{"id":20983,"date":"2023-03-28T22:15:54","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T05:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=20983"},"modified":"2023-03-29T11:17:09","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T18:17:09","slug":"william-lee-golden-the-goldens-premiere-take-me-home-country-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2023\/03\/william-lee-golden-the-goldens-premiere-take-me-home-country-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"William Lee Golden &#038; the Goldens premiere &#8220;Take Me Home, Country Roads&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>WILLIAM LEE GOLDEN &amp; THE GOLDENS premiere<br \/>\n\u201cTAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS\u201d<br \/>\n\u2013 with Web-Exclusive Interview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Musicians:\u00a0 WILLIAM LEE GOLDEN &amp; THE GOLDENS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Video:\u00a0 \u201cTAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<h6>Writers:\u00a0 Bill Danoff, John Denver, Taffy Nivert Danoff<\/h6>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Xw-djQCnF30\" width=\"660\" height=\"440\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1><strong>WILLIAM LEE GOLDEN &amp; THE GOLDENS CREATE FAMILY HARMONY MAGIC WITH \u201cCOUNTRY ROADS\u201d<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>We are proud to present the premiere of William Lee Golden &amp; the Goldens\u2019 \u201cTake Me Home, Country Roads.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Country Music Hall of Fame living legend William Lee Golden has always been associated with The Oak Ridge Boys. But this new set of albums is with his other boys\u2014his sons.<\/p>\n<p>William Lee Golden recalls, \u201cI remember us driving through the country when my sons were younger. We would all sing \u201cCountry Roads\u201d\u2014and John Denver was a superstar. His music connected with just about everyone we knew and resonated how we lived our lives. I knew I wanted to feature this song at some point and now seems to be the perfect time. I hope you enjoy our version!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/a-The-Goldens.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20984\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/a-The-Goldens.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"528\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/a-The-Goldens.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/a-The-Goldens-300x240.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>William Lee has been the recognizable baritone for The Oak Ridge Boys since 1964-1987 and 1995-present. The Oaks were mainly gospel and he was the one who steered them into country music.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the Goldens released a three-album set which included <strong><em>Country Roads: Vintage Country Classics<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0<strong><em>Southern Accents: Pop &amp; Country Rock<\/em><\/strong> and <strong><em>Old Country Church Gospel<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoing into the studio with my boy, Chris and Rusty (The Goldens) was a dream come true,\u201d shares William Lee Golden. \u201cIt was a way for us to get our minds off of the craziness in the world. Things had shut down and there were so many bad things happening, that we needed to focus on the good. We went into the studio and started recording songs for an album. We wanted them to be songs that inspired us throughout our lives. As we started compiling the list, it kept getting longer and longer, and more diverse. There were gospel, country and southern rock songs that we just couldn\u2019t leave out. This resulted in a three album set called <em>Golden Classics<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They even received praise from The Oaks\u2019 Joe Bonsall who says, \u201cI am so proud of William Lee. This three-album set is masterful and heartfelt! Golden has always been about family and music and along with his boys they have created a musical masterpiece and besides that, I find the retro feel of the great old songs quite appealing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>William Lee Golden and the Goldens consist of another recognizable singer, Craig Golden, along with Rusty Golden, Chris Golden and bass singer Aaron McCune. You can hear them give that family feeling\u2014like you\u2019re in the room with them\u2014sitting around the living room, singing together and just having fun.<\/p>\n<p>We spoke with William Lee Golden, Chris Golden and Rusty Golden about the family magic they created together in the studio.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>When you listen to these three albums, you can hear William Lee Golden and the Goldens give that family feeling where you feel like you\u2019re in the same room with them\u2014sitting around the living room, singing together and just having fun.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>WILLIAM LEE GOLDEN &amp; THE GOLDENS <\/strong>Interview<br \/>\nwith\u00a0<em>M Music &amp; Musicians<\/em>\u00a0magazine publisher, Merlin David<\/p>\n<p><strong>What did you learn about yourself after you recorded each of these three albums?<br \/>\n<\/strong>William Lee: 34 songs were cut during the pandemic. We want the people to hear all that we\u2019ve done.<br \/>\nRusty: Because we\u2019ve got 34 more songs to record! (<em>Laughs<\/em>) I learned new ways to sing because of Ben Isaacs and Michael Sykes\u2019 contribution. They\u2019re just geniuses.<br \/>\nWilliam Lee: They just know so much about producing and arranging harmonies. They would be in the control room during the sessions\u2014singing the harmonies, and they taught Chris and Rusty chord structures in singing harmonies\u2014different than what these guys were used to singing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/b-The-Goldens-bw.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20985\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/b-The-Goldens-bw.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/b-The-Goldens-bw.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/b-The-Goldens-bw-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why are these albums important to you?<br \/>\n<\/strong>William Lee: I took my sons back to where I came from. This is how it all started out for me, as a little kid\u2014playing music and singing with my sister, who was a little older. She played mandolin and I played rhythm guitar, when I was seven years old. I used to play guitar and we would sing duets\u2014old country songs. Later, my little brother joined us singing\u2014and we then had a trio. We\u2019d get to sing once a week on Granddaddy Golden\u2019s radio show. From there, we\u2019d sing in little churches in our part of the country\u2014south Alabama and northwest Florida\u2014and little high schools and different events. It was fun.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How were these albums different from the way The Oaks approached <em>Front Porch Singin\u2019<\/em>?<br \/>\n<\/strong>Rusty: My Dad got to choose <em>every<\/em> song. (<em>Laughs<\/em>) That\u2019s the difference!<br \/>\nWilliam Lee: We started doing this project about a week or so <em>before<\/em> The Oaks went into the studio with Dave Cobb. And we had already recorded 13 old gospel songs when I went in the following week with the Oaks. Then, when I finished <em>Front Porch Singin\u2019<\/em>, I came back to the studio with Chris and Rusty and we finished recording the second and third albums. We recorded from August through October for all three projects.<br \/>\nChris: But it all started in this room we\u2019re in right now. It started around this grand piano. It\u2019s a nice beautiful grand piano. It\u2019s actually the first piece of furniture Dad bought for this house. He actually bought this before he bought a bed!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/c-The-Goldens.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20986\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/c-The-Goldens.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/c-The-Goldens.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/c-The-Goldens-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>This family project must be special in so many ways.<br \/>\n<\/strong>William Lee: This is the type of music we did when we got together and kept singing\u2014old songs, great songs. I wanted to go back to the songs that gave us hope, feeling and love in our heart throughout the years. This project started because I wanted to get together with my sons. They\u2019re both extremely talented. Craig\u2019s talented, but these guys (Chris and Rusty) are musicians, singers and record producers. They do all of it and they\u2019re multi-talented. Chris plays mandolin, acoustic and rhythm guitar, drums and even piano on the Tom Petty song.<\/p>\n<p><strong>From a songwriter\u2019s perspective, how do these classic songs inspire you?<br \/>\n<\/strong>Rusty: When you hear great classic songs, a songwriter\u2019s first instinct is \u201cWow! I wish I\u2019d have thought of that idea!\u201d The really good ones hit me that way. When I record songs that somebody else wrote, I try to do the type of songs I wished I would have written.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are your favorite memories from doing these three albums?<br \/>\n<\/strong>William Lee: Getting my sons together and allowing them to put their musical feelings into all this wonderful music. From 1987-1995, my sons and I spent about eight years doing music together. Playing music as a family\u2014that\u2019s what I loved. I gained a new respect for my sons as talented and seasoned musicians. They have a great feel for music. It has simplicity but a heart-felt feel. We had an amazing group of musicians in the studio with us. It was a tight-knit group of people. Ben Isaacs missed the first sessions, but he was watching the video monitors in the studio.<br \/>\nChris: They have cameras all over the studio, so it really helped him be a part of those sessions.<br \/>\nRusty: We videotaped everything we did. (<em>Laughs<\/em>)<br \/>\nWilliam Lee: Jeff Panzer was directing the videos from LA. He\u2019s a top hip-hop video producer. He did all of Nelly, Lil\u2019 Wayne, Nikki Minaj and Drake\u2019s first album videos. He captured all of our recordings\u2014every day. They had about four or five cameras in each recording session.<br \/>\nChris: My main memory was saying, \u201cSon, I done told you\u2014get that thing out of my face!\u201d (<em>Laughs<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/d-The-Goldens.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20987\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/d-The-Goldens.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/d-The-Goldens.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/d-The-Goldens-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Through the years, you\u2019ve worked with so many amazing and unlikely musicians\u2014like Booker T. Jones and Joe Walsh.<br \/>\n<\/strong>William Lee: Back in 1986, I recorded the first solo album in Memphis. Joe Walsh recorded on one of the last albums I did with The Oaks before they voted me out.<br \/>\nChris: Dad went to Memphis, and on that same album that Booker T. did\u2014for all you credit readers\u2014Larry Crane (from John Mellencamp\u2019s band) played the acoustics; Chad Cromwell (who was playing drums for Joe Walsh, Neil Young and Bonnie Raitt)\u2014he\u2019s one of the most recorded drummers out of Nashville\u2014it was an all-star band. During that time, Rusty and I had spent a few years going back and forth to Muscle Shoals with Roger Hawkins and David Hood taking us under their wing. I tell people that\u2019s where I got my Master\u2019s degree. (<em>Laughs<\/em>) They really taught us how to make records down there. David Hood is the last remaining guy from the Muscle Shoals rhythm section\u2014who I always thought was the Mount Rushmore of rhythm sections\u2014along with Jimmy Johnson and Barry Beckett.<br \/>\nRusty: Sorry, Motown and Stax. (<em>Laughs<\/em>)<br \/>\nWilliam Lee: David played bass on 21 of these 34 songs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In this unique socio-political climate, how do you remain hopeful?<br \/>\n<\/strong>Chris: Dad always said that music has a healing power. It was during that time when we first started recording. We had just laid our mother to rest. It was a sad time. We all went in and started recording these gospel songs and it did become a healing process for everybody\u2014to get our minds back into what we love to do. We wanted to share our gifts, hoping that the same joy and the same healing that we got by recording these songs and being together\u2014would translate to the people who would hear these songs that have meant so much to us through the years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where can your new fans get more info and stay updated?<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.WilliamLeeGoldenandtheGoldens.com\">www.WilliamLeeGoldenandtheGoldens.com<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.Instagram.com\/wlgandthegoldens\/\">www.Instagram.com\/wlgandthegoldens\/<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.Facebook.com\/WLGandTheGoldens\/\">www.Facebook.com\/WLGandTheGoldens\/<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.Facebook.com\/WilliamLeeGoldenOfficial\/\">www.Facebook.com\/WilliamLeeGoldenOfficial\/<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.Twitter.com\/wlgolden\">www.Twitter.com\/wlgolden<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.Twitter.com\/wlgthegoldens\">www.Twitter.com\/wlgthegoldens<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WILLIAM LEE GOLDEN &amp; THE GOLDENS premiere \u201cTAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS\u201d \u2013 with Web-Exclusive Interview &nbsp; Musicians:\u00a0 WILLIAM LEE GOLDEN &amp; THE GOLDENS Video:\u00a0 \u201cTAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS\u201d Writers:\u00a0 Bill Danoff, John Denver, Taffy Nivert Danoff \u00a0 WILLIAM LEE GOLDEN &amp; THE GOLDENS CREATE FAMILY HARMONY MAGIC WITH \u201cCOUNTRY ROADS\u201d We are proud [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":20994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7725],"tags":[13959,13958,13957,13956,13955,13960,13961,13962,13963,14083,3727,13964,3186,2422,8757,13965,13966,13967,5286,9455,13968,13969,7499,13970,2976,1628,13971,13972,13973,13974,13975,13977,13978,13980,3880,13981,13982,10444,13983,1625,13984,8694,26,7957,562,808,2721,7566,13986,6566,3010,13987,8013,7978,7191,13988,13989,9043,1082,2716,13990,13991,13992,13993,13994,2388,558,14084,13995,14085,13996,13997,13998,1609,13821,13999,14000,2005,14001,14002],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20983"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20983"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20995,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20983\/revisions\/20995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}