Grief and memorials are deeply personal matters, and we all express them in different ways. But the way that C.J. Lewandowski, founder, mandolinist, and vocalist with The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, chose last month to remember his friend and musical idol, Bobby Osborne, was of a very special kind.
When we lost Bobby just over a year ago, all of bluegrass wept along with his family and friends, including Lewandowski, who as a close friend of Osborne, was by his side. The mentorship and the loving companionship he had received from Bobby during the last few years of his life had meant the world to C.J., and his passing struck him quite hard.
So as the anniversary of his death was approaching this year, the idea came to him to have Bobby’s signature tattooed onto his arm on that date. Now, C.J. is already heavily tattooed, but there was a perfect space along the back of his right forearm for a salutation and Osborne’s name from a note that he sent Lewandowski before he passed.
“He gave me the strap that’s on the Bluegrass Express album cover, and this was on a letter he included with it.”
The Hall of Fame also figured prominently in C.J.’s tattoo idea coming to fruition. As it happened, June 27, the anniversary of Osborne’s passing, would find The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys scheduled to perform at the ROMP festival in Owensboro, KY, so it appeared that getting Bobby’s signature on his arm that day wasn’t to be this year.
But the Museum arranged for artist Mike White of Hooded Crow Tattoos in Owensboro to be on site at the festival grounds, and cleared the hurdles with the local health department for C.J. to receive the tattoo between sets at ROMP. He especially offered his appreciation to Carly Smith at the HoF, with the help of Director Chris Joslin.
Here’s how it went…
What a great idea, and an ideal memory C.J. will have close at hand, or should we say, just above his elbow!
Today is also a big day for Lewandowski’s F-5 mandolin, which he calls Zeus, that was completed and signed on this day 101 years ago, as was Bill Monroe’s.
The Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville has announced the featured artists for their 2024 American Currents: State of the Music exhibit, which highlights significant artists from the previous year. Artifacts, photos, and music are typically included in these exhibits, and this new one is scheduled to open on February 28.
A number of bluegrass artists will be included this year, as seems perfectly appropriate. Featured among the many country acts in the exhibit will be Sam Bush, C.J. Lewandowski, Nickel Creek, Bobby Osborne, Billy Strings, and Molly Tuttle. They will have pride of place alongside Taylor Swift, Tyler Childers, Morgan Wallen, Kelsea Ballerini, and several others.
For the opening week, the Hall of Fame has scheduled C.J. Lewandowski for one of their Musician Spotlight events, to be held on March 3 at 1:00 p.m. in the Museum’s Ford Theater. A big part of the reason he has been selected for inclusion in the Unbroken Circle part of the new American Currents exhibit is, in addition to his success with The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, C.J. also spent a great deal of time with mandolin icon Bobby Osborne in the latter part of his life, with Bobby not only serving as a mentor, but the two becoming great friends.
C.J. also supplied the Museum with some personal effects from the time he and Bobby spent together for the exhibit, which you’ll be able to see when it opens next month. Their album together, Keep On Keepin’ On, was the final recording Osborne made before his passing in June of last year.
Lewandowski tells us that it was a powerfully emotional experience for him when he was notified of this honor.
“I had been having a bad day when I received the letter from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Bobby’s birthday was nearing and it would be the first without him, so I was feeling all down and out. We had so many plans and adventures yet to accomplish, but time ran out. Thats just life.
When I got home and saw a big box from the CMHoF, then read the letter, I just fell to my knees, more or less, sobbing. To be included in the American Currents exhibit at such a prestigious institution was enough, but it was more than that. I am being featured along side one of my biggest heroes and mentors, simply by being us.
Bobby was truly one of my best friends, and it is truly an honor and a privilege to be connected to such an amazing Music Making Man. I miss him every day.
Continuing the record without him has been tough but it’s going again with the help and support of a lot of friends, and there WILL be more new music from Bobby Osborne in 2024!
Thank you to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and all the folks that have supported my crazy life in bluegrass music. Most of all, thank you Bobby Osborne for encouraging me and being my friend. This is proof that Bobby’s ideas are still being played out. Thank you, so so much.”
For his Musician’s Spotlight, Lewandowski will be interviewed about his career and his friendship with Osborne, play a bit of mandolin, and surely sing a few. But forget about getting tickets – the event is already sold out! Let’s hope the Hall will offer a stream or video.
For more information about the 2024 American Currents exhibit, via the Hall of Fame online.
The first single from the highly anticipated final recordings by Bobby Osborne, from his duet project with fellow mandolinist C.J. Lewandowski of The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, is released today to radio on Turnberry Records.
They’ve chosen a new version of Too Old To Die Young, written by Scott Dooley, John Hadley and Kevin Welch, and performed by a great many country and bluegrass artists over the years, including The Osborne Brothers.
C.J. and Bobby had started on this project, Keep On Keepin’ On, earlier this year, not long before Osborne died in June. When it was announced in January, Bobby was feeling fine, and was greatly looking forward to getting in the studio.
Lewandowski says that they were able to finish in the studio before his hero’s passing, but he felt unsure how to proceed once it sunk in.
“If you were to ask me if I would have ever expected to be recording an album with Bobby Osborne, I would have told you that you needed to get your head checked! At the time of these recordings, Bobby was 91-years-old and singing better than most people 1/3 his age.
These are special moments, and I feel so blessed to have captured our friendship on recording. Too Old To Die Young was initially supposed to be released at the end of June, but with Bobby’s death I really had to sit down and figure out what I was supposed to do.
One night on my front porch, I heard Bobby tell me to keep on keeping on, and that’s what I had to do. I considered him one of my best friends, and I will never forget him, his smile, his kindness, his natural talent.
I hope listeners enjoy our recorded efforts of what Bobby wanted to do. He always loved Paul Brewster and Terry Eldridge singing Too Old on the Osborne Brothers live shows, but never got to record it, until now.”
Turnberry has released this sneak peak of the single, which will be available for download purchase soon.
Pre-saves for Too Old To Die Young are enabled now online, as are pre-orders for the full Keep On Keepin’ On album.
Another major figure in the development of bluegrass music has left us. Bobby Osborne, singer, mandolinist, and one half of the trendsetting and hit-making Osborne Brothers, has died today. He was 91 years of age.
From the time he started performing as a member of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in 1949, through many years with brother Sonny, and finishing his career with his own Rocky Top XPress, Bobby Osborne represented the highest caliber of bluegrass music, and music business professionalism.
As he was still recording and performing actively, that adds up to nearly 75 years as a bluegrass entertainer. In fact, though Bill Monroe did have his Blue Grass Boys when Osborne joined the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, the concept of a musical form called bluegrass was still some years away when Bobby first appeared on the scene.
His high, clear tenor voice was the most memorable aspect of his sound, but he was also highly regarded as a mandolinist. Lead playing on mandolin had not been common, at least not in the way Monroe pursued in the 1940s and beyond, and Bobby took an approach quite different from Bill’s. Based on his fondness for the fiddle and fiddle playing, he played in a more scalar fashion, in the first and second position primarily, as would a fiddler, where Monroe’s style employed closed chord shapes.
The Osborne Brothers was Bobby’s home from the time he returned from service in the Marine Corps in 1954, until Sonny retired in 2005 following rotator cuff surgery. Though they started off partnered with Jimmy Martin, with whom they cut classic tracks like 20/20 Vision and Chalk Up Another One, which was followed by an ill-fated association with Red Allen, the brothers gradually turned their show into something that could be featured on more country-oriented package shows in the 1950s.
Their radio hits included now standard songs like Ruby, Rocky Top, Up This Hill and Down, Making Plans, Once More, Midnight Flyer, Kentucky, Tennessee Hound Dog, and many others. It has been reasonably suggested that people who may know only one or two bluegrass numbers have likely heard Bobby sing. The later association with Rocky Top by the University of Tennessee football program has kept the song alive for succeeding generations.
https://youtu.be/77hneLgt33k
In 2017, Compass Records released Original, a new album from Bobby Osborne, matched up in the studio with a slew of bluegrass all stars, for a truly memorable final recording under his name.
Sonny died in October of 2021 after suffering a stroke. Fans recall Sonny as the more bombastic personality, and Bobby as the more restrained brother, both on stage and off.
With The Osborne Brothers, Bobby is a member of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame. A twin mandolin album with C.J. Lewandowski is still yet to be released.
At this point we have very little information about Bobby’s passing, but will update as further details emerge.
His death leaves a gaping hole in the hearts of every bluegrass fan, and we aren’t likely to see his kind again.
R.I.P., Bobby Osborne.
UPDATE 6/28 – Funeral arrangements have been announced as follow:
Visitation at the Crestview Funeral Home in Gallatin, TN on July 5 from noon to 7:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held at Crestview on July 6 at 11:00 a.m.
Wyatt Ellis on The Opry with Daily & Vincent – photo by Eric Ahlgrim
At age 13, Wyatt Ellis has already checked the top item off his bucket list, performing before a live audience at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN.
The young mandolinist explained, “I’m a big fan of Dailey & Vincent. Jamie and Darrin are two of my favorite bluegrass vocalists. I’ve been social media friends with Jamie, and interacted with him a little over the past two years. He had seen videos of my playing, started following me and encouraging me.”
A couple weeks ago, Wyatt was in an online lesson with Bobby Osborne, when an unexpected message came through on Instagram.
The message read: “Hi, Wyatt. Darrin Vincent and I would like to extend an invitation to you to come play with our band on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, Feb 10 or 11. It would be 2-3 songs. Would this be something you would enjoy doing? All my best, Jamie.”
Wyatt immediately replied to the message. “I’d be honored to. I could do either or both.”
“I was shocked and so excited. I told Bobby. Bobby said, ‘You don’t miss that!’
I’d always dreamed that I might get to do what my hero, Marty Stuart, had at age thirteen when he played the Opry as part of Lester Flatt’s band. I’d just about given up on it.”
The young musical prodigy was soon invited to play, not just for a single tune, but as part of the band for both nights.
“It was like being a real part of Dailey & Vincent. I showed up and we ran through what we were going to play. It was so cool, a great experience,” Wyatt beamed.
For the Friday night Opry, Wyatt arrived perfectly attired in Bill Emerson’s boots, which had been entrusted to him from the Emerson family, and Buddy Spicher’s neck scarf, a gift from Scott Napier.
“There was a lot of history in that outfit,” his mom proudly stated.
Wyatt’s mandolin skills were highlighted on the third tune each night. Ellis, who had set a goal early in the pandemic to learn every Bill Monroe tune ever written, selected two Monroe standards for his instrumentals: Wheel Hoss for Friday night, and Rawhide for Saturday.
On Friday, Jenee Fleenor kicked off the high-energy instrumental. Wyatt and the four-time CMA Musician of the Year closed out the tune playing mandolin and fiddle in unison.
“I was thrilled to be playing alongside such a legendary fiddler,” Wyatt shared.
Wyatt returned to the Opry stage on Saturday night with Dailey & Vincent. Unfortunately, his microphone failed to work properly during the first two songs so the audience failed to truly hear his picking. Dailey noted the problem and the situation was quickly resolved.
While the mic was being exchanged before the final number, Dailey said to Wyatt, “It’s your second time on the Grand Ole Opry, you gotta make it count! You’ve gotta burn it down. All right, Wyatt, are you ready?!”
With that, Wyatt flew into a rousing rendition of Rawhide. After his first break, the crowd erupted in applause and by the end of the tune, the Maryville, TN youth received a standing ovation.
“It was such an emotional situation, with the microphone not working. I was nervous for him, but he didn’t show it affected him at all,” said his mother.
Darrin Vincent shared, “We were honored to have Wyatt Ellis debut at the Grand Ole Opry, and the packed audience sure loved him by giving him a standing ovation after performing the Bill Monroe standard classic, Rawhide.”
Trent Callicutt, banjoist for D&V that weekend, said, “Wyatt is a great player! It’s easy to see that he’s firmly rooted in Monroe-style mandolin, but he puts his own spin on it! It was a treat to be on his Opry debut with him. He killed it!”
Back stage, Wyatt jammed nightly with Grand Ole Opry member, Vince Gill. The multi-Grammy winner left his door open for this very purpose. Gill acknowledged that the late Roy Acuff maintained an open door policy and an open circle which is part of the magic of the Opry.
On Friday night, the pair was joined by fellow former child prodigy, Mark O’Connor. It was a magical moment as Vince and Mark showcased their musical friendship that had begun half a century ago when Mark made his own childhood Opry debut.
Gill later shared in a phone interview, “In my 50 years in music, I see the same thing in Wyatt Ellis that I saw in Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, Tony Rice, and Sierra Hull. He has that natural talent.”
When asked if Wyatt will be the next big thing in bluegrass, Gill replied, “He already is.”
So, for a young man who’s only been seriously picking the mandolin since age 10, already appeared twice on the Grand Ole Opry at age 13, and will soon release his first album of all original music with many of his heroes, where do you go from here?
Wyatt’s response, “I would like to personally debut on the Grand Ole Opry when my album is released! It’s all original music. I’ve got a lot of legends and heroes on my side! So maybe we can pull it off?”
Recording is set to begin next month with Bobby and C.J. co-producing, and support from Avery Welter on guitar, Lincoln Hensley and Wynn Osborne on banjo, Bobby “Boj” Osborne on bass, and Robbie Osborne on drums. Other special guests are expected to be included, and will be announced prior to the ultimate release date.
Lewandowski said that this album first started to bubble up in discussions with Turnberry President Keith Barnacastle about a potential solo project. C.J. had hoped to cut a few tracks with Bobby which he could hold back to include in additional solo efforts over the years. But before long, the idea of a full-on duo record took hold, and when Osborne was contacted, he was immediately in.
“He’s been recording since 1948 or so, and he still loves music more than anyone I’ve ever encountered. He still plays his mandolin every single day. There are some younger generations who may have never had the opportunity to see him play, and this gives them an opportunity to at least hear him now. It’s also an album of inspiration and showcases a little bit of history, as well as our friendship.”
No date has been set for the album’s street date, nor a title suggested, but it will surely be something to be cherished by lovers of traditional bluegrass mandolin and music.
Yesterday (January 10), bluegrass living legend Bobby Osborne accepted a Governor’s Award for the Arts from Kentucky Governor, Andy Beshear.
Now 91 years of age and still actively performing, Bobby and his younger brother, Sonny, set bluegrass on a new track starting in the 1950s as the Osborne Brothers, with a different style of harmony singing featuring his distinctly pure tenor voice on top.
Hits for the Osborne Brothers include such classics as Once More, Ruby Are You Mad, Making Plans, Up This Hill and Down, Windy City, Midnight Flyer, Tennessee Hound Dog, and surely their most enduring song, sometimes described as the “National Anthem of Bluegrass,” Rocky Top.
Prior to forming The Osborne Brothers, Bobby has been a member of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers.
When Sonny and Bobby started out together, they recorded as a trio with Jimmy Martin, and later Red Allen, partnerships that didn’t last, partly because of their insistence that the Brothers receive top billing. It ended up being the right move, and The Osborne Brothers became members of the Grand Ole Opry in 1964.
When Sonny retired owing to a shoulder injury in 2005, Bobby continued to tour and record with his own band, Bobby Osborne & Rocky Top XPress.
Though most of his musical career found them living in Nashville, both Sonny and Bobby have always claimed the southeastern Kentucky town of Hyden as their hometown.
In accepting the National Award for the 2022 Kentucky Governor’s Awards for the Arts, Bobby said…
“I thank you all. I thank everybody for this chance to come and receive this award. I think I’ve been halfway around the world. Not all of it, but… Other than my military duty that I served, other than that, I have devoted my life to bluegrass music, country music, any kind of music.
I don’t know… When I was a teenager I learned how to play, and other than my military duty, I couldn’t see me working with anything else, especially bluegrass music. Bluegrass is Kentucky, and that’s all there are to it.
Bluegrass music… that’s what I’ve been playing all these years.
I am certainly thankful to everyone for inviting me to receive this award. Thank you very much.”
Congratulations to Bobby Osborne for this well-deserved recognition from his home state.
It’s not uncommon during the winter months to see top touring acts playing smaller clubs to keep their stage show fresh for when the festival season starts back up in the spring. But we don’t often find bluegrass legends in that situation.
If you live in or near Nashville, however, you’ll have three mid-week opportunities to catch Bobby Osborne & & The Rocky Top X-Press performing at American Legion Post 82 for Bluegrass Wednesday Nights. Normally, these Wednesday shows function as an open jam for Music City’s bluegrass community, with occasional booked acts being featured.
Bobby has scheduled a Wednesday with his band, playing two full sets, once each month in January, February, and March. They will perform from 8:00-10:00 p.m., with a jam to follow until midnight so bring your instruments.
Post 82 is asking a $20 donation at the door for the Bobby Osborne shows, scheduled for January 11, February 15, and March 15.
These will be rare opportunities to catch such an icon in the bluegrass world in a more intimate, close up setting, so make plans to attend one of these shows if you live close enough for the drive, and come early!
And don’t forget the regular Wednesday jams at Legion Post 82, located on Gallatin Pike in Nashville.
Bluegrass Wednesdays also seeks to serve the American Legion Post and its veteran services by collecting donations from the community each week, and by hosting benefit shows to raise money for the American Legion and the veterans it serves.
With Christmas music playing everywhere we go, and the year end chill already in the air in most of the northern hemisphere, it’s time once again for the 4th annual Becky Buller Band Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest.
As in years past, it’s quite easy to enter. Just don your ugliest Christmas sweater, take a photo of yourself wearing it, and post it to the Facebook thread announcing the competition. Prizes include merchandise from The Becky Buller Band, and from 2021 contest guest, Bobby Osborne, plus an outgoing message from BBB banjo player and SiriusXM host, Ned Luberecki, for your answering machine. The contest is open through December 14.
Becky tells us that she is thrilled to collaborate this year with one of her heroes.
“I’ve loved the music of The Osborne Brothers for years, and had been around Bobby on the circuit, but didn’t get to meet him until Alison Brown suggested he and I write together about three years ago. I’ve really enjoyed getting to collaborate with him, and hearing all his fantastic stories. He’s a treasure!”
Here’s the official 2021 contest video announcement.
Compass Records has a new music video today from bluegrass icon, Bobby Osborne, a remake of a classic Merle Haggard number.
Osborne told us yesterday that he has spent more than 70 of his 89 years as a professional bluegrass performer, during which time he played as a member of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, before launching a partnership with his brother, Sonny, which was to last from 1953 until Sonny retired in 2005. Since that time he has continued on as a solo artist making records and touring the country in the shadow of his 90th birthday.
For this new release, Alison Brown at Compass asked Bobby if he would like to record Haggard’s White Line Fever, a song from Hag’s Mama Tried album in 1968. The original had a leisurely, creeping kind of beat, with the ’60s cement truck bass, but Alison had envisioned it sped up and grassed up for Bobby’s arrangement.
The Osbornes had recorded several Haggard songs over the years, including Fighting’ Side Of Me, Some Of Shelly’s Blues, and Today I Started Living You Again, but Bobby had never tried singing White Line Fever until this session was coming up.
“When Alison mentioned this song to me, I went on the internet to listen to how Merle did it. I tried singing it a few times and it suited me just fine. Then Alison showed me how she wanted to do it, adding the bluegrass swing, and I told her, ‘I don’t think I can sing it like that.’ But she said, ‘Sure you can,’ so I went in to do it.”
Haggard had been a fan of The Osborne Brothers, and a friend as well. Bobby said they became acquainted when they opened for him some months in a row.
“We worked with Hag for a couple of years. He went on a two year tour of dates all over the country. His agency set it up so that we did all of his shows. I got to know him really well. He was an alright guy, Merle Haggard.”
Brown booked in a superstar lineup of pickers to support Bobby for this session – Sierra Hull on mandolin, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Trey Hensley on guitar, Todd Phillips on bass, with Alison on banjo. Tim O’Brien came in to sing harmony with Hensley.
But she said that something was missing in the song, something lacking in the lyrics. So she reached out to her old friend, Jeff Tweedy, of Wilco fame, and asked if he could help out.
“Garry and I know Jeff from his Uncle Tupelo days – we did a bunch of shows with them in the early ’90s when we were playing with Michelle Shocked’s band. We had the idea to do a bluegrass version of White Line Fever but, the way Merle Haggard wrote and recorded it, the structure felt incomplete. So we reached out to Jeff to see if he could write a second verse especially for Bobby, and he came up with the perfect handful of lines. We knew Jeff would be a great call for this because of his love of traditional/roots music, and because of his history of doing these kinds of collaborations on both Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan’s unfinished songs.”
Once the tracking was finished, Compass put together a music video incorporating live video from the studio with photos of Bobby from childhood through his many years in the music business. The result is simply priceless.
Enjoy.
Osborne told us that he was very happy with how this track turned out, and he gave most of the credit to Alison Brown. He also explained how they came to work together.
“Alison is one of the greatest people that I’ve ever met. She is 100% all the time. She and Garry both.
I had run into Pete Rowan at Telluride some time ago. He was recording with Compass, and asked if I would come sing on his new record. I went to the sessions and saw Jesse McReynolds and a whole bunch of guys there. Then I found out it was Alison’s studio.
I asked her if she might want to do a record on me. She said let me think on it a bit, but she called back and said, ‘sure!'”
When we asked how much longer he plans to tour and record, Osborne wasn’t willing to give a time frame.
“I’m 89 – soon be 90, and I still love it. I’ve got a good fall coming up. I ain’t gonna quit until the man upstairs takes me.
I’m so thankful that I can still sing pretty good. A lot of guys have their voice go away as they get older, but mine has hung right in there with me. I’m so thankful for that.”
