Born on this day in 1931 in Thousandsticks, Kentucky, Bobby Osborne and younger brother Sonny helped expand the parameters of bluegrass music when they formed a musical group in the ’60s.
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How Bobby Osborne Found His Voice
Before they were the Osborne Brothers, Sonny and Bobby Osborne felt drawn to music from a young age. Growing up listening to the Grand Ole Opry on WSM radio, “I got tied into Ernest Tubb,” Bobby recalled in a 2017 interview with The Bluegrass Situation. “I liked his songs and his singing. When I first started singing, my voice was kind of low. I could sing Ernest Tubb songs in the same key. And I had never heard anything in the world about bluegrass. The only thing I knew about bluegrass was that they called Kentucky bluegrass country. So, in listening to Ernest Tubb, I got to know all his songs.”
From then on, Bobby began emulating Tubb when singing—until his voice changed as a teenager. He pivoted to trying to sound like Bill Monroe, until fiddle player Benny Sims told him, “Son, if I had a voice like you, I wouldn’t sing a Bill Monroe tune or Flatt and Scruggs, either one. Just sing like you feel.”
Spending several seasons with The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, Bobby eventually graduated to Jimmy Martin’s band. His brief stint with The Stanley Brothers was cut short when he joined the Marines for combat duty in Korea. He was wounded and later discharged in 1953, earning a Purple Heart for his injuries.
By the time Bobby returned home from his military service, his younger brother, Sonny, had learned to play the banjo. Becoming known as the Osborne Brothers, the siblings joined forces, working for Jimmy Martin, Charlie Bailey and Red Allen.
[RELATED: The Meaning of the State Song “Rocky Top” by The Osborne Brothers]
Combined with Sonny’s cutting-edge banjo skills, Bobby Osborne’s uniquely high tenor voice was the key to the brothers’ success. Their charted songs included “Rocky Top” (1968), “Tennessee Hound Dog” (1969), “and “I Can Hear Kentucky Calling Me” (1980). To this day, the Osborne Brothers’ recording of “Rocky Top” ranks among Tennessee’s official state songs.
Bobby Osborne continued performing right up until his death on June 27, 2023, in Gallatin, Tennessee. He was 91 years old.
Featured image by Rick Diamond/Getty Images
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