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Iconic Member of The Oak Ridge Boys to perform with family band May 26 

Longtime member of The Oak Ridge Boys William Lee Golden will be joined by his family band The Goldens for an evening of classic country hits, old time rock ’n’ roll and gospel classics Friday, May 26 at the Manchester Coffee County Convention Center presented by On Fire Concerts.

While Golden is still crisscrossing the country as a member of The Oak Ridge Boys, he is also now hitting the road with his sons Rusty and Chris Golden as William Lee Golden and The Goldens.

“It was the pandemic and I decided I wanted to go back to the very beginning to where it all started with me and I wanted to take my family back there with me, back to where it started when I was little,” Golden said from his home in Hendersonville.

Joined by his sons, grandson Elijah and granddaughter Elizabeth along with some close friends, Golden recorded three albums worth of material ranging from country classics like Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone” and Hank Williams “I Saw the Light” to old-time rock ‘n’ roll hits such as Bob Seger’s “Hollywood Nights.” Gospel tunes like “Love Lifted Me,” “Power in the Blood” and “Come and Dine” complete the trio of CDs released in 2022.

Golden said that while the project didn’t officially get off the ground until the pandemic started, he had dreams of recording and performing with his family again, which he originally did between 1987 and 1995 after being temporarily voted out of The Oak Ridge Boys. Golden would rejoin the group he had been a part of since 1965 on New Year’s Eve 1995.

“If it wasn’t for my kids, I wouldn’t be able to do the project we are doing,” Golden said. “It has been four or five years ago I started seeing this when I would go back home…I needed to get my boys together and we needed to do some things together again.”

“I was realizing that life was slipping away and if I didn’t do it I would always regret it,” he said.

Golden said he recorded 34 songs with The Goldens, and it was something that brought healing during the chaos and negativity of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We figured out that we needed to allow music to kind of help us through all this because music was very essential in our lives,” he said.

Perhaps the most recognizable member of The Oak Ridge Boys thanks to his distinct long white beard, Golden first started singing long before the beard became a part of his image.

A native of Brewton, Alabama, Golden was taught how to sing harmonies and play rhythm guitar by his mother and sister when he was about six or seven years old.

“My sister and I would play, she played mandolin and I played with a guitar and we would song in duet harmony these old Louvin Brothers songs or “I Saw the Light” or “Mansion Over the Hilltop,” Golden said. “Stuff like that that we would sing as little kids, plus all the other old songs at church that we would sing out of the church book.”

After singing in a vocal trio, Golden officially joined The Oak Ridge Boys in 1965 when the group was still concentrating solely on gospel music. By 1973, the group was made up of Golden, Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall and Richard Sterban. The four men would go on to record iconic hits like “Elvira,” “American Made,” “Bobbie Sue” and “Thank God For Kids.”

“This past year we did 140 concert dates together,” Golden said.

Despite more than six decades on the road, Golden, now 84-years old, said he still has a love and enthusiasm for music, just like back when he first started performing.

“You realize when you get my age just how special every day is,” he said. “As you go through life and you start out you have all the enthusiasm, but I find it is just as enthusiastic today as it has ever been for me because I feel like there is still so much that I want to do that I still haven’t done as far as singing and stuff with my boys.”

While recording the music for the project, Golden said he wanted to not only record his own musical influences, but also the songs and styles that influenced his family.

“I didn’t just want to take them to where I am coming from, I have been with them all the way through a lot of their influences,” he said. “I wanted them to bring their influences that touched them in life.”

“That is how we found mental, emotional, physical and spiritual healing through music and songs,” Golden said.

Golden said he plans to take all of that energy and bring it to the stage when William Lee Golden and The Goldens perform.

“That is what we are doing and when we come down there we are going to bring an all-star band,” Golden said.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.onfireconcerts.com.