor after long-time Oak Ridge Boy member Joe Bonsall announced his retirement in January of 2024.

“Ben came to our group, and he was not trying to be Joe, we were not asking him to be Joe,” said Sterban. “Ben is just being himself, and a great thing about it is our fans have really accepted Ben, and it makes us feel so good to see that.”

Bonsall passed away in July 2024. Sterban says that the late tenor hand-picked James to take his place with The Oak Ridge Boys after James and his former group, Dailey and Vincent, performed “Elvira” on stage with them at a show.

He explained that Bonsall sang the first verse of the hit song and then gave the mic to James to sing the second verse. The group was impressed with his abilities, and they later found out James was Bonsall’s “biggest fan” and knew all of his work.

“He stepped right in and filled Joe’s shoes like it was second nature almost,” remembered Sterban. “It was unbelievable, and when Joe finally got to the place where he had to get off the road and he could not sing any longer, he recommended that for this farewell tour we hire Ben James to take his place.”

As far as what life will look like after the farewell tour is over, Sterban says he’s got “some irons in the fire” including possibly updating and rewriting his book “From Elvis to Elvira” and doing some voiceover work.

“I’m just not going to sit on the couch with a remote in my hand,” he remarked with a laugh. “That’s something I do not want to do.”

Sterban says the thing he’ll miss most about touring with The Oak Ridge Boys will be the fans and the feedback they get from them.

He recalled doing a show during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Grand Ole Opry with no audience in attendance which further strengthened the group’s appreciation for an audience.

“We realized then how important fans are to a show and how important an audience is to a show,” explained Sterban. “Once we finally got back working again, and we were able to experience that feedback that we get from those fans, that made all the difference in the world and we said ‘Wow, this is the way things are supposed to be really.’”

For now, Sterban and his fellow Oak Ridge Boys are focusing on the farewell tour and getting everything ready.

“We’re going to freshen our show up some and do a lot of the hits that we were not able to work in last year,” he said. “We’re in an enviable position where we can’t do all of our hits in one show, so we’re going to change things around and put some of the hits in that we were not able to do last year.”

Sterban explained that the group is doing what they can to make sure their show at the Caverns and the rest of the tour is worthwhile for those in attendance.

“We’re going to do our best to make it a great night,” he said. “This farewell tour is a celebration of the great career that we’ve been able to have, so we plan to celebrate that night. We want to encourage as many people as possible to come on out and celebrate together with The Oak Ridge Boys.”