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HIS LEGS WERE FAILING, BUT JOE BONSALL KEPT SINGING. AFTER HIS FINAL CHRISTMAS SHOW, HIS BANDMATES WALKED HIM TO HIS WHEELCHAIR — AND HE TOLD THEM, “I’M DONE.” By 2023, the illness that would later be revealed as ALS had taken much of Joe Bonsall’s ability to walk. Onstage, the man who had spent decades running, laughing and singing tenor with The Oak Ridge Boys now often performed from a stool. His bandmates helped him on and off the stage. But Joe had made them a promise: he would do everything he could to finish the group’s Christmas dates. He kept it. On December 17, 2023, in DeKalb, Illinois, Joe sang his final concert after 50 years with The Oak Ridge Boys. When the show ended, Duane Allen and the others walked him toward the wheelchair waiting at the edge of the stage. Joe finally said what his body had been telling him for months. “I’m done.” Then he added, “I got to go home and deal with my illness.” He never performed with The Oak Ridge Boys again.

Joe Bonsall’s Final Christmas Show and the Quiet Courage Behind It

By the end of 2023, Joe Bonsall was already living with the harsh limits of an illness that would later be publicly identified as ALS. The Oak Ridge Boys tenor, known for his bright energy and steady smile, was no longer moving the way he once had. Walking had become difficult, and onstage he often performed from a stool. Still, Joe Bonsall kept showing up.

That was the part that stayed with fans and bandmates alike: not denial, but devotion. Joe Bonsall had spent decades giving his voice, his time, and his humor to The Oak Ridge Boys. When the group entered its Christmas season, Joe Bonsall made a promise to finish the dates he could. He intended to keep singing as long as he was able, and he did exactly that.

The Final Night in DeKalb

On December 17, 2023, in DeKalb, Illinois, Joe Bonsall stepped onto the stage for what would become his final concert with The Oak Ridge Boys after roughly 50 years with the group. The show carried the warmth that Christmas audiences expect, but behind that familiar spirit was a deep and personal effort. Joe Bonsall was pushing through pain and limitation to honor the commitment he had made.

When the concert ended, Duane Allen and the other bandmates walked Joe Bonsall toward the wheelchair waiting at the edge of the stage. It was a small moment, but one heavy with meaning. The crowd had just heard the music. Behind the scenes, the people who knew Joe Bonsall best were helping him through the last steps of a chapter that had defined much of his life.

“I’m done.”

Those were the words Joe Bonsall finally said, according to the account shared by those close to the moment. Then he added that he had to go home and deal with his illness. It was a statement that landed with the force of reality: this was not simply the end of a tour stop, but the end of Joe Bonsall’s time on the road with The Oak Ridge Boys.

A Farewell Filled With Discipline

Joe Bonsall never performed with The Oak Ridge Boys again. That fact gives the story its quiet weight. There was no dramatic collapse onstage, no public farewell speech, just a musician determined to finish what he had promised and then step away when his body no longer allowed more.

For longtime fans, Joe Bonsall’s final show became more than a date on a calendar. It became a reminder of how artists often carry private battles behind public smiles. Joe Bonsall sang through the hard part, leaned on his bandmates when he had to, and left the stage with dignity.

The memory of that night in DeKalb still feels human because it was human: a man, a microphone, a hard truth, and a final act of loyalty to the music he loved. Joe Bonsall’s last Christmas show was not just an ending. It was a promise kept.

 

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WAYLON HAD ALMOST GIVEN UP ON LOVE WHEN JESSI MET HIM. SHE REALIZED THE WOMEN BEFORE HER HAD BEEN COMPETING WITH SOMETHING SHE NEVER WOULD — HIS MUSIC. Years later, when Jessi Colter was asked about Waylon Jennings and Dreaming My Dreams, she explained something most fans never saw. Waylon had been through enough heartbreak that, in Jessi’s words, he had “pretty much given up” by the time they found each other. She came to believe part of the problem was simple: women before her had sometimes felt that Waylon’s music was “another woman.” Jessi understood differently. She was a songwriter and musician herself. She knew the late nights, the recording sessions, the endless search for the right song were not something she had to defeat. They were part of the man she loved. That is why Dreaming My Dreams meant so much to her. Jessi heard in the song a man trying to let go of bitterness, anger and old hurt. Their marriage would face plenty of storms afterward. But Jessi believed one thing helped it survive: she never asked Waylon to choose between her and the music. “I saw that great part of him and never lost sight of it.”

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THE FIRST TIME WAYLON JENNINGS MET JESSI COLTER, HE DIDN’T FALL IN LOVE WITH HER. SHE MADE HIM MAD. Jessi was still married to guitarist Duane Eddy when Waylon first crossed paths with her. Duane had asked Waylon to sing a duet with Jessi on a song she had written. It was not romantic. Waylon later admitted that Jessi irritated him almost immediately. “She made me madder than anybody,” he recalled. She challenged him, pushed his buttons, and seemed to know exactly how to get a reaction from the man who would later become one of country music’s toughest outlaws. Only later did Waylon understand what she had been doing. Jessi was trying to see the real man underneath the attitude. She wanted to know whether there was any fire behind the quiet stare and deep voice. There was. After Jessi’s marriage ended, she and Waylon eventually found their way back to each other. They married in 1969 and stayed together for more than three decades, through fame, addiction, recovery, parenthood, illness, and the final years of Waylon’s life. One of country music’s most enduring marriages began with a woman making an outlaw angry enough to show her who he really was.

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KRIS KRISTOFFERSON ONCE LOOKED UP TO JOHNNY CASH, WILLIE NELSON AND WAYLON JENNINGS AS HIS HEROES. IN 1985, HE BECAME THE FOURTH HIGHWAYMAN. Long before Kris Kristofferson stood beside them, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings were already men he admired. Kris had come to Nashville from the Army, worked as a janitor at Columbia Studios and struggled for years to get his songs heard. Johnny Cash became one of the first major stars to believe in his writing. Then, in 1985, something happened Kris could hardly believe. He joined Cash, Willie and Waylon to record Highwayman. The four became the supergroup later known as The Highwaymen, and the title song went to No. 1. Years later, Kris still sounded amazed by it. “For me, it was heaven,” he said. “I was up there on stage with my heroes.” The young songwriter who once looked up to those men eventually stood shoulder to shoulder with them. Not as a fan. As the fourth Highwayman.

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WAYLON HAD ALMOST GIVEN UP ON LOVE WHEN JESSI MET HIM. SHE REALIZED THE WOMEN BEFORE HER HAD BEEN COMPETING WITH SOMETHING SHE NEVER WOULD — HIS MUSIC. Years later, when Jessi Colter was asked about Waylon Jennings and Dreaming My Dreams, she explained something most fans never saw. Waylon had been through enough heartbreak that, in Jessi’s words, he had “pretty much given up” by the time they found each other. She came to believe part of the problem was simple: women before her had sometimes felt that Waylon’s music was “another woman.” Jessi understood differently. She was a songwriter and musician herself. She knew the late nights, the recording sessions, the endless search for the right song were not something she had to defeat. They were part of the man she loved. That is why Dreaming My Dreams meant so much to her. Jessi heard in the song a man trying to let go of bitterness, anger and old hurt. Their marriage would face plenty of storms afterward. But Jessi believed one thing helped it survive: she never asked Waylon to choose between her and the music. “I saw that great part of him and never lost sight of it.”

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THE FIRST TIME WAYLON JENNINGS MET JESSI COLTER, HE DIDN’T FALL IN LOVE WITH HER. SHE MADE HIM MAD. Jessi was still married to guitarist Duane Eddy when Waylon first crossed paths with her. Duane had asked Waylon to sing a duet with Jessi on a song she had written. It was not romantic. Waylon later admitted that Jessi irritated him almost immediately. “She made me madder than anybody,” he recalled. She challenged him, pushed his buttons, and seemed to know exactly how to get a reaction from the man who would later become one of country music’s toughest outlaws. Only later did Waylon understand what she had been doing. Jessi was trying to see the real man underneath the attitude. She wanted to know whether there was any fire behind the quiet stare and deep voice. There was. After Jessi’s marriage ended, she and Waylon eventually found their way back to each other. They married in 1969 and stayed together for more than three decades, through fame, addiction, recovery, parenthood, illness, and the final years of Waylon’s life. One of country music’s most enduring marriages began with a woman making an outlaw angry enough to show her who he really was.

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KRIS KRISTOFFERSON ONCE LOOKED UP TO JOHNNY CASH, WILLIE NELSON AND WAYLON JENNINGS AS HIS HEROES. IN 1985, HE BECAME THE FOURTH HIGHWAYMAN. Long before Kris Kristofferson stood beside them, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings were already men he admired. Kris had come to Nashville from the Army, worked as a janitor at Columbia Studios and struggled for years to get his songs heard. Johnny Cash became one of the first major stars to believe in his writing. Then, in 1985, something happened Kris could hardly believe. He joined Cash, Willie and Waylon to record Highwayman. The four became the supergroup later known as The Highwaymen, and the title song went to No. 1. Years later, Kris still sounded amazed by it. “For me, it was heaven,” he said. “I was up there on stage with my heroes.” The young songwriter who once looked up to those men eventually stood shoulder to shoulder with them. Not as a fan. As the fourth Highwayman.

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KRIS KRISTOFFERSON SAT IN JOHNNY AND JUNE CASH’S OLD JAMAICA HOME AND SANG “WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN” WITH JUNE’S DAUGHTER. ON THAT SAME TRIP, SHE STOOD BESIDE HIM AT WHAT BECAME HIS FINAL CONCERT. In January 2020, Carlene Carter brought a group from the Outlaw Country Cruise to Cinnamon Hill, the Jamaica home once shared by her mother, June Carter Cash, and Johnny Cash. There, Carlene and Kris Kristofferson sat together and sang the old Carter Family standard “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Carlene’s own website later preserved a photograph of that moment. Then came January 30. Kris took the cruise stage backed by Merle Haggard’s former band, The Strangers. Near the end, Carlene joined Dale Watson, Jim Lauderdale, Ray Wylie Hubbard and others around him for “Why Me.” No one knew it would be Kris Kristofferson’s final concert. His last song that night was “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends.” After Kris died in 2024, Carlene wrote: “Kris Kristofferson meant more to me and my family than words can possibly express.”