The Oak Ridge Boys find healing through music after year of loss

Yahoo

30-06-2025

For more than 50 years, The Oak Ridge Boys have carved out a distinct space in country music, blending gospel, country and pop into enduring hits like 'Elvira' and 'Thank God for Kids.' But the past two years have brought a wave of personal loss for the band: The death of longtime tenor Joe Bonsall, the passing of Duane Allen's wife Norah Lee, and the loss of William Lee Golden's son, Rusty.
Now, while on the "American Made: Farewell Tour," Golden said during a recent interview ahead of the band's performance on Saturday, July 5 at Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa that he and rest of the surviving members are learning into the music as a source of healing.
"Out of that deep valley of sadness, it's been music, which helped lift us mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually," Golden said.
According to Golden, the band was planning its farewell tour in 2023 while Bonsall was struggling with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) since he was diagnosed in 2019. Bonsall had missed tour dates in 2022 due to a pulmonary embolism and sang during dates on the 2023 tour, but performed most shows sitting on a stool.
"We had a couple of guys help him on stage, but it was saying farewell to Joe. It was an emotional, heart-wrenching thing. Joe was struggling and had to get off the road before we got going with the farewell tour," Golden said.
The Oak Ridge Boys, in need of a fourth singer to perform the harmonies, found 29-year-old North Carolina native and tenor vocalist Ben James to step in. Golden described James as a "godsend," and when country producer Tony Brown heard James sing with the group, he complimented him.
"He told Ben, 'You're a brand new generation with a voice like (country singer) Vince Gill.' Tony Brown produced Vince Gill, the last 20 albums of George Strait produced Reba McIntyre for years and he's had over 100 chart-topping country songs on the Billboard charts. For him to compliment Ben like that, it's a great honor for our group and for Ben," Golden said.
When the pandemic shut the world down in 2020, Golden said he couldn't stand sitting at home and listening to the news cycle after a few weeks and decided to call his family together at his home in Tennessee, where they gathered around his piano and started singing old songs he learned from his mother.
"We'd sing these old gospel and old country songs. My granddaddy Golden had a radio show and would let us sing a song on the radio once a week, and we'd get to sing in little school houses and churches. My sister played mandolin, I played guitar and we sang harmonies. Then, in high school, I sang in the FFA quartet and that's where I fell in love with four part harmony singing with bass, tenor, baritone singers and lead vocals. And I took my kids back to where it all started," Golden said.
He and his family members formed William Lee Golden & the Goldens, which includes his sons Rusty, Chris, and Craig, as well as his grandchildren Elizabeth, Chai, Elijah, and longtime friend Aaron McCune. The Goldens recorded and released three albums in 2022 — "Southern Accents," "Old Country Church" and "Country Roads" — and debuted as a family band at the Grand Ole Opry that same year.
In 2021, Golden released his autobiography co-written with Scot England, "Behind the Beard," which included honest details about his firing from the Oak Ridge Boys in 1987 and rejoining in 1995, life on the road, failed marriages and more. It also included interviews with family members, friends, and his first wife Frogene, who passed away shortly before the book was published.
"I'm glad I got my autobiography out because it documented things and my life story, it's where I come from," Golden said. "I told (England) you can talk to anyone you want to. He'd sit and ask me questions two or three days a week on my front porch. He talked to my first wife and my fourth wife, and (Frogene) got into some things about my faith that I wasn't going to get into, but that's a whole other story."
When asked if there's anything he feels that's misunderstood about the Oak Ridge Boys, he said "We've been open about who we are and what we are."
Even though this tour is called "American Made: Farewell Tour," Allen told Taste of Country in June, "We've all talked, and we want to keep working. We're not through singing yet." The band has shows scheduled through the end of 2025 and plans for the future, which means the band is putting its retirement on hold for now.
"I can't see myself retiring, I'm an old guy and I don't think about it until I look in the mirror. And for this reason, I try to stay away from mirrors," Golden said. "Again, music is healing. I know because I felt it in my own life and my own heart through the loss and sadness last year that we experienced."
Even for as many years as the band has been performing together, Golden describes singing vocally challenging songs with four-part harmonies in front of a live audience as "walking a tightrope."
"You can fall on either side at any moment and (the audience) will let you know whatever it is they like or don't like, and that's good. That keeps you on your toes. But it's gratifying and sharing something, and each song you do, each word you're singing and the world song, it's happening one time and you can't redo it unless you mess it up so bad in the beginning that you have to stop and start over again, which on occasion might happen, but not often. It's called 'train wreck on stage,'" Golden said.
The Oak Ridge Boys have performed at local casinos in the Coachella Valley in previous years, including the Stagecoach country music festival in 2010 and 2015. Golden said he has "spiritual feelings" in the area when he's here but has an overall appreciation for California in general.
"It's a beautiful state, beautiful people and they love good music. Some great music has come out of California. To go out there and play, it's a lot of fun. It's a different atmosphere and you're surrounded with the beauty outside, it's that Southern California feeling. The Stagecoach festival, that's a bunch of people who love great music, and that's what live music should be about," Golden said.
What: Oak Ridge Boys
When: 8 p.m., Saturday, July 5
Where: Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa, 32-250 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage
How much: $29.50 to $84.50
More information: aguacalientecasinos.com/agua-event/the-oak-ridge-boys
Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment for the Desert Sun. He can be reached at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: The Oak Ridge Boys lean on music after loss