The Oak Ridge Boys are saying goodbye to their fans, with their American Made: Farewell Tour. The four-man group, together in its current formation for 50 years, will play at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium on December 12, as part of their annual Christmas tour, marking the first time the Country Music Hall of Fame members have headlined their own Ryman show.
“I don’t think we’ve ever done a regular concert there,” William Lee Golden tells RFD-TV. “We’ve always been guests on the Grand Ole Opry that does different shows at the Ryman. Also, with other different events, there would be a lot of different people there. But this will be the first time I think that The Oak Ridge Boys have done our full concert at the Ryman Auditorium.”
Their Christmas concerts have become a highlight for The Oak Ridge Boys over the years. To bring their holiday show to one of music’s most iconic venues is even more meaningful for the quartet.
“There’s so much history in that building,” Richard Sterban says. “We’re really looking forward, all four of us are looking forward to playing there, and bringing our Christmas show here to Nashville. It is a Christmas show, but quite often, when people realize it’s a Christmas show, the very next question normally is, ‘Even though it’s a Christmas show, will we still hear ‘Elvira?’
“Yes, you’ll still hear, ‘Giddy up, oom poppa oom poppa, mow mow,'” he says with a laugh. “But then we cover every aspect of the Christmas show, the fun side of Christmas, the romantic side of Christmas. We have a great Santa Claus that comes out, and goes out into the audience, interacts with kids. It’s a great family show.”
The Oak Ridge Boys are known for their music, but also for their storytelling, which will be part of their Christmas event at the Ryman, and all of their other shows throughout the holidays.
“There’s a section where all four of us sit down and talk about Christmas memories,” Sterban reveals. “We sing songs, and then of course, we always include the most important part, the true meaning of Christmas. That of course is the birth of Jesus, and what that means.”
In September, The Oak Ridge Boys announced that they were doing one more tour, after five decades together.
“When you’re saying farewell, there’s a lot of people you want to say farewell to,” Golden told Billboard when the tour was announced. “It’s all the people that supported you along the way, the ones that called the radio stations, the ones that come and bought tickets to see us sing and sat in the rain with the rest of us while we were able to play and sing music. It’s a lot of emotions, because we as The Oak Ridge Boys are a family. I mean, we spent more time through the years together as a family and we did our own families, basically.”
Tickets for The Oak Ridge Boys’ Ryman show can be purchased at Ryman.com. Find all of The Oak Ridge Boys’ upcoming shows at OakRidgeBoys.com.