The Oak Ridge Boys faced an unfathomable loss earlier this year, when Joe Bonsall passed away, after a lengthy battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a neuromuscular disorder commonly known as ALS. The disease had been affecting Bonsall’s mobility for a few years, with Bonsall staying on the road as long as he could, even as the disease progressed.
After The Oak Ridge Boys’ final Christmas show last year, Bonsall stepped away from the road, leaving William Lee Golden, Richard Sterban and Duane Allen to continue without him.
“It was a heart-wrenching thing to watch night after night,” Golden tells Everything Nash. “But you also treasured every moment, because you knew they were fleeting moments.”
Bonsall originally wanted to make the final dates on their American Made: Farewell Tour, but realized at the end of 2023 that for him, his touring days were over.
“It was really hard to go through that progression, because we knew what was happening, but he didn’t want anybody to cry for him,” Allen reveals. “He didn’t want anybody to feel sorry for him. He just wanted to do the best he could, and he wanted to go out singing, and he did. Early in the year, he said, ‘I’m going to do my very best to make every Christmas show,’ and he never missed a show. He never missed a note. His voice was strong to the very last note of the last song we sang.”