The Oak Ridge Boys’ Richard Sterban speaks on upcoming Lincoln County Fair performance

Arguably most impressive, they accomplished their ascension to the top of American culture while maintaining a humble attitude, genuine faith and an unwavering love for making their audiences smile since day one.

“We want to be remembered as an act that made a contribution to the music industry,” shared Sterban while discussing what it means to be an Oak Ridge Boy, “But even more than that, we want to be an act that is remembered for helping people with our music.”

This July 16, “The Boys” as they are colloquially known, will be bringing their music and its heart-helping positivity to Lincoln County as they headline the County Fair at 9 p.m. on the main stage.

“We feel like our show is very much a family show—There’s nothing more family oriented than a county fair, and that is our audience,” commented Sterban on playing the upcoming fair. “One of the most requested songs we have is ‘Thank God for Kids’, and William Lee Golden does such a good job interpreting that lyric and communicating it to the audience. You can tell its touching people, its moving people, and we enjoy [performing] at the fair because of the nature of the audience.”

“We love that environment.”

Their upcoming stop in Troy is part of the Front Porch Singin’ Tour, promoting their new “Front Porch Singin’” album which was recorded and released during the pandemic. The album, produced by Nashville hotshot Dave Cobb (whom Sterban had high praises for), is “A nice balance of old songs, familiar songs and brand new songs, [with] the theme of the album [being] very inspirational and healing in nature,” according to Sterban. 

Although the set-list for the Lincoln County show is not yet assembled, Sterban promises, “There’s one thing you can count on for sure—You’re going to hear me do ‘Giddy-up oom-papa oom-papa mow-mow.” He also shared that The Boys sing as many classics as they can, along with a few new hits. For this tour, Sterban even teased a segment where The Boys spend time talking and visiting on stage as if they were all gathered on a front porch.

And if you’re wondering which singer’s front porch? The answer is William Lee Golden’s.

The album and the tour both try to “Capture the feeling of four guys gathering on a front porch and just singing, in a very casual, very unstructured way,” submits Sterban. He continues, “The friendship that [the Oak Ridge Boys] have developed over the years is the major factor in our sound right now. The relationship between the four of us is really special; each guy brings something different to the table, but that is part of our appeal.”

Whether you’re a fan of country music or you’ve never heard “Elvira” before—a claim that would leave many a reporter speechless—the upcoming Oak Ridge Boy’s County Fair performance promises the trademark music of friendship, brotherhood and faith-based positivity that skyrocketed the boys to American icon status and drew them near and dear to our hearts way back when. 

And that’s a tune as timeless today as it has been since the boys sang their first hymn together back in 1973.