Country Music Hall of Famers The Oak Ridge Boys, from left, Joe Bonsall, Duane Allen, William Lee Golden, and Richard Sterban, will return to The Red Barn in Winchester on May 11 for another high-energy concert performance. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

By Mark Carpenter-

If you are a fan of The Country Music Hall of Fame quartet, The Oak Ridge Boys, then you may feel like you hit the lottery in early May. The Boys- Joe Bonsall, Duane Allen, William Lee Golden, and Richard Sterban- will be in the area not once, but twice in May, bringing their Shine the Light Tour 2019 back to Adams County and also to northern Kentucky.
On May 7, the Oaks will be on stage at the Washington Opera House in Maysville and four days later on May 11, will make a return appearance to the Red Barn in Winchester, where they performed their first-ever Adams County show back in August of last year. The group has been in Maysville previously, performing at one of Clyde Barbour Expos back in the 1980’s, likely their only performance ever in a tobacco warehouse, and one that Bonsall vaguely recalled when he recently spoken by phone with The Defender.
You can’t blame any of the group for not remembering a particular show that they have done, when they have been on the road for so long and so many years, with 150 tour dates already penciled in for 2019. When he spoke to the paper, Bonsall reported that the group was in St. Joseph, Missouri, with a show the next night in Iowa, then on to Minnesota, before busing back to Tennessee and a couple of well-deserved days at home.
“It’s another busy, busy year for the Oak Ridge Boys, it’s all kind of incredible to me,” said Bonsall, the Philadelphia native who joined the group in 1973. “I don’t know how we keep doing it. I thought we’d slow down someday but we haven’t slowed down at all. I don’t think we know how.”
With such a large catalog of music to choose from, the Oaks have the advantage of being able to frequently change the set lists from show to show.
“Every show is still a little different and we tend to pull some old songs out of the archives every now and then,” says Bonsall. “Recently, we’ve been paying tribute to the 1979 ’Have Arrived’ album on its 40th anniversary. We’ve also been paying tribute to George Bush with ‘Amazing Grace’ and we’ve been doing some of the new songs from ‘17th Avenue Revival’.”
“I like to sit back and make the show different every night. It’s not only good for the audience, but it’s good for us. We get a lot of requests through social media, which has changed the way we do things. It’s kind of fun to put together a little request folder. The shows are fun, our band is probably playing better now than they ever have, and the four guys are feeling good and singing good. I don’t know what more you could ask for.”
The exciting news coming out of the Oak Ridge Boys camp regards two new projects in the works, a new Christmas album to be released this fall and a new studio album slated for a 2020 release.
“We’re working with producer Dave Cobb again so you know both albums will be unique, he has so many creative ideas,” said Bonsall. “We’re going into the studio in June to record the Christmas album, what I perceive to be a very earthy, organic, rustic kind of Christmas album. I’m sure we will go down some unique roads creatively that will make this album special. We’ve already got out six Christmas albums, you’ve got to have a good reason to do another one. New and fresh creativity is the heart and soul of what we do, and this album will freshen up our Christmas tour.”
“Then next year we’re going to work on a new studio album and some of that direction is still a little up in the air right now, but we’ve got some time to think about that. Guys sitting around the front porch singing might be the idea we are looking for.”
The Oak Ridge Boys have just about been everywhere, seen everything, and sang for everybody, and their lists of award and accomplishment is never-ending, but for Bonsall, the future is pretty simple.
“We just want to continue to try and stay healthy and keep singing good, and keep putting on shows to keep the Oak Ridge Boys thing alive. That is most important to all of us. There’s places we haven’t been and maybe someday you will see us overseas, but we’re not little kids any more so that type of travel takes a big toll.”
“I have to give credit to the Lord, he’s been good to me,” Bonsall continued. “I’m healthy as a horse and I feel great out there on the stage. As long as we’re healthy and as long as we’re singing good and as long as those creative juices keep flowing and we are all pulling in the same direction like we are and have been for years, then I say ‘keep on singing’. It’s a day at a time, a show at a time, and a project at a time.”
“We take more history to the stage than any group that ever lived and none of us to a man want to see it end. God will just have to tell us when to stop.”
If you want to see an exciting, energy-filled show from a quartet of guys in their 70’s who will leave you thinking they are in their 20’s, ticket information for the May 11 Red Barn show can be obtained by calling 1-800-823-9197, ext. 121. The May 7 show is a benefit for the Maysville Players and tickets are set to go on sale one week before the show.

The bass tones of Richard Sterban will once again rock the walls of the Red Barn when the Oak Ridge Boys return on May 11. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)