Billy Ray Cyrus Teams Oak Ridge Boys With Unlikely Collaborator for ‘Elvira’ Redux [WATCH]
Billy Ray Cyrus' return to mainstream prominence took its strangest turn to date when he served as the executive producer of producer and singer Buck 22's unlikely collaboration with the Oak Ridge Boys. Cyrus and Buck 22, the alias of Pink and Destiny's Child collaborator Damon Elliott, re-imagine "Elvira" with the vocal group that made it famous.
The new version of "Elvira" and its music video show the quirkier side of current Oak Ridge Boys members William Lee Golden, Duane Allen, Richard Sterban and Joe Bosnall. Sterban, the greatest modern example of a gospel quartet-style bass vocalist, especially has no you-know-whats left to give when he says, "Buck, don't buck this song up." Meanwhile, Buck 22 plays the guy who'd rather negatively label a woman as "high upkeep" than admit that maybe she's just not that into him.
Clearly, "Elvira" writer and '60s country star Dallas Frazier didn't do it this way -- nor did the Oak Ridge Boys' Southern gospel predecessor, the Oak Ridge Quartet. Although the song's new version falls way short of the original, there's a charm in hearing and seeing the sillier side of a group that, frankly, elicits chuckles already for its '80s fashion choices.
As for Buck 22 and Cyrus ... Well, at least this collaboration is better than "Achy Breaky 2"?
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