Latest / Happy Hour with Deb / William Lee Golden of The Oak Ridge Boys | Music, Family, Faith & a Legacy That Keeps Growing Ep129

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William Lee Golden of The Oak Ridge Boys | Music, Family, Faith & a Legacy That Keeps Growing Ep129 · Happy Hour with Deb

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: You were probably expecting drinks in a charcuterie board, right?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, it's Deb.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's Happy Hour Deb.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: It is our first day at the Country Radio Seminar today, and ladies and gentlemen, I'm sitting next to a music legend.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: William Legord, nice to meet you.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Good to meet you too.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for coming to Happy Hour.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: You were probably expecting drinks in a charcuterie board.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was, and so I've seen the water.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: We can move into beer in a little bit.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: So you have been in country music forever.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Since 1977, as we had our first country album actually with the Oak Ridge Boys.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: We are y'all come back saloon album.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's an ever I interviewed somebody from the Oak Ridge Boys last year.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: So are you you're famous?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know about that.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Everywhere you go, people know who you are.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: What do you do?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: How are you still going in this music industry?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Are you by yourself now?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh the Oak Ridge Boys are still going.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know they are.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Dwayne Allen, he joined the Oak Ridge Boys uh 60 years ago.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Singing lead, and uh I joined 61 years ago, so he and I have been singing together now for actually 60 years.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Are you guys still touring?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: We are.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, I'm so proud of that.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: We did about 75 concert dates last year.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: How many do you have on the calendar for this year?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think we're looking at uh close to we're looking at close to 70 dates again this year.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: How have the fans changed in 60 years of doing this?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the Oak Ridge Boys fan base is uh a lot of people we've kind of been passed down from generation to generation.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, although I've been here for 60 years, 61 years, uh, and Dwayne's been here 60 years, the group started back in the early 40s.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh they started in actually 43, I think, when they named the Oak Ridge Boys, and they were they were performing at the atomic energy plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And they took that name because they were the most popular group that going in to perform.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, anybody who knows anything about country music knows the Oak Ridge Boys, right?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we've been fortunate.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: You have totally, but the talent has been amazing.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the Oak Ridge Boys are a household name.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we got great singers, you know, and we're right now, I guess we're the only four-part harmony singing group in country music.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: But we started out singing gospel music, and then in 1975, uh Jim Halsey that was managing Roy Clark, Mel Tillis, and uh Manny Pearl, a lot of the country music uh what Jody Miller and some of those people he was managing.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well Jim took the Oak Res Boys on in 1975, and then he got us our first recording contract with ABC and MCA Records recording country music.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: The All Come Back Saloon was our first country album.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Where's your favorite place to perform now that you're playing you guys are touring still?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a lot of favorite places, you know.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh here in a couple of weeks, we're going up to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: I, my new friend, am from Philadelphia.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, our former tenor singer was from Philadelphia, Joe Bonzel.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he grew up there uh in Philly.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, and Richard, our bass singer, was from Camden, New Jersey.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, yeah, right across the bridge.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: We lost Joe two years ago.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so sorry.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so sorry.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a young guy that stepped in that I got grandkids older than Ben.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: How many grandchildren do you have?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I have seven.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm on my first.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: I just became a grandmom.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, congratulations.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, and congratulations to you.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's life-changing.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: It is, really.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's you think you love your kids until they have kids.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then you know it's a whole different kind.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's a whole nother thing.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's a whole nother kind of love.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's a new generation of you looking at your your grandkids.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing, right?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: And look at the legacy you're leaving for them.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and everybody knows the Oakridge Boys, you know.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's like one of those iconic country music starters, and it's amazing how long this has been going on.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: We've been fortunate, really.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: You have been.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: You're very talented.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, we got great singers, yes.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that helps, right?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Talent helps.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that I am, but I'm certainly surrounded by great singers.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good thing about it.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think it's that that works in all aspects of life.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: You're only as good as the people you're surrounded by.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that's incredible.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna be in Lancaster.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'll come see you.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: When what month are you gonna be in Lancaster?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's uh seminar.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh at the end of the month here.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: This month?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this month.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, I would love to come see the show.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think in two weeks we're gonna be there.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'll reach out to Scott.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to come and see the show.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: At the American Theater.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that I would uh count me in.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm coming.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna come see you guys.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's amazing.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so what's so different now?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: How are the fans different like now?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: The fan you must have an older fan base.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: We do, and we've the Oak Res boys have been passed down from generation to generation.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And we still have a lot of people that come up to us and say, Hey, it was my grandfather's eight tracks in his pickup, is what where I started hearing the Oak Res boys.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And grandparents would bring kids and grandkids to see us.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Timeless.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Music is timeless.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: As they get older, they bring their kids and grandkids to see us.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it's amazing how it's we've been passed down from generation to generation.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: What an honor.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Do you feel very honored to be part of a country musical legend?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: I feel very honored.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you do.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: I used to sing Elvira to my daughter when she was a baby.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: And she had this big belly laugh, and we would tickle her and sing Elvira, and I think it's now she loves the Oak Ridge boys and she follows them.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's such an amazing, like you have carved the way for so many other artists to do country music.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we were at a time that country music was uh it was a great music, you know, and changing music actually.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: We come on the scene, Alabama came on the scene.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: We both came into country music about the same time.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, and again, those are great friends of ours.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So amazing.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've all had good runs, and it's still fun to still be out there.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: And you performed at the Grand Old Opry.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Is that that's gotta be life-changing?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be there uh this Friday night and Saturday night.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: This upcoming Friday night and Saturday night?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's amazing.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to go Friday night.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds fun.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, that's like do people come up to you and are like, what an honor that you're still doing and you're still interviewing.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Which is incredible.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: I felt very honored when I saw your name this morning.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you for letting me be on here.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: It was real I feel very, very honored.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: What's your favorite part about still touring?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: About touring?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh the time that we get to walk on stage and sing our songs.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's the favorite thing.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's beautiful.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times during the daytime, you know, uh for the past few years, I did it more a little in the past than I do today, but I took cameras on the road with me.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I just recently had a brand new book released of my photography, landscape photography.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: What's the name of the book?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: William Lee Golden, Golden Memories.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm getting the book for my office.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get Scott to get you one.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to have that in my office.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Could you sign it for me?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: I would.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to have that in my office.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think it do you think you'll ever get tired of being on the bridge?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have a uh an autobiography book out that was I did in the uh pandemic back.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: During the pandemic.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: What a smart idea to write during the pandemic.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: It shut everything down.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'd love to see read that book too.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what I did is for two or three weeks, you know, I was uh they sent us all home, said you're gonna be able to do that.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: What else were you gonna do?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Said go home, lock your doors, put on two masks.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: If anybody knocks on your door, crawl under the bed.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: So uh wash your the bags of your groceries.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: That was a it's hard to believe that was six years ago, but so I watched all the negative hate for two or three weeks, and then I had to cut off television.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't watch it anymore.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: I've adopted that for now, too.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: I don't watch the news often.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I call my family over, my kids and grandkids, to let's sing some songs.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: I took them back to where the songs that my sister and my mother taught me when I was a little growing up.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: And uh any kids or grandchildren in the industry?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Really?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: My sons, I had two, three, two sons that followed music, and I lost my oldest son two years ago.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: So sorry for that.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, it's the music is healing, and it's very therapeutic.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: With us being back together, we've got a couple of young guys.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Joe Bonzo, we lost Joe two years ago.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was tragic.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And uh with this young Ben James, he's incredible.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's in his late 20s, but he's got a high lonesome voice like Vitz Gill.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's awesome.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Tony Brown heard him saying, man, he said, Man, you're a brand new generation with a Vetz Gill voice.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I've not heard that high lonesome sound at nobody else in 35 years.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's amazing.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: What's your thought on this new genre of country music?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love it too.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's my favorite time in country music.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a great time to be in country music.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you got people like Ellie Langley that's just incredible.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we got to meet her, what, last year actually?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: At the ACM award.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Stunning, right?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Stunning.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: She's an incredible channel.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: The women in country music right now are crushing it.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Lainey Wilson, we're talking about my granddaughter's named after Laney Wilson.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, her name is Lainey.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was such an honor.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: Can I I want to go to a I want a book.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I really would love to go to the show in Lancaster.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Pennsylvania.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give you.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give her both of my books.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: My autobiography and the photo.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: She wants the photo book too.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: I would love it.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Will you come back and give me a full hour interview someday?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: We'll arrange it with Scott.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Scott is a lovely man.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're proud of her with him.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: It was truly an honor.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Truly an honor to have you on Happy Hour.