The Oak Ridge Boys are heading to the Front Porch with their new album. The Country Music Hall of Fame group of Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban have announced the Summer 2021 release of Front Porch Singin’.
The 11-song project was recorded in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, during socially distanced studio sessions at historic RCA Studio A in Nashville. The Oaks are introducing the new project via its lead single, “Love, Light and Healing,” an acoustic song that highlights their deep, harmonic voices while offering a sense of comfort:
“We wish you love, light and healing / Home, family and faith / We all need love, light and healing / Home, family and faith / We all deserve love, light and healing / Home, family and faith,” they sing.
On their fourth album produced by Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb, the Oaks offer a handful of new songs alongside covers of classics such as the hymns “Swing Down Chariot,” “Life’s Railway to Heaven” and “Unclouded Day;” their take on the circa-1890s country-folk number “Red River Valley;” and more.
“We were sitting in the studio when David Cobb walked in and asked, ‘If you were sitting on the front porch, just singing songs you know, what might you sing?’” frontman Allen recounts in a press release. “We started singing “Unclouded Day,” and he said, ‘Let’s go to the microphones.’ That’s how this album was recorded.”
Adds Bonsall, “This title has become more of an attitude than anything else. What if the four of us were sitting on a porch together and someone begins to sing a favorite old gospel song like “Swing Down Chariot” or a country and western standard like “Red River Valley,” and everyone else just joined in? That is what happened at RCA Studio A. But, as usual under producer Dave Cobb’s leadership, this album turned into so much more.”
Front Porch Singin’ will arrive on June 11. The tracklist is below.
Front Porch Singin’ Track Listing:
1. “Life Is Beautiful”
2. “Love, Light, and Healing”
3. “Old Ways”
4. “Promised Land”
5. “Red River Valley”
6. “Life’s Railway to Heaven”
7. “Rock My Soul”
8. “Swing Down Chariot”
9. “‘Till I See You Again”
10. “Unclouded Day”
11. “When He Calls”
