Album Review: The Oak Ridge Boys’ Buried Treasures Finds Faith, Friendship and Life Beyond Loss

Overall Grade: 4.5/5

Prime Cuts: "How Great Thou Art," "Live Forever," "Deep River"

The most revealing thing about the Oak Ridge Boys' Buried Treasures is how its songs speak to one another. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" promises companionship through hardship; "Lean on Me" makes dependence reciprocal; "How Great Thou Art" directs that dependence towards God. Across ten selections, the country and gospel veterans assemble a repertoire concerned with what sustains people when strength, certainty and loved ones slip away.

Released October 30 through Lightning Rod Records, the album was produced and engineered by Anderson East, with Dave Cobb serving as executive producer. Its familiar titles carry considerable expectations. These are songs whose previous recordings already occupy cherished places in listeners' lives. The project's strongest argument for revisiting them lies in the relationships between the material and the people singing it.

"How Great Thou Art" supplies the clearest example. The Oaks first recorded the hymn in 1967, but this return began with Ben James singing inside an old church beside the Mississippi River. After Duane Allen saw a video, the group introduced the song into its concerts. That history gives the stripped-down recording a purpose beyond including a dependable gospel favourite. The hymn moves from contemplating creation to confronting redemption and anticipating Christ's return-a progression that makes wonder the beginning of faith's response, rather than its endpoint.

"Deep River" brings a different spiritual perspective. Where "How Great Thou Art" looks outward and upward, the spiritual voices a longing to cross over into promised rest. Allen's connection to the song through his father, who sang bass, adds a family dimension to its place here. Beside the invitation of "Softly and Tenderly," it establishes a meaningful movement: longing for home meets the assurance of welcome. The gospel selections give the collection its theological centre.

"Live Forever" is an especially telling choice. Billy Joe Shaver's song considers how a life continues to matter beyond death, making its placement alongside the hymns fruitful without making their claims identical. William Lee Golden takes the lead, bringing his personal association with Shaver to the selection. Against the group's recent bereavements, the song's concern with endurance carries particular weight. Music becomes one way people hand something of themselves to those who remain.

The opening "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and the later "Lean on Me" extend that concern into everyday friendship. Paul Simon's song imagines someone offering shelter; Bill Withers' composition acknowledges that the helper will also need help. Together, they resist the idea that comfort belongs only to the strong. For a vocal group whose work depends on members supporting one another, that exchange is particularly apt.

Aaron Raitiere's "Buried Treasure," the sole newly written song, has the important structural task of giving this gathering of established favourites a present-tense identity. Its position immediately after the opener introduces the album's governing idea before the remaining selections explore the things worth preserving.

The closing stretch broadens the emotional range. "Stardust" introduces romantic remembrance, while "What a Wonderful World," featuring guest vocals from Tim Duncan, places gratitude beside the album's awareness of loss. Ben James' lead on "You Are So Beautiful" then brings the sequence to an intimate conclusion. After songs about divine greatness, friendship and enduring influence, the final gesture is appreciation addressed to one beloved person.

The reservation is the familiarity of the repertoire. With nine established songs, Buried Treasures offers limited discovery at the level of song selection. Its more interesting achievement is the sequence itself: the movement from offering support to seeking home, remembering others and expressing gratitude. These songs belong together because they approach a shared concern from different directions-how love continues to sustain a life.

Listen: Buried Treasures