Oak Ridge Boys return to Des Moines Tuesday
“Oom poppa omm poppa mow mow” may be one of the most notable lyrics in all of country music and it’s the calling card of Richard Sterban.
Sterban who has been the bass singer for the Oak Ridge Boys since 1972, will perform his famous bass line Tuesday night to the Civic Center in Des Moines.
“‘Oom pappa mow mow’ is my claim to fame,” said Sterban while on the road. “‘Elvira’ is still the largest selling single to ever be recorded in Nashville. It’s a song that has made us a household name ... I guess I’ve kind of set the standard for bass singers, possibly, I don’t know about that. It’s hard to talk about yourself like that, but it is an honor when people do mention me when people start talking about bass singers. That is a real compliment and real honor that people look at me that way.”
Sterban and his fellow harmonizers Joe Bonsall, Duane Allen and William Lee Golden make up the award-winning country quartet and the boys are back in town bringing their holiday extravaganza to Iowa.
“We’ve come to Des Moines several times with our Christmas show. It’s become a tradition for families to come and spend part of the season with us,” said Sterban, who was a backup singer for Elvis Presley prior to joining the group.
The Oak Ridge Boys show will be chock full of Christmas favorites.
“We will do a complete Christmas show that covers quite a bit of Christmas ground — all aspects of the holiday season,” Sterban said.
“Santa makes an appearance and we have a lot of fun with the kids. We even do a song to honor Mrs. Santa Claus which there aren’t too many songs about her so we pay a little attention to her.”
Sterban said the group also pays homage to their gospel roots and the group will perform Christian holiday songs.
“Toward the end, we wind the show down with a series of songs that are very important to us. In this politically correct day sometimes it’s not always fashionable to sing about the birth of Jesus but we do because it is important to us and we believe it is to our fans.”
Diehard Oak Ridge Boys fans need not worry, along with the holiday music, the group will open their show with their hits including “Bobbie Sue,” “My Baby Is American Made” and yes, Sterban’s “oom poppa omm poppa mow mow” will be heard when they perform the 1981 hit “Elvira.”
Sterban also said the group will perform some new material off their album “The Boys Are Back” released in May.
The new album features non-traditional Oaks’ music including their versions of John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom.” Neil Young’s “Beautiful Bluebird” and The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.”
“We’re in a stage in our career where we thought ‘Why not?’ it can’t hurt so we started recording some new stuff.
“We tried to be really genuine while music is edgy and different in some respects,” Sterban said. “It’s still us singing our four-part harmony. We’re just traveling down a slightly different road. The album’s real unique and made us more excited about what we’re doing.”
Along with the new CD, Sterban said the group also is excited to be out on the road for the holidays and they are looking forward to returning to central Iowa for Tuesday’s show.
“We enjoy coming to Des Moines. In the state of Iowa we have a lot of friends and a lot of fans,” he said. “We’re looking forward to coming. We’re kind of happy that it’s become a Christmas tradition.”
Jessica Lowe can be contacted at 792-3121 ext. 426 or via e-mail at jlowe@newtondailynews.com.
