‘AMERICAN MADE’ OAK RIDGE BOYS

Nondescript.

That’s the one word that does the best job in summing up the Oak Ridge Boys’ first of two nights at the Universal Amphitheatre on Wednesday. In the past, at least long-haired and bearded William Lee (Mountain Man) Golden provided something of visual interest. But following his inimical departure after two decades plus, the vocal quartet is a case study in popular mediocrity.

Musically, a competent though unexciting five-piece band played a pop-rock-gospel-country pastiche, over which Joe Bonsal, Duane Allen, bass man Richard Sterban and Steve Sanders (Golden’s replacement) offered 90 minutes of harmonized homilies (about love, America and faith) with relentless, workmanlike good cheer. What does it say that a rendition of “My Baby Is American Made” couldn’t stand up to the familiar beer jingle into which the song was made? The Forrester Sisters preceded the Oaks with a brief set no more challenging than the headliner’s, but far fresher, as the four women from Lookout Mountain, Ga., stayed enthusiastically true to their country roots while still mixing in some pop-rock spice. Michael Johnson opened the evening with pleasant if unexceptional country songs characterized by James Taylor-ish folk-pop leanings.