Search - Oak Ridge Boys :: Inspirational Collection

Classic Southern gospel from these future Country stars

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 11/04/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The gospel roots of the Oak Ridge Boys run pretty deep, and this disc is a fine representation of their best work in the band's mid-1960s incarnation as Southern Gospel modernists, mixing the vocal tradition of the Blackwood Brothers with the electrified bounce of Buck Owens and the West Coast honkytonk-pop scene. This 18-song disc gathers material from several albums on the Skylite label, 1965's "I Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now," "River Of Life" and "Solid Gospel Sound," from 1966. Some of the songs are a bit sleepy and barbershoppish, but others have a surprisingly vigorous country sound; country fans may be surprised to find how engaging some of this material can be... There were major personnel shifts before the Boys broke into Country mainstream: the now-familiar low, deep bass rumble of singer Richard Sterben wouldn't be added into the mix until 1972, and it was probably his voice more than anything else that cemented the Oak Ridge sound as most folks remember it. Still, you can hear the roots of that sound here, and Southern Gospel fans should be thrilled by such a nice, compact reissue of their old, religious material."