In the fall of 2004 our friends at New Leaf Press will release a 144-page, memoir capturing 30 years on the road. The book is an up close and personal insight into the humor, the heartbreak, and the hopes of America’s premier music group. Titled The Oak Ridge Boys: An American Journey, it will contain page after page of pictures (over 150 photos!), old and new, as well as a narrative that I have been honored to write.

It has been an honor to write about my best friends in the whole world, Richard Sterban, Duane Allen and William Lee Golden and share some of our stories. Here are a few paragraphs from my original overview of my work as submitted to the publisher:

My though pattern here was to write the story as an anecdotal narrative. It is written in somewhat of a chronological order, but being aware of the nature of a coffee table book, I attempted to write this version of our story in such a way that if someone just picks it up and starts to read the text in any section of the book, they will find it interesting, unlike a novel or biography which is read cover to cover. I hope it reads well either way. This was certainly my intent!

The main thrust behind my idea is to make the reader a fly on the wall in the world of The Oak Ridge Boys. I concentrate on WHO we are, WHAT we are, and in so doing, perhaps answer the question of WHY we are!

I touch on our older history a bit, but this effort concentrates more on the group that people have known for the last 30 years. If this were a different project, perhaps a bigger book textwise, I would have loved to have included a chapter on each Oak and delved more into the old history. However, I don’t think it will be missed in the context of this project.

I also see, in addition to the many pictures, a complete Discography and Videography. (Is that a word?) An in depth info page (booking, fan club, website, etc.) and a list of band, crew, and staff (like a tourbook!)

This manuscript is well over 35,000 words, and I think that all of these words are relevant and fit the format. When surrounded by pictures, I believe we will all be very proud of this project.

Here is an unedited and never before seen preview of The Oak Ridge Boys: An American Journey...