William Lee Golden — a member of the Country and Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry and the Oak Ridge Boys — has just released, along with his sons The Goldens, a new three-album project, "Golden Classics," out on Friday, March 25.
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The set contains "Southern Accents," "Country Roads" and "Old Country Church."
"We have always enjoyed this song in my family and wanted to share our version with the world."
It features 34 songs chosen by the family and their musical partners that hold a special place in the lives and careers of William Lee Golden and The Goldens.
William Lee Golden on stage. "I remember when it first came out and knew it was going to be a monster hit," he said of "Peaceful Easy Feeling" by the Eagles. He and his sons have now released their own version of the song. (Michael Jenkins)
"One song that has stood the test of time is ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling' by the Eagles," William Lee Golden told Fox News Digital in an emailed message this week.
"I remember when it first came out [in 1972] and knew it was going to be a monster hit. We have always enjoyed this song in my family and wanted to share our version with the world."
Here, shared with Fox News Digital, is an exclusive premiere of their version of "Peaceful Easy Feeling."
William Lee Golden and The Goldens have already seen success earlier this year. Their single "Come And Dine" spent 7 weeks at No. 1 on the Positive Christian Country Charts.
The new three-album set — something they created and recorded during the pandemic, during bleak times for the country — was an important project for them as they spent time harmonizing, Golden told Fox News Digital.
William Lee Golden spoke to Fox News Digital about the importance of family ahead of the release of his latest project with The Goldens — a three-album set, out March 25, 2022. (Michael Jenkins)
"Early on in 2020, with the pandemic and everything else going on, we saw that there was so much negativity, hate and violence in the news. And I had to shut that off and get out of the house and get under a tree out here [in the Tennessee countryside] — and allow my mind to assess where I was coming from, where we were at and where we wanted to go."
Once he called his sons over — plus his grandchildren and several friends — and they began singing together again, they came up with the idea to record 3 full albums with songs that have meant a lot to them over time.
Here, an exclusive premiere of their new recording of "Old Country Church."
"One of the most popular Gospel songs of all time is ‘Old Country Church,’" said William Lee Golden.
"It was important for me to include this on the project because I grew up singing this song — and in an old country church."
He told Fox News Digital earlier, "The last two songs we did were Eagles' songs, 'Peaceful Easy Feeling' and ‘Take It Easy,’ which was kind of like the icing on the cake for us."
"It had been 25 years since we really played together like this. And it's been a healing process for us."
He said, "We harmonized on those songs, and we found that doing this was healing for us — mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually — to be able to go back during a pandemic as a family and sing and harmonize together."
He said he's lived the song "Take It Easy" by the Eagles for 50 years now (it came out in 1972) — and "I had the opportunity to sing that song and have fun" and to do that with his own sons.
So, during the hard times of the pandemic, "the family came together," he said.
"It had been 25 years since we really played together like this. And it's been a healing process for us."
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He also said, "What we have is the result of old familiar songs — and we sang them as a family. We harmonized as a family. We created as a family."
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The group hosted an album release party last week at 3rd and Lindsley Bar & Grill in Nashville. During that event — which included a performance on stage — they were given a plaque to commemorate the success of "Come And Dine," which reached No. 1 on the CDX Gospel Charts.
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