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Joe Bonsall Interview
(The Oak Ridge Boys)

Q. Joe, last time I saw you was at the New York State Fair in 1978. You were on the bill with Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. What do you remember about that tour?
A. Wow! That was the "Full House Tour". That was one of the biggest things in our career. During those years the Oak Ridge Boys were just like the new hit act in the business. We had our first hit in '77. We followed it up with three or four more. In '78 and '79 Kenny had his "Lucille" and "Gambler" going and his duets with Dottie happening. He did a tour called "The Full House Tour". Altogether, we worked about ninety cities then. We were on that tour. It was a very, very big thing for us to be a part of such a big tour at that time in our career. The exposure and sheer knowledge that we learned from Kenny from working with him for almost two years was very big for us. By 1981, we'd had five Gold albums. We had a string of hits. Awards. All that stuff was going our way. In '81 when "Elvira" came out, and took us from being just a big country act to a household name, we were then able to do the coliseum thing and pretty much knew how it was done, because of the Kenny tour. So, that was a very important time in our career.

Q. Were you always a cat lover? When did you first appreciate cats?
A. I've always found cats fascinating, even growing up in Philadelphia. To me, mean old alley cats they represented some kind of tough guy thing that I used to think was amazing. Their survival out there in the wild was just incredible. Now, my cats are indoor kitties. You have indoor kitties. You have outdoor kitties. One of the problems Molly has in one of my books, is this overwhelming desire to go out and run with the wild ones. In the second book "Home", she makes that pretty evident, to the other cats that live in the house, that she wants to get out, and see what's out there. The world looks wonderful to her. 'Why can't I go out there and have some fun?' (Laughs.) Book three comes out this summer, this August.
It's called "Outside". Obviously, Molly gets out. There's more characters in the story that start to emerge. I have so enjoyed writing these books and working on these books. It's amazing. You talk about Oak Ridge Boys. I've been with the Oak Ridge Boys twenty-five years. It's my day job. And right now, we're experiencing with the success of our television show on TNN, and talking with Curb Records, it's not sealed yet, but I think Mike Curb as well as Jim and Sherman Halsey have a little vision for the Oaks here, but in the recording arena again. We haven't really been there in a couple of years.

Q. I hope Curb does a better job for you than they did for Benny Mardones.
A. Yeah, well, they didn't do much of a job for Benny, 'cause I don't know who Benny is, although, I have heard the name. I know MCA did a great job for us for many, many years. We ended up with RCA. We had one big hit with RCA and the rest of our relationship with RCA was dumped. Jimmy Bowen signed us to Capitol a few years back. We were with Capitol Records, I don't know, two days? (Laughs.) We made a Christmas album and then Jimmy Bowen left. All the new, young regime came in there, like what's happened to most of the town here (Nashville) and we backed away from Capitol. We got out of that deal quick. It's better not to be on a record label, than be on a label that doesn't know what the heck to do with you. So, the last few years we've maintained our career. We've performed well. We've stayed booked. We still have a great following in the country. We've been back to the New York State Fair. We were there last summer (1997). We didn't play in the big grandstand, but we played the outdoor deal there and had the biggest crowd there that they've had. What I'm saying is, the Oaks are still doing well. I will sing with the Oak Ridge Boys until we absolutely drop or if we don't have a following anymore. Then obviously, you have to pull in the tents. Being, that that's not happening, the Oak Ridge Boys will go on.

Q. Where did Molly come from? Was she a stray?
A. Yes, she was. In the first book you find out how Molly came to be at the home. Four and a half years ago, my nephew, Gabriel, brought Molly to the door. They were trick or treating on Halloween and found this little kitten all soak and wet under a tree. He brought it to Aunt Mary, 'cause gosh Aunt Mary I know my mother wouldn't let me keep her, so I brought her to you. My wife being the all time cat lover. And of course, we took Molly in and she really was a special little cat.

Q. How many cats do you have now?
A. Five cats.

Q. Are you an animal rights activist?
A. I am to the point where I believe that people should look after their pets and be responsible pet owners. Do animals have rights? Yes, they do. They have the right to live in their realm as an animal just as I think children's rights should allow children to be children. I don't think people should be abusing their pets or their children to be honest with you. I think responsible pet ownership is the thing I try to emphasize. I think if people are gonna adopt pets they should realize this is a long term commitment also. You don't adopt a pet and after a month, get rid of it, or you're not responsible enough to get your animal spayed or neutered. I think all of that is a part of respon¬sible pet ownership which pays off for the pet in the long run.

Q. Is it easy for you to write the cat stories? Do you find you're pushing yourself because of the Oak Ridge Boys commitments?
A. The writing comes very easy to me. I have not had a hard time writing these stories. I'm also working on two other books. The writing is not coming as easy to this gigantic novel I first started with years ago about six young guys growing up in Philly in the '60's. This is a serious novel. If it ever comes out, I'll be shocked. But, it's the unfinished novel and it really keeps my creative juices going. The Molly stories have not been very difficult for me to write, but it has been time consuming, especially re-formatting my original manuscript into the series it is. There's a lot of time you've got on the road when you're an act like us. You spend a lot of it doing publicity. You spend a lot of it doing shows, and meets and greets and everything else. You also spend a lot of it in down time on airplanes and on the bus and in hotel rooms. I try to use all my time as constructively as I can. You can sit in the room all day and watch ESPN I guess. I try to take long walks, play tennis, and take the laptop out there with me and try to keep on writing and working and communicating. I enjoy that.

Q. You've said, "I always knew I would be a singer." How did you know that?
A. I always loved singing. When I was four years old, I was in talent contests; I didn't win, but I sang. The only time I got away from it, a little bit, was through some hoodlum years around twelve, thirteen, fourteen. But even then the rock 'n' roll of the era just turned me on to no end. I wanted to be Elvis. I could do a better Elvis show in my room, than Elvis ever did. So music was always the bottom line there. When I first started hearing my first gospel quartet, it pushed me right over the edge. I knew someday I wanted to sing in a big harmony group like that. It changed my life, too. I was really struggling at fourteen, fifteen. My father had a debilitating stroke. He's disabled to this day. I was hanging out with the wrong crowd. I really needed something in my life. Some Christian kids in my neighborhood said over in Harrisburg, PA they have these big gospel quartet shows. The Blackwood Brothers, The Statesmen, The Oak Ridge Boys. I never heard of none of 'em. So, I said I'll check "em out. From a musical standpoint, that's also the same time the British Invasion was happening, and as a young fifteen, sixteen year old in Philadelphia, I hated the Beatles.

Q. What?
A. To me, they could've just crashed as far as I was concerned. All the girls screaming at these guys - to me it was the end of rock "n' roll. Of course, I appreciate what they've done years later.

Q. I still don't get it.
A. To me, the Bristol Stomp was now gone. The era of Elvis was now gone. We've got the Dave Clark Five. We've got the Beatles. We've got Herman's Hermits. If I could have gotten my hands around the neck of that little guy, I would've killed him.

Q. Now see, I would've thought you would have loved the British Invasion.
A. No. I hated it. I absolutely despised everything about it. When they talked with an English accent in the interviews I hated it. That's the truth.

Q. I thought it was a welcome relief from the Fabians, the Frankie Avalons, and the Beach Boys of the world.
A. See, to me, I'd take Fabian, Frankie Avalon, and the Beach Boys. I was a Philly guy. I went down and hung outside the door of "Bandstand". Give me Chubby Checker. Give me Freddy Cannon. Give me Dion and the Belmonts. The Beatles can kiss my tail end. That's the way I really felt about it.

Q. When did you join the Oaks?
A. I joined the Oaks in '73. I starved to death until I was about thirty-three. All the way through my '20's it was just working hard and sacrificing and staying with it. I never gave up.

Q. That's probably the key right there. You never gave up.
A. It is the key. I never gave up. To me success in anything in life requires hard work, sacrifice, and the word to me is willing. You must be willing to sacrifice. I'd go back to my old neighborhood in Philadelphia in those days and everybody thought I was crazy. "When you gonna get a job?" I stayed with it. I joined the
Oak Ridge Boys when I was twenty-five. I'm fifty now. Still with the group. We're legends now. Yeah, we're having a ball! We still got our hands in the cookie jar and no one has caught us yet.

Q. Name the five Presidents you've performed for.
A. We performed for Gerald Ford when he wasn't a president, so that counts. But he had been president. That was at a big to-do in Tulsa once. We've met him a cou¬ple times since at several George Bush affairs. We performed for Jimmy Carter when he was in office. We performed for Ronald Reagan for the Congressional barbecue in 1983, on the lawn of the White House. Years later, George Bush invited us to the same barbecue. Of course, we've sung for George Bush many, many times. I guess you could count President Clinton because we sang at a big event last spring when it was the Summit in Philadelphia. General Powell's deal. We performed at that and a bunch of Presidents were at that. In fact, they were all there. So, I guess we could say we hit 'em all in one night. President Clinton did come up that night and shake our hands. He'd come to see us in Little Rock years ago at the Barton Coliseum at the Arkansas State Fair when he was governor. So, I guess that's the five. The president we've gotten to know and have performed for many times on a personal, private level and at different events is George Bush. Barbara (Bush) loves my books. It's such an honor to me that Barbara loves my Molly books.

Q. Joe, do you ever tire of being a part of the Oak Ridge Boys?
A. No. I enjoy being with the Oak Ridge Boys. It's an honor to me to be with this group. They're my best friends. They're good men. We have a lot of fun singing together. I think we're very fortunate to have had the career we've had to this point. Whatever we have from here on in is bonus time anyway. I love every minute of it.

Q. Is there anything you'd like to achieve that you haven't already?
A. We've achieved everything there is to achieve. If I hung up my singing shoes tomorrow, I've done it all. I've been at every level of this business. I've starved to death. I've been the biggest act there was, '81, '82, '83, we were Garth Brooks. I know what it's like to be at the very top. I know what it's like to hang around the middle. I know what it's like to be considered legendary. So, I've done it all. We've performed for presidents. I haven't been all over the world, but I've hoofed a good part of it. We've done every kind of tour there is. We've sung every kind of concert there is. So, I guess in some ways we could say we've done it. But, this group has never been able to sit back and say we've done it. We're always pressing on. It's the nature of the Oak Ridge Boys.