I’ve mentioned it before – the first big concert I ever attended was The Oak Ridge Boys at the Star Plaza Theatre in Merriville, Indiana way back when it was still the Holiday Star Theatre. That said, I’ve continued enjoying their music for the past 40 years, and now comes news that the Country Music Hall of Fame members and five-time GRAMMY winners have recorded a new album with producer Dave Cobb (Shooter Jennings, Zac Brown Band), set for release in the first quarter of 2018. The as-yet-untitled album is the second that the group has worked on with Cobb, who also produced The Boys Are Back in 2009.
According to the official announcement, “for the new project, Cobb’s vision for the Oaks was to dig way back into their roots of gospel music. But a different kind of gospel. One that took a hard look at the early days of rock and roll, which was influenced by spiritual, or black gospel.”
The album will be released by Lightning Rod Records and distributed by Thirty Tigers.
Logan Rogers, founder of Lightning Rod Records says, “Everyone has heard the Boys sing gospel, but nobody has heard it quite like this. Under Dave Cobb’s direction, they touch on unchartered territory—and for a long-tenured act like The Oak Ridge Boys, that’s saying something.”
Going back to the beginning, this December will find The Oak Ridge Boys returning to the Star Plaza Theatre for one last show. The theater will sadly be demolished to make way for new development, and as the only act to play the venue every year since its opening in 1979, it’s only appropriate that they be the final act to close it out. Get tickets for that here.
