CEDAR FALLS - The Oak Ridge Boys' Christmas concert next week at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center in Cedar Falls will be about the past and present.

But it'll also be about the future.

The venerable country music group will devote the last half of its "Christmas Cookies" tour performance to holiday songs, first secular and then sacred.

But the first half will start off with a sign of things to come.

The song "The Boys Are Back" is from the foursome's upcoming album, due out in the spring. It marks a collaboration between alt-country star Shooter Jennings - son of late outlaw country music legend Waylon Jennings - and the foursome that began last year when the Oaks backed the younger Jennings up for a song on his album "The Wolf."

Jennings wrote the song "The Boys Are Back" almost as a biography of the group, Oaks bass singer Richard Sterban said in a telephone interview.

"He's not just a fan of ours, he's a historian as well," Sterban added.

Jennings hooked the quartet up with his producer, Dave Cobb, and they went into the studio earlier this year to record the as-yet-untitled album.

"It's really turned out to be one of the most different things that we've ever done," Sterban said of the album, which was recorded in Los Angeles. "It's not the typical Nashville formula project. He got us out of our comfort zone and challenged us to do some different things."

Among the different things is Sterban singing the bass part on the John Lee Hooker blues classic "Boom Boom Boom," which is also on the setlist for Monday's concert.

"He got me into the studio and got me doing things I'd never done before," said Sterban, a veteran of the group since 1972.

The Oaks, whose roots date to a gospel group during World War II, have not had a hit in country's Top 40 since 1990. Since the Oaks never really went away, he said it's not quite accurate to call the album a comeback.

But it could be a renaissance for him, Joe Bonsall, Duane Allen and William Lee Golden, who range in age from 60 to 69.

"We realize at this stage in our career it's a longshot at best, but we feel this is our best chance to get some radio airplay again," Sterban, 65, said. "There's some unique-sounding things on here that just might be enough to get radio's attention.

"If it doesn't, we'll still be OK."

The Oaks are embarking on their 19th annual Christmas tour, a mark topped only by Kenny Rogers, who used the quartet as an opening act in the early years of his holiday outings before encouraging them to go out on their own.

"December used to be a slow time of the year for us and a lot of acts in the business," Sterban said. "Now it's the busiest time of year for us."

While the concert has been completely holiday music some years, the first half this time around will be 11 of the Oaks' hits, followed after intermission by a Christmas show that concludes with a Bible reading about the birth of Christ.

The balance of hits and country songs satisfies fans who may be seeing the act for the first time or who see it only once every several years, Sterban said.

"We've been in the middle of singing 'Silent Night' and heard someone yell, 'Why don't you sing "Elvira"?' " he added.