When Joe Bonsall joined The Oak Ridge Boys 50 years ago, he never could have imagined that it was the start of a musical journey that would last for most of his life. The Pennsylvania native joined William Lee Golden, Richard Sterban and Duane Allen five decades ago, opening up about his longevity with the iconic group on social media, celebrating five decades as an Oak Ridge Boys member.

“I was 25 years old in 1973 when I joined the Oak Ridge Boys,” Bonsall writes. “I am 75 years old in 2023 and I am STILL an Oak Ridge Boy. I was the last to join a group that had already been a part of music history. Richard Sterban had joined the year before in 1972 after touring with The Stamps Quartet and ELVIS for a few years. Before that Richard and I sang together for almost 6 years. I loved the OAKS… they were cutting [edge] Gospel group and I was a huge fan.

“William Lee and Duane and I became great friends as well long before I joined,” he continues. “In fact Duane produced 10 albums on The Keystones, the group I sang with before joining the OAKS. WLG first joined the group in 1965 and Duane has been singing here since 1966 and together the 4 of us have managed to live out every dream we have ever dreamed and a whole lot more.”

 

After so much time with The Oak Ridge Boys, Bonsall still enjoys it as much as ever, and maybe more.

“It has been and still IS an amazing ride,” Bonsall says. “You could have never convinced that 25-year-old Bonsall that in 50 years the four of us would still be singing together and still loving every second of it. No other act brings as much history to the stage as we do. We have had our share of challenges over all these decades, but we have always persevered as men who have each always cared about doing things right and God has blessed us for it. Our mantra has always been LET’S SING… it still is…”

Bonsall is the youngest member of The Oak Ridge Boys. The four-man group still maintains a busy tour schedule, and is still making music, in spite of their advancing years, with no plans of slowing down anytime soon.

“We’re the old guys on the block, but we just don’t know how to slow down,” Bonsall previously told Fox 13. “The Oak Ridge Boys sing. That’s what we do. And we’ve been able to plan every aspect of everything we do. Except we’ve never been able to plan how to slow down, let alone stop.”

The Oak Ridge Boys have had some conversations about what might happen if one of them is no longer able to perform, although they have yet to reach any definitive conclusions.

“I sat in the back of the bus with Duane Allen one day, and I said, ‘Duane, what if I can’t do this anymore?’” Bonsall recalled to Billboard. “And Duane said, ‘Then we go home.’ I like to think that it would still go on. But I don’t know for sure that it would.”

Find all of The Oak Ridge Boys’ music and a list of all of their upcoming shows at OakRidgeBoys.com.