CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Left to right, Ben James, Duane Allen, William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban make up the current iteration of the Oak Ridge Boys, who are set to perform a sold-out show at the Meskwaki Bingo Casino Saturday night.

TAMA — The Oak Ridge Boys — a gospel and country group that can trace its roots back to the development of the atomic bomb in the East Tennessee town of the same name — have enjoyed unprecedented longevity in their 80-year history. And while their upcoming sold-out show at the Meskwaki Bingo Casino on Saturday night is being billed as part of a farewell tour, bassist Richard Sterban told TR they’ll keep playing as long as they can.

Sterban, the man behind perhaps the most iconic bass line in country music history — “Oom Papa Oom Papa Oom Papa Mow Mow” from the 1981 earworm “Elvira” — joined the Oak Ridge Boys in 1972, and he, Duane Allen, William Lee Golden and Joe Bonsall formed the core of the group for most of the last half century. Bonsall, a tenor, passed away in 2023 and has since been replaced by his handpicked successor, 28-year-old Ben James.

“Every guy in the group has a different story. To make a long story short, every guy in the group was in the right place at the right time when there was a membership change in the group,” says Sterban. “We have a history that is second to none. You know, it goes back to World War II, believe it or not.”

It all began in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in the early 1940s, when a country troupe known as Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers was invited to entertain the personnel working to enrich uranium as part of the Manhattan Project along with their families. As the singers spent more time in the community, they decided to change their name to the Oak Ridge Quartet.

Even after the war was won, the group continued to perform and became regulars at the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. In the late 1950s, a younger generation took over and changed their name to the Oak Ridge Boys, and in 1965 Golden, known for his long beard, joined the group. A year later, Allen followed him, and Sterban himself left the King of Rock n’ Roll – Elvis Presley – in 1972 to join the Oak Ridge Boys. The late Bonsall completed the core quartet when he joined in 1973, and as previously mentioned they stayed together for 50 years until Bonsall died last year.

“We take so much history and carry so much history with us when we go on stage, and I think that’s what keeps us going. We just don’t want it to end yet, says Sterban. “So we’re on our farewell tour, as you probably know, but what we’re doing here with this farewell tour is we’re taking as much time as it’s going to take to go to as many places as possible to thank people for allowing us to have a 50-year career. We’ve been very blessed. So many good things have happened to us in the last 50 years, so we just want to say thank you.”

Along with their devoted fans, Sterban said it’s also a chance to pay tribute to the people in radio who have played the band’s records over the years, as well as journalists who have given them good press. They are already over a year into their farewell tour, but are already booking dates until 2025 due to high demand.

The band is currently on a Christmas tour and rehearsing music for it. And while James may face a difficult task joining a group full of singers over twice his age and replacing Bonsall, Sterban said fans have taken to him and embraced him quickly.

Another fascinating aspect of the band’s history is the fact that they didn’t hit the charts until the late 1970s and early 1980s, over 35 years after the original group formed. Released in 1981, “Fancy Free” is certified double platinum by the RIAA and includes their signature song, a cover of Dallas Frazier’s “Elvira.”

“We love doing what we do. A lot of people ask me, ‘How do you calculate your longevity?’ ‘What do you attribute your longevity to?'” First and foremost at the top of that list is the fact that we love doing what we do. We love going out on stage, taking our music live to our fans, and we’ve been doing it for years. And that hasn’t changed, says Sterban are in their 80s now, but we are still out here doing it because it’s what we love to do. So the love of touring and recording, I think that’s a big part of the success of the Oak Ridge Boys. We’ve been doing it for a long, long time.”

As for “Elvira” itself, Sterban credits producer Ron Chancey with suggesting the group take a stab at the song. Frazier had made it a regional hit in the 1960s, but the Oak Ridge Boys took it into the stratosphere. A few days later, they recorded their version, and it felt like a hit and went down easily, according to Sterban.

Chancey also had the idea to add Sterban’s famous delivery of “Giddy Up, a Oom Papa, Oom Papa, Mow Mow” to his distinctive bass voice.

“I did it my way, sort of, and I guess it turned out OK,” he said.

Frazier, as the story goes, found the inspiration to write the song when he was driving through East Nashville, saw a sign for Elvira Street, stopped in his tracks and belted out the chorus: “Elvira, Elvira, my heart’s on fire, for Elvira.” The “Giddy Up” line that Sterban later immortalized was written to simulate the experience of riding over street potholes.

“That’s how Elvira actually came about. It was recorded, like, 10 times before we ever recorded it. Kenny Rogers even recorded it years ago when he was still in a group called The First Edition, says Sterban. “The song had been around for a while, but our version was the one that caught on. It became our signature song.”

And even after four-plus decades and thousands of performances, he says he still gets “the biggest kick” from looking into the audience when it’s time for the bass line and seeing the men trying to sing along.

The Oak Ridge Boys have a new album titled “Mama’s Boys” produced by Dave Cobb and featuring a “bucket list” collaboration with the living legend himself, Willie Nelson. The songs, as readers may have guessed, are all about their mothers, who taught them right from wrong and set a strong Christian example.

“We’ve always tried to make songs that talk about good and healthy things in life, songs that make people smile and even make people forget their problems and their worries. I think ‘Elvira’ fits into that category,” says Sterban. “We’ve always tried to make healthy material. This album has done it in the middle, so to speak.”

The sold-out show at Meskwaki is set to start at 8pm on Saturday.