The Oak Ridge Boys‘ new album is out! The iconic quartet just released Mama’s Boys, a ten-track record with songs hand-picked by the four members to be featured on the project.

“We asked the music people to bring us the best songs that they have ever heard about mama,”  Duane Allen says. “Writers from Aaron Raitiere and David Lee Murphy, to Dottie Rambo, to Willie Nelson helped us out. Yes, Willie came in and sang with us on the song he wrote, ‘I Thought About You, Lord.’ Thank you to our music friends for bringing us your great songs about mothers, and making Mama’s Boys a reality.”

It was producer Dave Cobb who had the idea to include “I Thought About You, Lord,” first released by Nelson in 1996.

“When David Cobb played ‘I Thought About You, Lord,’ written by Willie Nelson, I felt I was listening to a masterpiece,”  Allen tells Whiskey Riff. “I thought, ‘Willie has recorded with just about everyone but us.’

“So, I called Buddy Cannon, who had recently been producing Willie, to see if Willie would sing his song with us,” he adds. “He replied that he would be honored to sing with the Oaks. When Willie’s vocals were finished, the masterpiece was completed!”

In addition to “I Thought About You, Lord,” The Oak Ridge Boys also released “That’s the Way Mama Made It” from the record. The song, written by Allen, Cobb and Leroy Powell, features the newest addition to the group, Ben James, on lead vocals.

“Leroy Powell came into the control room with parts of a song going around in his head,” Allen recalls. “He was almost in a writer’s trance. David Cobb and I were there early. Leroy needed help with lines and words. Very quickly, the structure of the song fell in place. I felt it should be a Ben James feature, so we recorded the tracks in a key at the top of my range. You may have heard about songs being written in Nashville, and you go right into the studio and record it. This is it!”

Mama’s Boys is The Oak Ridge Boys’ first record since Front Porch Singin’, their last album with  Joe Bonsall, who passed away earlier this year. James replaced Bonsall, due to Bonsall’s ongoing battle with ALS.

In 2023, The Oak Ridge Boys announced their  American Made: Farewell Tour, which was at the time supposed to be the group’s final tour, due to Bonsall’s declining health. But now, William Lee Golden says the group has no plans of coming off of the road, and hints there might be a new version, thanks to the addition of James.

“The Oak Ridge Boys are not retiring,” Golden tells CCM Magazine. “It was heart-wrenching for us to say farewell to Joe Bonsall. He was 50 years singing tenor. It’s been close to a year ago when he was really going down faster. But this young man came along. We knew him because he had sang on stage with us in Wheeling, West Virginia one night … We will go until we can’t, and I think we all came here enjoying The Oak Ridge Boys.

“There was a great singer standing in the spot that we stood on, and the torch was passed to each one of us,” he continues. “And I think that it’s our obligation to actually pass the torch to a new generation when it’s time. We can go as far as we can and with the success and the acceptance of the audience, like Ben James is being accepted out there. He’s not Joe Bonsall. No one is Joe Bonsall but Joe Bonsall. But he’s Ben James.”

See a track list for Mama’s Boys below. Find the record and all of The Oak Ridge Boys’ music and upcoming shows at OakRidgeBoys.com.

Mama’s Boys’ Track Listing:

01. That’s The Way Mama Made It
02. Mama’s Boys
03. Mama’s Teaching Angels How To Sing
04. Ever With Me
05. Her Voice
06. Mama Sang For Me
07. Come On Home
08. I Thought About You, Lord (Feat. Willie Nelson)
09. Sweetest Gift
10. Divine Witness