Oak Ridge Boys
Kurt L Moore
 The
boys arrived in their brand spanking new bus to the Plant City,
Florida Strawberry Festival and brought the bad weather with them.. The day
they were performing was a miserable one with cold temperatures,
wind and lots of rain.
This did not dampen the boy’s spirits nor did it
dampen the many die-hard fans the group has attracted over the
years. The audience was steadfast and quite colorful as they
appeared in a sea of multi-colored ponchos and umbrellas. The boys,
dry, but very cold on stage, gave the audience every drop of what
they had to offer.
I have written numerous
articles over the years about the Mighty Oaks, as their millions of
fans refer to them, and have used every glorious adjective, in the
book, to describe their singing abilities and their ability to give
their audience what it wants, the best entertainment value for the
dollar. The Oaks do that and more.
The Oaks are: Joe Bonsall,
Duane Allen, William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban, and each differ
in many very obvious and other more subtle ways. Each has different
likes, dislikes, temperament,
disposition and personality.
 Richard is shy, William Lee
is quiet, Duane is the thinker and Joe is perpetual motion.
Backstage at any of their performances, Joe will be pacing, always
in motion, always thinking, always creating, wondering what’s around
the next curve and over the next hill.
William Lee paints pastoral
scenes in his spare time, and is probably
one of the gentlest men you will ever have the pleasure to know. He
walks on a regular basis, wherever he is, at that moment in time.
People all across America have been surprised and a little shocked
to see him walking down their street or on the main street of many a
small town.
He has one of the most
recognizable faces on the face of this earth, so it is hard to not
know who he is when you see him out walking. He suffered a heart
attack in 2004, but is back with the Oaks, seemingly better than
ever. William Lee has sons that are following in his spotlighted
footsteps. One son, Chris, is the drummer for the Oaks and has made
several excellent recordings of his own.
Richard, who started singing
at the age of six, leans toward exercise and fashion. He usually
carries a bicycle with him, on the bus or plane, to every
destination. Richard is thoughtful and quiet, almost shy. The man
behind that seismic, bass voice, is a former member of the Stamps,
a group that backed Elvis on some of his recordings. Richard is
style. Richard is in a league all his own.
Duane, an antique car
collector, is the thinker and business man for the group. Duane
loves to tell a good story and just as much, loves to hear a good
story. Like William Lee Golden, Duane’s son Dee, a former rocker, is
a member of “New South,” a quartet that performs a couple of shows
daily in Branson, Missouri.
Joe,
who started life as a streetwise kid from Philly, is always on the
move. He is pure energy and the group sparkplug. Joe is an
accredited author, having published the “Molly the Cat” series of
children’s books.
A couple of years back, Joe
wrote a book about his parents called simply, “G.I. Joe and Lillie.”
He wrote a poignant song about them and now sings it at every
performance.
It is a singular,
heart-wrenching moment of their show that everyone in the audience
can easily identify with. You can go to Joe’s personal web site,
www.josephsbonsall.com and read more about the life and times of
this amazing man.
My point is this, each
member of the Oaks is a complete person in and by themselves and
could have had a successful career on their own. It is true in
homeopathic medicine that the sum effect of all ingredients mixed
together have an effect totally different and much more powerful
than it’s individual components.
Same is pretty much true of
the Oaks. When these four guys are mixing it up together performing,
the total effect is phenomenal. The total effect is, simply put, the
Oak Ridge Boys.
The Oaks Ridge Boys, by any
name, have been around since the early 1940s. Back then they were
known as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They were a quartet who sang gigs in
and around Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Now you know how they became the
Oak Ridge Boys. They were singing gospel and creating an impact on
the world of saintly music.
Then in the mid-seventies,
something happened. The story goes like this. At that time it seems
that the boys were wearing bell-bottoms, long hair and singing
gospel. Someone made a suggestion that they give country music a
try, and slick-as-a-whistle, “Y’all Come Back Saloon” was recorded
and they were on the road to stardom.
From that switch, sort of in
the middle of the road, they have gone on to accolades that few in
the music industry have ever received.
They turned from a gospel
group, to an exciting onstage presence with songs that match that
excitement. They have become stars of the highest magnitude.
In the years that I have
been covering the Oaks, I have never seen them give less than 150
percent of themselves in their performance. The Oak Ridge Boys have
character to burn.
There is a little story that
I would like to tell you that was told to me by Ronnie Page, a
former Oak. In 2000 the Oaks were to be inducted into the Gospel
Music Hall of Fame. To a person, the Oaks insisted on all living,
contributing members of the past Oak Ridge Quartet and Oak Ridge
Boys be inducted with them. It was done. Folks, that is pure class.
© Copyright 2005—Kurt L. Moore—All Rights
Reserved.
klmoore@earthlink.net
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