Theirs is one of the most distinctive and recognizable sounds in the music industry. The upbeat songs and four-part harmonies of The Oak Ridge Boys have spawned dozens of Country hits and two Pop smashes.
The Oak Ridge Boys have earned numerous Grammy, Dove, CMA, and ACM awards and garnered a host of other industry and fan accolades. They are considered Country Royalty, with 50 years of iconic tradition.
The group has scored 12 gold, three platinum, and one double platinum album—plus one double platinum single. They also released more than a dozen national #1 singles and over 30 Top Ten hits.
Every time they step before an audience, the Oaks bring four decades of hits to a stage show that is widely acknowledged as one of the most exciting anywhere. They refine the show several times a year.
“We’re not willing to rest on our laurels,” says William Lee Golden. “That gets boring. As a group, we do things constantly to challenge ourselves, to try to do something different or better than the last time we did it.”
Their string of hits includes the Country-Pop chartbuster Elvira, as well as Bobbie Sue, Dream On, Thank God For Kids, American Made, I Guess It Never Hurts To Hurt Sometimes, Fancy Free, Gonna Take A Lot Of River, and many others.
That enduring music history is forever enshrined in the hallowed halls of the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee, where The Oak Ridge Boys—Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, William Lee Golden, and Richard Sterban—were inducted on October 25, 2015.
The Oak Ridge Boys have performed for five U.S. presidents. And they have become one of the most enduringly successful touring groups anywhere, still performing a string of dates each year at major theaters, fairs, and festivals across the U.S. and Canada.
They have also proved themselves to be capable and tireless advocates of charitable and civic causes, serving as spokesmen and/or board members of fundraisers for the Boy Scouts of America, the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse (now, Prevent Child Abuse America), Feed The Children, the National Anthem Project, and many more non-profit organizations.
Built-in 1925, in the grand architectural style of Beaux-Arts Classical Revival, the Simon Theatre provided a splendid setting for many theatrical performances, film screenings and ballroom dances. The James Simon family commissioned Houston architect Alfred C. Finn, whose career included designing a number of prominent Houston buildings as well as the San Jacinto Monument, to design the theatre for the community of Brenham. Today, after a meticulous million-plus dollar renovation, the glamour and grand style lives on for future generations in the newly named Barnhill Center at Historic Simon Theatre.
