Oak Ridge Boys come 'home' to where the group originated

First there was Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers.

Then the Oak Ridge Quartet.

And finally, the Oak Ridge Boys.

But whatever their moniker, the group got a good start in the Manhattan Project area that would later be called the city of Oak Ridge. That city - and the state of Tennessee - honored the "Boys" and family members of the performers in the earlier group incarnations on Nov. 20 with a marker on the Tennessee Music Pathways. The new marker tells the history of the Oak Ridge Boys and the group's predecessors and includes images of the Boys and the Oak Ridge Quartet. It is located outside the Historic Grove Theater, home of High Places Community Church, and the former performance venue of Fowler and his Clodhoppers.

William Lee Golden, who joined the Boys in 1965, said the music of the Oak Ridge Quartet inspired him while he was growing up on a farm in southern Alabama. But, he said, sitting on a tractor in Alabama wasn't achieving his dream, so he traveled to Nashville and told the Boys he'd like a chance to try out for a spot in the group if that chance came about - and it did in January 1965.

Golden, who attended this week's unveiling of the marker with Richard Sterban, said they were honored to be in Oak Ridge with the families that started the Oak Ridge Boys. He said talking about how that legacy had been passed down gave him chills.

"This is a tremendous history," Sterban said of the fact they were standing where the Oak Ridge Boys got their start during World War II. He joined the Boys in 1972 after performing with Elvis Presley and singing bass for J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet.

Sterban spoke of how he and Golden and the other two Boys, Duane Allen and Joe Bonsall, have been together for 50 years and started their farewell tour this year. But, he said, they didn't announce when the farewell tour would end.

That's because they don't know yet, he added.

After the event, Sterban told The Oak Ridger they hope they will be able to perform in this area before they end their tour. They were departing the Oak Ridge event for a Nov. 21 performance in Portsmouth, Ohio. They currently have tour dates booked through April 2024.

The Oak Ridge Boys performed at Oak Ridge's Secret City Festival in June 2007. A road that runs just north of the Civic Center was named Oak Ridge Boys Way while they were here in 2007.

The history, the legacy, the families

Family members of Wally Fowler and Lon "Deacon" Freeman attended the unveiling. Rosie Mosteller, Freeman's oldest child, attended with sisters Susan Hill and Lynn Starks and brother Danny. Mosteller said she and her siblings were the reason Freeman quit performing on the road.

She spoke of her family fondly. She talked of her mother, Nell Hampton Freeman, telling her about how they lived in a duplex in Nashville. Sarah Cannon, who would become better known as "Minnie Pearl," lived on the other side of the duplex and would babysit Mosteller. Her father worked for the Jewel Tea Co., and eventually started and performed with a quartet he called The Original Oak Ridge Quartet because Fowler had sold the rights to the Oak Ridge Quartet name.

Now all of Freeman's children live close to each other in the area of Dalton, Georgia , she said The family is musically inclined, as is most of the extended family, she said. Many sing and are praise leaders at churches

As previously explained in The Oak Ridger and City Historian D. Ray Smith's "Historically Speaking" columns, a country, comedy and gospel music group called Wally Fowler and the Georgia Clodhoppers performed in 1944 at the Grove Theater. They would be allowed to enter the Manhattan Project area on Saturdays to perform in the morning for kids and in the evening for adults. The group was eventually invited to perform at the Ryman Theater and moved to Nashville in 1947. Fowler started "All Night Singings" at the Ryman in 1948 and changed the name to the Oak Ridge Quartet. The name was changed to the Oak Ridge Boys when they developed a broader sound and wanted a more youthful name.

Fowler's daughter and grandson, Hope and Gregg Kimmer, were also at the unveiling.

The current Oak Ridge Boys have won four Academy of Country Music, two American Music, five Billboard, four Country Music Association, five Grammy and 12 Dove awards. They're members of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry. Mayor Warren Gooch said their hall of fame inductions and other accolades were "pretty much a grand slam" that would be difficult to surpass. State Rep. John Ragan and Vice Mayor Jim Dodson also were on hand at the event.

Tennessee Tourism Commissioner Mark Ezell said there are now 350 points of interest on the Tennessee Music Pathways. A nearby one is in Rocky Top, where performer and songwriter Dean Dillon grew up. He graduated from Oak Ridge High School. His marker outside the Coal Miners Museum on Main Street was unveiled in September.

"Tennessee truly is the soundtrack of America," Ezell said, adding that the idea behind the pathways is to attract tourists who want to visit the various locations behind the music of Tennessee.

The Oak Ridger's News Editor Donna Smith covers Oak Ridge area news. Email her at dsmith@oakridger.com and follow her on Twitter@ridgernewsed.

Support The Oak Ridger by subscribing. Offers available at https://subscribe.oakridger.com/offers.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge Boys come 'home' to unveil a Tennessee Music Pathways marker