Stream The Oak Ridge Boys' 'Buried Treasures'
(2911) Country Music Hall of Fame members The Oak Ridge Boys release Buried Treasures via Lightning Rod Records, a 10-song collection of beloved songs the group had long sung and loved but never before brought together on one record.
Produced and engineered by Anderson East and executive produced and mixed by GRAMMY Award winner Dave Cobb, Buried Treasures was recorded live at Sanctuary Blonde Studio in Nashville. East, who grew up in North Alabama where the Oaks were so familiar they felt like family, set four reclining chairs in a semicircle so the singers could work out their parts together and let each personality come through. Cobb joined the sessions remotely from his studio in Savannah, Georgia, where he also mixed the album.
"The chairs were down on the floor, and the whole album feels like that," says Duane Allen. "You can listen to this album, and you can have a relaxing, comforting feeling, because these are such great songs. They never get old."
"Getting to watch them work out parts, and who's singing what - it was incredible to see it all happen. Everything was in the moment," East recalls. "It's so inspiring to see a group of guys at this point in their career still excited, wanting to be there, and thoughtful about everything."
The album opens with a full-circle moment. In the early 1970s, when the Oaks were still best known for Southern gospel, Allen met Paul Simon at the GRAMMY Awards and complimented him on "Loves Me Like a Rock." That friendship led to the Oaks singing on Simon's Top 5 pop hit "Slip Slidin' Away" in 1977 - the same year they broke through on country radio with "Y'all Come Back Saloon." Nearly 50 years later, Buried Treasures begins with Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
Every song carries a story. "Deep River" honors Allen's love of Black gospel and spiritual music and pays tribute to his father, a bass singer who used to sing it. "Stardust" was chosen at the request of the group's longtime manager, Jim Halsey. Tim Duncan, who toured with the Oaks as a temporary bass singer, adds guest vocals to "What a Wonderful World," and tenor Ben James closes the album with Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful."
The only new song, the title track "Buried Treasure," was written for the project by GRAMMY Award-winning songwriter Aaron Raitiere. Ahead of today's release, the Oaks shared "Buried Treasure" in September and a stripped-down recording of "How Great Thou Art" in October.
"Every song on the album is about something that's dear to us," Allen says. "These songs are all buried treasures - great songs we've loved and sung for years, and this is the first time we've brought them all together on one record."
The sessions also brought comfort after a hard season for the group. Allen lost his wife of 54 years, Norah Lee Allen, in March 2024; longtime tenor Joe Bonsall passed in July 2024; and just days earlier, Golden lost his eldest son, William Lee "Rusty" Golden Jr. Through it all, the Oaks kept touring and recording.
"Music has been a healing thing for each of us when we get together and sing songs. It's uplifting and it's something we never get tired of," Golden says. "Certainly at our age, we realize just how small we are, and how great God is."
Buried Treasures is the group's second studio album with Ben James, who joined in January 2024. Bass singer Aaron Lee McCune joined the road lineup in 2026 while Richard Sterban is on a temporary leave from touring for health reasons; Sterban sings on the album and still makes appearances when he can. The album is available on CD, gold vinyl and all digital services. Stream it here
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