Legacy, Harmony, And The Oak Ridge Boys Live

Transcript

Rolling In After A Long Night

SPEAKER_02 0:00

edited and it'll sound great. You're gonna look great. God bless you, my friend. Look at you. You know, I got I William Lee is uh joining me here uh with the you know the wonder of today's technology which is amazing and he was talking just before I clicked the uh clicked the uh recording on is the fact that he just got home from uh this morning so it's probably been on a bus all night was on the bus all night sleeping so uh didn't didn't sleep much but uh we got in about 6 a.m from North Carolina Oak Ridge boys and uh we'll leave tomorrow afternoon and uh head to up to New York yeah you're going to a place they call Delago yeah yes Waterloo Waterloo William it's yes Waterloo it's got a lot of meanings to that name you know that it is yeah yeah absolutely uh William it's so good to see you the Oak Ridge boys the legendary uh of course you being a legend in your own right and just everything that you've done um you know you got a big show it's coming up uh uh Friday March 13th eight o'clock it's at the Vine Showroom which is at the Del Lago Resort uh just a few miles from Syracuse I'm sure you'll be going through on the throughway somehow somehow on that Oak Ridge Boys bus. Do you guys ride the bus all together?

Life On The Bus And Brotherhood

The Beard, The Voice, The Daily Grind

Loss, New Voices, And Renewal

Recording With Dave Cobb

SPEAKER_00 1:22

We do we all ride together man and uh it kind of keeps us all close. If there's a problem we uh we address it you know I mean it's uh it's kind of good to be close to everybody. That's we're both yeah yeah and uh you know Dewane and I have been singing our lead singer man he's uh he joined us in 1966 so he and I have been joined together here of we're just celebrating 60 years from the time we've started singing together so uh yeah I joined the Oak Ridge Boys in 1965. So dude I was nine years old I'm just saying and I knew the Oak Ridge boys yeah well I've been a few miles more than you have yeah but you look great my friend have you um if you don't mind me asking that beard is you you are the legendary William Lee Golden we look at that beard and we go wow how long have you had that without you know cutting it or oh my god all right so you've had it since 1966 1980 1980 1980 is when I lost my razor so I still haven't found it but I haven't trimmed it man uh I don't trim my beard uh I kind of let it grow natural and kind of be what it is and uh I still work out to try to sing man I I still love singing and we all do man it's a high point of the day when the Oak Ridge boys get together to get to harmonizing. So uh we got a couple of young guys with us here. One of them is uh the a young tennis singer man we lost Joe Bonzell a couple of years ago to ALS and which was a sad time and heart wrenching for all the Oak Ridge boys but you know God works in mysterious ways sometimes when it's in our darkest moment he seems to bring the light and he brought the light in this young kid Ben James he's a high tenor singer but he comes from bluegrass music Tony Brown that just went into Hall of Fame or Country Music Hall of Fame for producing more hit records than any producer in national history over 100 Billboard number one records he heard Ben James sing and come up and told him said man he said I've never heard a high lonesome sounding voice like that but one in the last 35 years. He said you're a brand new generation with a Vince Gill voice. That's about as high a compliment as any young singer coming to Nashville can ever have and uh and uh Richard our bass singer man has been struggling about a year now and he hasn't been able to travel with us uh he's been dealing with uh pancreatic cancer and been going through treatments for that here for the past it was almost a year ago that he that we found out that uh he was struggling with that and uh so we've had these two young bass singers man it's also incredible uh Kim Duncan helped us a lot last year and Aaron Lee McCune he's another young bass singer Aaron comes out of uh bluegrass too he was singing with Daly and Vetson but these young guys uh Aaron is one of the most incredible bass singers I've ever heard uh oh at least it wasn't you falling that's all good you there well yeah I'm there uh John his uh iPad fell so uh I can still hear you though but uh so you've got a couple of new guys and you were explaining those to me and uh you know still uh carrying on the legacy of the Oakridge boys which is good we are man uh like Dwayne and I man we still love singing and he's still singing great great lead singer Dwayne is a kind of a backbone of our group he basically helps with this recording and finding a lot of the songs and works closely with our record producers and as you know uh Dave Cobb has been producing the last six albums that the Oak Ridge Boys have done and uh Dave's winning all the awards with uh Chris Stapleton and young young talent like that you know the Red Clay Strees which is a hot young band uh that's come on the scene uh they're from Mobile Alabama I grew up in South Alabama myself but to see these young guys uh man uh it's it's exciting to me but for us to be recording again in fact we just finished an album that won't be out till later this year so we take advantage of the winners a lot of times and get it back in the studio after Christmas. So that's what we've been doing and uh we finished up an album and uh we've been working off of last year's album that we did with Dave Cobb. So uh Oak Ridge Boys are staying busy we're staying active and uh looks like we we'll probably we did about 70 concert dates last year and hopefully we get to be about that many this year. But uh we've been out on runs already. We've been out on Texas Run in January this couple of weeks ago we were down at the Florida Strawberry Festival and uh up in Georgia doing some dates. So uh Oak Ridge boys are out singing man we still harmonize and still loving to sing man that's we never get tired of singing. And it shows and it shows and talking about that William uh one of our fans or your fans and our listeners go out to the uh divine at Del Lago what do you want them to feel by the time the night is over well I want them to feel the excitement that we feel and uh they'll we we're coming up to sing Oak Ridge Boy songs a lot of the songs that we've had through the years you know we'll probably do maybe a couple of gospel songs but it'll be mainly uh country and country rock songs that we've had we'll go from the Y'all come back saloon uh you're the one at a million uh sail away uh we'll be doing Elvira Bobby Sue Little Mau Mau yeah so uh it's uh that kind of changed the world for us back in 1981 I'm sure it did I'm sure it did all in a good way too um you know like you say we go way back or you go way back with uh with the Oak Ridge boys for decades what still gives you that rush when you go on stage it's uh it's being there together man and it's a people it's a response of the audience and uh sometimes you know you may go to an audience that might not quite know who you are or maybe not being expected you but that's okay too but uh man it's the time that when we walk on stage that's when it the fun begins for us you know I mean we wait all day to get to be able to get on stage and sing together. So uh it's exciting for us man we still get excited about what we're doing we still love what we do.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

That's why they say you don't retire because once you slow down then it it could go the other way but you just keep pumping them out you just keep going and the and the band keeps going and you know you accept age for what it is and the legacy of the Oak Ridge boys and just being able to to put it all together coming out with a new album I would assume that um you're gonna play some of those on Friday well I don't know that we'll do any of the brand new ones you know this new album is the one that's coming out will be we will probably do one of these songs off the last album we've been doing a song called Come On Home off the Mama's Boys album.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Dave Cobb wanted us to do a full album about our mothers man and about mothers uh the whole album is called Mama's Boys and there's a song about a young boy leaving home that we did it's called Come On Home. It's a great up tempo country song but uh young Ben James played the boy leaving home in a music video last year. Uh back about a year ago we did this video and it was released in the spring and uh it won a Telly Award last year for the best music videos. So uh it's still fun to be singing man and still uh we still love what we do.

The Setlist And Live Energy

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Yeah William Lee wow I just you know I have to sit here I know I go back like I said I was only nine when you first hit the Oak Ridge boys and all of a sudden we started hearing you guys but uh now I'm giving away my age as well but still it never ever gets old and um the chemistry of the group is just part of the magic as you said before just that you guys all just bond and you've been probably best friends for how many years? And uh we all have our ups and downs. I totally get it. You may not talk to somebody for a few hours but then you come back around and have a beer and everything's cool. So and you know that's the way it works whether you're there or I'm here that's the way it works. Can you um you know country music and uh all the years you've been doing this what um it's changed in a lot of ways. Let me put it that way uh what has changed the most and what do you think still matters as much now as it did years ago? That's a pretty heavy question but go ahead.

Country Music’s Evolution

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Well it's uh I feel like that it was when the digital age came in you know a few years ago uh when we started singing together it was uh everything was recorded on tape and uh then it moved uh a few years later it moved into digital but things changed then but you know we've country music evolves and I love where country music is today we got these young talents that's just taking country music to a level that it's never been country music is the biggest music in the world right now you know back years ago when we released Elvira it was uh it's filled over out of country under pop and rock and roll but uh then hip hop came along and it kind of pushed rock and roll back to the back corner and uh but you know it's uh then things keep evolving and then here comes country music you got these young talents like uh you know Morgan Wallet an incredible writer and singer uh you got this young Laney Wilson that's what a great talent she is and Ellie Langley is an another she's gonna be huge too because uh she's a real talented girl and uh she can stand there with a guitar and make you cry man so uh that's what music is it's a universal language and it touches a lot of emotions man it mentally emotionally it does so you were talking about uh you mentioned Ella William and um she can pick up a guitar and make you cry but um what songs still hit you personally every time you sing them well there's a song that I recorded on our first Christmas album that uh Eddie Raven wrote actually it's a call Thank God for kids and uh it's always touched my heart because I got four sons and uh I lost my oldest son here a couple of years ago but uh no one's ever prepared for that certainly I wasn't and I don't know of anyone else that could ever be prepared for that but uh you know it's music that's been healing for us mentally emotionally physically and spiritual healing and that's what I've needed certainly and some of the other guys have needed it you know we lost Joe Basel and now we've got Richard on standby here but uh again man these young kids that's coming and singing with us I got grandkids older than Ben James of and Aaron Lee McCoon I've got kids older than him for sure but uh he's another young talent that's one of the greatest singers that I've ever heard for as a young bass singer man he's incredible and uh there's an I don't know of another one anytime in in history that's as good as this young kid is. He's incredible. But he'll be with us this weekend and uh he'll be with us until uh either Richard is able to come back or we we're still praying for that you know but uh we're also thankful that God has provided us with uh people like Aaron Lee McCon to sing bass with us and this young kid Ben James is doing an incredible job with the Oak Ridge Boys. And it it it inspires Dwayne and I man it it keeps us pumped up these young guys have brought a whole new energy to the Oak Ridge Boys. And it's uh it's like I say we can't wait to get on stage and harmonize together.

Grief, Healing, And “Thank God For Kids”

SPEAKER_02 14:27

And that's going to be Friday night at Cin Verona at the Del Lago uh casino and resort um they're gonna be in the Vine in the showroom and it's gonna be a great show. Let me ask you before I let you go you know how do you you you talk about all your grandkids first of all what do your grandkids call you do they call you papa grandpa I'm a grandpa to all my grandkids I got three great grandkids now so uh and your great grand great grandpa I'm a great grandpa so God bless you God bless you I got eight I got eight and I'm just Papa so I I get that uh how do you balance this chapter in your life now you got all these grandkids you got your kids you're out on the road uh you're seeing life pretty much change before your eyes with people coming and going and how do you balance all that man I still work out as an old man here I still work out uh I used to walk about four or five miles a day then I got into doing sit-ups in the wintertime when I couldn't get out walk during on tour and but I do a couple of hundred sit-ups or I did for a lot of years about 200 sit-ups a day uh but now I've started working out with weights and standing up and doing my um doing my exercise but I use small weights I don't use big ones I use 10 pounds in each hand and I do them but I hold them straight out and bring them straight up slow I do slow motion exercise and I and bring them up all the way back and then go down and then I do a bunch of squats with those squats down and touch the floor with them and uh also bend straight over touch the floor I'd still touch my toes at uh at 87. No wait a minute wait did you you don't mind me repeating this you're 87 I'm 87 man god bless you William oh my god you know what I can't let my wife watch this because you just explained what you do to to reach the age of 87 you're working out you're you're telling me how to do it and she's gonna go you know what skip this is the deal I I told her you need to work out if he can do it you can do it because I'm obviously not there yet but I'm getting there so I got a little ways to go uh William uh William Lee Golden uh joining me here this morning I just want to say thank you thank you for taking a few minutes of your day I know you've got to be tired you've been on the road all night you get a few minutes at home and then it seems like you're leaving again and uh of course you're heading into upstate New York couple of things dress warm even though it's been 70 today might be 70 yesterday was a as well but Friday they're talking about 30 so that's all right I'm just yeah you gotta you keep an eye on the forecast wherever you're going if you know where you're going sometimes you get on the bus and wherever you end up you end up but um yeah God bless you and the boys and I got to tell you you mentioned Elvira um big part of my life as well but when I walked in the radio station this morning and I walked by the front desk and say good morning and they say what's up for today and I said yeah I'm gonna be talking to William Lee of the Oak Ridge boys and all of a sudden they go Elvira I go exactly you know that's the impression that the Oak Ridge boys and a song like that has on so many different people all different generations it just goes from the grandparents to you know the parents even the kids now everybody knows your music William and grandkids and go yeah they do man everybody was doing um papa mow bow with the Oak Ridge boys Papa Mau Bow I know I can't I can't even go down that low so that's pretty cool. William uh so the show is Friday night it's at uh the Del Lago at the Vine um we're so excited about seeing you like I said dressed warm. Uh anything else you'd like to add?

SPEAKER_00 18:13

I just want to thank you for letting me be on the uh you know the Skip Clark show here.

Family, Fitness, And Longevity

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Well I'm so I am uh usually I don't get all giddy giddy but when I get the when I get an opportunity to uh sit down and talk to somebody like William Lee Golden from the Oak Ridge Boys it's like oh my god what do I say what do I ask you know I was writing down some notes it's you're a legend dude the Oak Ridge boys are legends in them in their own way and always will be for eternity and um it's just I get all like you know and I do a lot of these so but uh I think well thanks for letting me be on the big wolf here with you the Syracuse wolf yeah and the nice thing about this is we are W O L F we are the real wolf so you are the real wolf in your travels you may uh may go to other places and you hear about the wolf but their call letters are not W O L F. So great call letters yep and uh we'll have them forever. So William uh I want you to have a good day get some coffee or get some rice do what you need to do go work out go work out I hope we get I hope we get to see you up there to Friday night. Do you do you take the opportunity to meet your fans do you do a little uh meet and greet or anything like that or with radio or sometimes we do you know especially if it's like radio with people that we've talked to where we invite them and uh we'd love to meet them man I'd love to see you in person shake your hands good to be able to sit here and look at you this morning it's good for me to look at you as well my friend all right William Lee thanks for joining us uh the Oak Ridge boys in town coming up on Friday night at the uh Del Lago Casino and Resort in the Vine Showroom we are so very excited to see you and you know I just there's no doubt who you are when you go for I know I keep saying goodbye but I'm just I I keep staring at your beard that you lost you lost the razor back in 80 um you can't even go for a walk without somebody recognizing you well if I go to Walmart uh sometimes people do recognize me but uh it's kind of hard to hide on some occasions I got you I get you uh William uh God bless you my friend keep doing what you're doing and we'll we'll see you real soon here in central New York all right Skip Clark thank you again William Lee Golden right here stay right there hang on