INTERVIEW: The Oak Ridge Boys soldier on, with broken hearts
Photo: The Oak Ridge Boys will soon play concerts in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Photo courtesy of the band / Provided by press agent with permission.
The Oak Ridge Boys, the legendary country / gospel band, have had a tough 2023 and 2024. Longtime members Duane Allen, who joined in 1966; William Lee, who joined in 1965; and Richard Sterban, who joined in 1972, were set to celebrate 50 years of performing together with Joe Bonsall, who joined in 1973. Unfortunately late last year Bonsall had to leave behind his touring days and begin his well-deserved retirement. He sadly died earlier this summer, but his memories live on thanks to the enthralling music he and the Boys created over the years.
The loss of their fellow singer has caused heartache for the band, who continue to tour with Ben James honoring Bonsall’s legacy and filling in on tenor duties. They have persevered through many ups and downs, and the Boys still to this day impress fans around the country with their strong and unmistakable harmonizing. They may have said goodbye to a beloved member who spent five decades with them on stage, but they are still surrounding themselves with the love of fans who have cherished their music for such a long time — music that includes songs like “Elvira,” “Bobbie Sue” and “Dream On.”
The Oak Ridge Boys will play the Ocean City Music Pier in Ocean City, New Jersey, on Wednesday, July 31, and then they head to the Chemung County Fairgrounds in Horseheads, New York (Aug. 1), and Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pennsylvania (Aug. 2).
“I am actually located right now as we’re speaking in Ocean City, New Jersey,” Sterban said in a recent phone interview. “I’m sitting on the deck of my sister’s condo, and I’m looking out over the ocean right now. I’m having a very pleasant experience at this very moment, and as you probably know, we’ve just come through some bad times, had some bad news. So this has given me a little bit of a break, which I really need right now, to be very honest with you.”
The Oak Ridge Boys’ New Jersey concert is something of a homecoming for Sterban, who was born in Camden, located in the southern part of the state. While playing on the ocean pier, he’ll likely be filled with memories of his youth and no doubt memories of Bonsall.
“We all watched [Bonsall] physically gradually go down, and at the end of last year, at the end of our Christmas tour, he told us that he was going to have to retire,” said Sterban, who is the bass singer in the group. “He could not go on any longer. That was difficult to live with. … We knew what was going to happen. We knew what the end result was going to be, but that still doesn’t change it. When it finally happened a few weeks ago, it was still a very difficult thing to take. It really was.”
In fact, there has been a lot of bad news for the Oak Ridge Boys this past year. In addition to Bonsall’s death, relatives of the other band members have also died, and this has left Sterban in a reflective, introspective mood. “You combine that with some of the other things that we’ve gone through here this past year, we’ve had a pretty difficult span,” he said. “It has not been easy. We all believe, and we feel very strongly about this, we believe [Bonsall] is in a better place. There’s no doubt about it. That’s one thing that helps us get through this a little bit, but it has been a difficult period of time, to say the least.”
The addition of James to the Oak Ridge Boys has brought a positive spirt to the band, who has won multiple Grammy, Dove, Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music awards. In fact, James was hand-picked by Bonsall to replace him in 2023.
“Believe it or not, he’s only 28 years old, but he was basically hand-picked by Joe to really take his place,” Sterban said. “He used to sing in a group called Dailey and Vincent. … They’re kind of a bluegrass / gospel kind of group, and about a year and a half, two years ago, we were doing a show together with them. And when we sang ‘Elvira’ at the end of our show, they came out on stage and sang ‘Elvira’ with us, and Joe, who sings the lead vocal on ‘Elvira,’ he sang the first verse, like he usually does. We got to the second verse; he handed the mic to Ben, who was standing there. … We all turned around and looked at each other and went, wow, this young kid could sing, and then when Joe decided it was time for him to leave the road, he stayed in contact with Ben. And Joe recommended that we hire Ben as his replacement, so Ben was hand-picked by Joe in a lot of ways. And once again, our fans have accepted Ben as well, and they’ve been so nice to us. We have not asked Ben to try to be Joe. He’s not trying to be Joe. He’s just being himself, and our fans have really accepted him. So that makes us feel very, very good as well. We’re excited about coming up here to this part of the country with Ben, and we’re going do our best to make it a great time. We really are.”
The Oak Ridge Boys’ name actually predates all of the current members of the band; the original lineup came from the area around Knoxville, Tennessee, and they started playing the Grand Ole Opry in the mid-1940s. In the early years, there were dozens of members coming and go, but the core quartet coalesced in the early 1970s. Sterban and company were tasked with carrying on the legacy for new generations of fans.
“Before Joe retired, we actually announced that we were celebrating our 50th anniversary of this foursome being together, and we also announced that we were going to start our farewell tour,” Sterban said of the timeline. “And that’s what we have been doing. Basically what we want to do with this farewell tour is take as much time as we can and go around to as many places as we can possibly go to and say thank you to our fans who really are the ones that are responsible for us having such a great career.”
He added: “We want to say thank you. We don’t know how long that’s going to take. We originally thought maybe it would take us a year, but from now until the end of this year, we’re really booked pretty solid on this farewell tour. And we’re now booking dates for next year, so we do not know when the farewell tour will end. But the thing is, our fans they’re the ones that have really helped us get through this difficult period of time.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Oak Ridge Boys will play the Ocean City Music Pier in Ocean City, New Jersey, on Wednesday, July 31, and then they head to the Chemung County Fairgrounds in Horseheads, New York (Aug. 1), and Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pennsylvania (Aug. 2). Click here for more information and tickets.
