Joe Bonsall: A Philadelphia Country Legend
Joe Bonsall was born and raised in Philadelphia, and knew at the age of 8, he wanted to be a singer growing up in his Kensington Neighborhood.
Joseph Sloan Bonsall, who died on July 9, 2024, went on to heights as a singer that he
probably never dreamed of.
From October 1973 to January 2024 when he retired, Joe Bonsall was the singer of the award-winning group The Oak Ridge Boys.
The Oak Ridge Boys had several huge hits including Elvira, Bobbie Sue, American Made, and Thank God for Kids.
Bonsall graduated from Frankford High School and sang in a Philadelphia-based group with his sister Nancy called The Faith Four. He moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1967 where he met Camden, New Jersey native Richard Sterban, and joined The Keystone Quartet. The cutting-edge Gospel-singing Keystones would eventually move to Buffalo, New York, where Joe remained, singing and promoting Gospel music until he moved to Hendersonville, Tennessee in 1973 to join the Oak Ridge Boys.
In 1994, Joe was inducted into the Philadelphia Music Hall of Fame. He was a huge Philadelphia Phillies fan and always said he lived and died with them no matter the standings in the NL East.
When asked if he was a tough guy while growing up in Philadelphia, Joe said in an excerpt from his website, “Well sometimes you had to be. There is a fine art to getting out of a fight even if it means running away, however, sometimes a bully must be stopped and you must go to any length to solve that problem.”
40 years ago, in the early days of 92.5 XTU, it was at the height of the Oak Ridge Boys’ popularity. The first concert that 92.5 XTU put on was the Oak Ridge Boys at Valley Forge Music Hall.
Lora Lewis, who has been an employee at Beasley Media Group for years recalled how our founder George Beasley proved Philadelphia wanted a country music radio station and how the Oak Ridge Boys helped solidify XTU’s place in radio history.
“He [George] proved that people wanted to hear country music and people wanted to hear the Oak Ridge Boys because they put on a great show. I don’t know how many times we even got the opportunity to see them, but they were one of the nicest group of guys you could ever meet. They were so good to their fans. Never met a person they didn’t want to say “hello” to, never saw a hand they wouldn’t shake, pose for a photo. And Joe was just he was boyish, charming. He was the one more likely to hop around a little bit as they were performing. And he just was the kindest, nicest man.“
Five Things Tim McGraw Told Me Over The Years
2016 - Tim talked about the joy of collaborting with other country artists
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images“To be in a place in your career where you can call somebody, and they’ll sing with you. I mean Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, [I get to] play guitar with my wife, and have people say, ‘Yeah, I’ll sing a song with you.’ How cool is that? It’s like I’m bein’ a kid, you know, to ask your favorite artist to be able to sing with you, and they will.”
2015 - Tim talked about how songs affect him
Sarah Crabill/Getty Images“I sort of open myself up to some sort of visceral attack. I think that when you hear a song, it has to affect you, and usually right away, I know if it’s gonna affect me or not. If it doesn’t move me in some sort of way, it can be a physical chill bump reaction, or it can be somethin’ that sort chokes you a bit, or it could be somethin’ that makes you smile or somethin’ that makes you feel happy, make you roll the window down. All those things, somethin’ has to happen, and if somethin’ doesn’t happen, then there’s no need listenin’ to it anymore.”
2020 - How the pandemic affected him
Kevin Winter/Getty Images“You find more meaning in things for sure. Music is at the top of my list for stuff that’s sort of soul food for your heart and for your soul and something that makes that can connect people in a lot of different ways. Music has always been there for me. That’s been my sort of best friend. All throughout my life.”
2020 - McGraw on his mom reacting to dropping out of college to pursue music
Michael Buckner/Getty Images“I knew how hard she how bad she wanted me to go to college. And I was in pre-law. I was going to go to law school and do all that stuff. And it was a pretty good student coming out of high school. I knew how badly she wanted me to do that. And I remember calling her and getting up the nerve to call her, to tell her that I was going to quit college and move to Nashville. And it took me a while to do that. And when I told her. She just said, ‘I’m surprised you hadn’t done it already.’ And that was her way of just telling me, go do it.”
