Believe it or not growing up in Callaway wasn't always all rock and roll music for me.  I did actually listen to country for a while mainly because all that our radios would pick up were AM stations (you may have to Google that in case you're not sure what that is, haha).  And at that time all of the AM stations were either talk radio, country or bluegrass.  Those were the choices.

WNLB (which later became B99.9 FM) and WYTI were the music choices in Franklin County in the early 80's.  WNLB was more on the country side and WYTI** was mainly bluegrass with a little bit of country thrown in every now and then.  I grew up on Hank Williams Jr., Willie, Waylon, Statler Brothers, Bellamy Brothers, Larry Gatlin, Dolly, Johnny Cash, Alabama and a whole lot of other great country musicians.

**(Side note: If you've ever wondered why your radio station in your car will suddenly change stations when you travel Grassy Hill Road near KFC, WYTI is the reason why. Their radio antennas are right there as you start up the hill.  They never disabled them when they shut down.)

But my absolute favorite of all time were The Oak Ridge Boys.  I LOVED them.  I was even a member of their fan club back when you actually received a monthly newsletter in the mail by USPS!  ORB Fan club was what it was called.  I looked forward to that magazine like Ralphie from A Christmas Story looked forward to getting his secret Orphan Annie decoder ring.  

I had a lot of their vinyl albums and pretty much wore them out.  I've still got 3 of them.  American Made, Bobby Sue and the Fancy Free album featuring their all time biggest hit Elvira.  I'm not sure what happened to all the others I had.

The lineup at the time consisted of Joe Bonsall (tenor and lead singer), Duane Allen (baritone and 2nd tenor), William Golden (baritone) and Richard Sterban (bass).  I sooooo wanted to be Richard Sterban.  His bass solos in Elvira are the stuff of legends.  

I never got to see them as a kid but I was fortunate enough to see them a few years ago when they came to the Harvester Performance Center.  My parents gave me 2 tickets to go see them and I am so glad I got the chance.  They looked and sounded exactly the same as the 80's and 90's, with maybe just a little more gray hair.  But I tell you what, when they played their last 2 songs of the night, Bobbie Sue and Elvira, there was NOT one person sitting down in that place.  Everyone including me was on their feet singing right along with them.  It was awesome!

I've seen over 25 bands throughout the years and I would definitely rank this one in my top 5 for sure!

I bring this story up because there was some sad news last week.  The lead singer Joe Bonsall passed away at the age of 74.  The band will never be or sound the same.  He had such an unmistakable voice.  So much so that you knew exactly who it was when one of their songs came on the radio.  Today I can't tell one from the other.  They all sound the same to me.

I am so glad I got to see them when I did!  Their era was such a great time in country music.

I just want to say thank you to the Oak Ridge Boys for putting out such great music and getting me through the early 80s with only 2 radio stations!!

Who did you grow up listening to??

I want to know!!!

Jonathan

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