The Oak Ridge Boys' Joe Bonsall retires from live touring

After recently calling to a close their five decades of regular touring, the Oak Ridge Boys' tenor vocalist, Joe Bonsall, has announced his retirement from touring with the group.

"Many of you know I have been battling a slow onset (over four years now) of a neuromuscular disorder. I am now at a point where walking is impossible, so I have basically retired from the road," stated Bonsall in a press release.

"It has just gotten too difficult. It has been a great 50 years, and I am thankful to all the Oak Ridge Boys, band, crew and staff for the constant love and support shown to me through it all. I will never forget, and for those of you who have been constantly holding me up in prayer, I thank you and ask for you to keep on praying. The Oak Ridge Boys will finish the Farewell Tour without me, but rest assured, I am good with all of it! God's Got It!!!"

Also in his statement, Bonsall, a 75-year-old Philadelphia native, added that Ben James — a younger performer with roots in bluegrass and gospel similar to the nearly eight decades of history of various iterations of the Oak Ridge Boys and a history of touring with Dailey & Vincent — will replace him on the road alongside Duane Allen, William Lee Golden, and Richard Sterban.

In Nov. 2022, James appeared with the quartet who, while performing on the same billing as Dailey & Vincent, brought James onstage to perform their 40-year-old crossover smash "Elvira."

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"Joe handed me the mic and said, 'You've got the next verse. And I'm not sure I will ever get over that moment. 'Elvira' was always on repeat when I was growing up. It's still one of those timeless songs that never grow old," offered James in a press statement.

The Country Music Hall of Famers performed their first headlining set ever — during their 34th annual Christmas concert tour — at downtown Nashville's Ryman Auditorium to close 2023. At the event, they delivered a 22-song set of holiday favorites and the group's classic tunes, including "American Made," "Elvira," and "Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight."

Three weeks after that performance, on Dec. 30 in Greenville, Mississippi, the group introduced James as Bonsall's replacement at Harlow's Casino Resort. 

To the Tennessean in a Dec. 2023 feature, Bonsall described a career as an Oak Ridge Boy member that saw him play over 10,000 concerts in amphitheaters, arenas, stadiums and theaters worldwide as bearing witness to an "amazing phenomenon" that "took on a life of its own" and "marks so many unique spaces, stories and times."

When asked to summarize what has made the act vital to country music's culture and pop music's history, Bonsall offered the group "represented the place to be for five decades. Four guys who looked like they shouldn't even know each other have blended harmonies and had a celebrated career."

The Oak Ridge Boys have two dozen dates announced for 2024's continuation of the "American Made Farewell Tour," plus they will return to the studio with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb to begin compiling their fifth album of work together.