I’ve figured out that if a video’s title has both Little Big Town and Chris Stapleton in it that it’s probably going to be a pretty awesome performance.
I’m specifically thinking about them singing “The Weight” with Eric Church or them their rendition of “Tennessee Whiskey.” Both performances are just stellar.
So when I saw that they teamed up once again to sing an Oak Ridge Boys song, I was instantly intrigued.
The Oak Ridge Boys are one of my favorite bands of all time partly because of how much my grandpa loves them but mostly because of how freaking good the songs “Y’all Come Back Saloon” and “Elvira” are.
Specifically “Y’all Come Back Saloon” is top five favorite songs for me, and I could easily write a dissertation about the complexity of emotions between the girl playing tambourine and the man she calls Cowboy.
But I’ll spare you because this article is about my other favorite song of theirs “Elvira.”
The song was originally released in 1966 by Dallas Frazier and was not inspired by Cassandra Peterson’s Mistress of the Dark but instead by a street of the same name in Nashville.
The song was then recorded by a couple others artists in the ’70s, including Kenny Rogers whose funky disco version is almost unrecognizable when compared to the most popular version by The Oak Ridge Boys that released in 1981.
Despite not being associated with the character Elvira, she debuted the same year, ironically causing the song to be associated with her anyway.
The Oak Ridge Boys’ version of the song though is way more country than than Rogers’ version, but this cover that Little Big Town and Chris Stapleton did reinvents the song even more.
This version slows the song way down into something more soulful and bluesy. I’ll be honest. I was a little thrown off at first because I was so used to The Oak Ridge Boys and their peppy, bop-y track.
But as I listened to Little Big Town croon out this classic, I was starting to be sold. And then, Chris Stapleton and his wife Morgane sauntered out to join them, and I was completely sold. Easily.
There’s a fun little riff-off, and the audience joins in for the “oom poppas,” which of course just adds to the performance.
It’s fantastic.
