I had the amazing opportunity this weekend to sit down and talk to William Lee Golden, the baritone voice of The Oak Ridge Boys, who will perform at Five Points Washington on Saturday, September 19.

The Oak Ridge Boys played the Grand Ole Opry this summer and Richard Sterban joined them during the show.

The lineup we came to know and love through hits like “Elvira” and “Bobbie Sue” became the longest-running lineup in the group’s history. But William Lee Golden, Duane Allen, Richard Sterban, and Joe Bonsall weren't the original Oak Ridge Boys. Each joined the group between 1965 and 1973, replacing other members as they left.

In fact, most of us have never heard the original Oak Ridge Boys, whose history stretches back to a gospel quartet formed during World War II.

Now, more than 80 years later, the Oak Ridge Boys are evolving again. William Lee Golden and Duane Allen perform alongside a younger generation of Oaks, tenor Ben James and bass singer Aaron McCune.

“None of us started the Oak Ridge Boys,” Golden said. “And none of us should be the ones to try to shut it down.” (See Video)

It was apparent in talking with William Lee that Ben James and Aaron McCune have become more than the next generation of Oak Ridge Boys. They've also helped Golden and Allen through an incredibly difficult chapter in the group's history.

Longtime tenor Joe Bonsall battled ALS for several years before his death in 2024, and bass singer Richard Sterban had to step back from touring to undergo treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Golden described James’ arrival during that difficult period as a light in the darkness. He was already a huge fan who knew all of their songs when another group he was with opened for the Oak Ridge Boys. By the end of the night he had joined them on stage and impressed them with his talent. “I've got grandkids older than Ben,” William Lee said, “but he has been a real positive addition to the Oak Ridge Boys.”

He was just as enthusiastic about McCune, calling him one of the most incredible bass singers he has ever heard.

What the two younger singers brought to the group went beyond their voices. Golden described performing with them as “uplifting, healing mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually” for him and Allen. “They make a real positive impact on us as well as the audience,” he added. “And they'll thrill you every night. They do us.”

No conversation with an Oak Ridge Boy can get too far without touching on their biggest hit, “Elvira.” Golden shared the story of what happened the first time the group tried the song in front of an audience. (See Video)

Golden credits the group’s signature four-part harmony with helping songs like “Elvira” and “Bobbie Sue” connect with audiences far beyond traditional country music.

He learned to sing harmony from his sister when he was a child and later fell in love with four-part harmony while singing in an FFA quartet in high school. By the early 1960s, he was listening to the Oak Ridge Boys himself, years before he would become one.

Golden has seen firsthand how love for their music can cross divides, whether between generations or countries. In 1976, the Oak Ridge Boys spent three weeks touring the Soviet Union with Roy Clark, performing for audiences who often couldn’t understand the words they were singing.

“It’s that four-part harmony thing,” Golden said. “It goes beyond language barriers.”

This is the quartet that will be coming to Five Points Washington on Saturday, September 19th.

Maybe one of the reasons the Oak Ridge Boys have lasted so many decades is that they aren’t just open to change. They’re intentional about it. While the group remains rooted in the four-part harmony that has defined it for generations, they continue working with new people and new ideas rather than simply recreating what worked in the past.

That includes Buried Treasures, a new Oak Ridge Boys album scheduled for release October 30. The album was recorded at Anderson East’s Nashville studio with producer Dave Cobb, who has worked with the group on six albums while also producing artists including Chris Stapleton and the Red Clay Strays.

“It’s all part of keeping the Oak Ridge Boys relevant with what’s going on today,” he said.

When he isn’t onstage, William Lee would rather be exploring than sitting around a hotel room or tour bus. Over the years, he has grabbed his camera and headed to national and state parks across the country, photographing everything from the Grand Canyon to Pikes Peak.

For 10 or 12 years, those photos also served as inspiration for another hobby, painting landscapes in hotel rooms while on the road. But Golden admits he is “a real slow painter,” and as digital cameras improved, he found a much faster way to capture the places he loved.

That collection of photographs eventually became his new book, Golden Memories. And apparently Golden has taken a lot of photos over the years. When it came time to put the book together, he handed editor Scott England a computer containing about 100,000 images.

“You pick some,” Golden told him.

The finished book includes photographs from across the country and some of Golden’s travels overseas. “I love life. I love the beauty of America,” Golden said. “It’s one of the most beautiful countries in the whole world, and I love getting out and seeing it all.”

William Lee Golden’s advice for musicians

Golden said the Oak Ridge Boys now meet fans who tell them their grandparents were the ones who first brought them to a show, and that hearing those songs again makes them feel closer to parents or grandparents who are no longer here.

I understand that. When I found out I had the opportunity to interview William Lee, I listened to several Oak Ridge Boys albums and was delighted to discover how many songs I still knew word for word. Songs like “American Made,” “Bobbie Sue” and, of course, “Elvira” immediately took me back to hearing them when I was younger.

At the same time, a new generation is discovering the Oak Ridge Boys for the first time. Golden said they have devoted fans as young as 13, 14 and 15 who travel long distances to see them and bring their families along.

“That’s how it’s all happened through the years with us,” he said. “And every night, there’s people that’s never seen us before.”

More than six decades after Golden first joined the group, that chance to connect with an audience is still what he looks forward to most.

“That’s the exciting part of the day for us, is when we get to walk on that stage and the music kicks up,” he said. “That’s where the fun starts for us. It’s always been that way.”

And whether someone walks into Five Points Washington on Saturday remembering every word to “Elvira” or hearing the Oak Ridge Boys for the first time, Golden hopes they leave feeling some of that same connection.

“We just hope that they take away from it some of what we’re feeling in our heart through our music.”