Little Roy Lewis at the 2026 Osborne Brothers Hometown Festival – photo © Roger Black
This year’s 33rd annual Osborne Brothers Hometown Festival was dedicated to the memory of Sallie Osborne who passed earlier this year. Sallie, the mother of promoter Dean Osborne, gave 32 years of faithful dedicated service to the festival. Her presence at the front gate of the festival was missed by all who attended this year’s event.
The annual festival is held every year in Hyden, KY with the purpose of raising money for all of the Leslie County volunteer fire departments. The different departments raise money by selling food concessions and raffle tickets on all sorts of items. The money that they raise is used to purchase much needed equipment.
This year’s festival, as always, featured a star studded line up of nationally known bands, as well as local and regional favorites.
Wednesday evenings all-gospel show opened with the Yerkes Singers followed by Fairway Drive, the Gary Joseph Band, The Richard Tew Gospel Review, and the Stevens Family.
Thursday’s performances got started with a number of bands and ensembles from the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music located there in Hyden. Mountain Heritage started the evening’s entertainment, followed by Rock Opera, The Mountain Cats and the Rockhouse Ensemble. The balance of the evening was filled with a set of great bluegrass music by Higher Vision Eastbound reunion, and &two sets each by Ralph Stanley II and the Clinch Mountain Boys, and Rhonda Vincent & The Rage.
Wooton and Adams got Friday started with a lesson in classic old time fiddle tunes. The rest of the day presented many of the best bands that bluegrass has to offer. Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, Dale Ann Bradley, The Dean Osborne Band, and Gary Brewer & the Kentucky Ramblers. The Volunteer Fire fighter outstanding service awards were presented by each of the counties’ Fire Departments. The evening was finished off with the hard driving and high energy sound that Grascal fans have come to expect.
Saturday was twelve hours of wide open bluegrass music showing off the great sounds of The West Liberty Mountain Boys, Fenced In, Kentucky Just Us, The Dean Osborne Band, and Coaltown Dixie. The high energy antics-filled show of Little Roy & Lizzy and the musical comedy team The Moron Brothers filled the Bobby Osborne Pavilion with side splitting laughter. The Lonesome River Band was the featured band on Saturday and did not disappoint. Sammy Shelor and many of his crew left the stage with instruments in tow to come down into the crowd getting close to their fans. The festival ended on a high note as LRB finished the festival off in their typical hard driving final set.
With all of that said we look forward to next year’s Osborne Brothers Hometown Bluegrass Festival. Many thanks are in order to Dean Osborne and his crew of family and friends, along with all of the amazing sponsors that make this great festival possible every year.
