For those familiar with the band, the title of O.A.R.’s new album, “Stories of a Stranger” is misleading.

The odd thing about the title is that O.A.R. is no “stranger” to music fans by any stretch of the word. The band has toured with the Dave Matthews Band, shared the stage with ex-members of the Grateful Dead and made appearances on MTV, VH1 and NBC.

O.A.R. bassist Benj Gershman says the band’s rapid accumulation of success has changed the music in certain ways, but O.A.R. is still true to itself.

“Our music has always come from experience and stories about those experiences, so [success] has definitely influenced us,” says Gershman. “But it’s all been honest; it’s all been from the heart. It’s changed on its own, and the stories around it reflect where we’re at.”

O.A.R. (an acronym for Of A Revolution) is also no stranger to other musicians, as exemplified on the new album’s guest list. Stories of a Stranger was produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads fame, and features musical cameos by Bernie Worrell of P-Funk and Lenny Pickett from Tower of Power, among others.

“It’s humbling when these people who have been in the music business for years are sitting in the same room with you and adding to your music,” Gershman says. “It also drives you to bring as much out of each song as you can. It reminds you that the possibilities are endless and that you’re lucky to be where you are.”

Gershman says in terms of making music, where the band is now is where its always wanted to be.

“This has always been the direction we wanted to go,” Gershman says. “It’s just taken a while to get here. All of the experiences up to this point have been stepping stones and things we’ve learned from, but they’re all bits and pieces that haven’t put the whole puzzle together. This record we really feel captures everything.”

One thing the new record doesn’t capture is the O.A.R. concert experience. The quintet is known for putting on an energetic, interactive live show that, incidentally, almost always includes the hit song “That Was A Crazy Game of Poker.”

O.A.R. also lets its fans tape concerts and trade concert recordings, following the tried-and-true business model of the Grateful Dead and its “jam band” heirs. Moreover, the band varies its set list from show to show – a staple of jam band tours – and appears on the cover of the most recent issue of Relix, a decidedly jam band-friendly publication.

Gershman, however, adamantly insists that O.A.R. is not a jam band.

“People who are calling us a jam band don’t really know what we’re about. They haven’t seen our shows, they haven’t listened to all our records,” Gershman says. “They see the grassroots following that we’ve developed over the years and think they know a lot about us. That’s one category that we have elements of but that doesn’t fully represent who we are as a band.”

Who O.A.R. really is goes back to meaning of the band’s full name, Of A Revolution.

“When it started, it was about us doing something different for ourselves. We started playing this music that we wanted to hear, that we wanted to play, and that’s what the revolution was. It was the start of something new for us,” Gershman says. “Over the years, it’s taken on a bigger meaning for a lot of people, but it’s still that to us. We’re still playing music we want to hear.”