Deale, MD · country · southern rock

Brothers Osborne

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Maryland brothers splitting the difference between country radio and Southern rock guitar heroics — TJ's baritone up front, John's Telecaster doing the rest.

Brothers Osborne are TJ and John Osborne, raised in Deale, Maryland, a small waterside fishing town on the Chesapeake Bay. Their parents both wrote and played music, and relatives often joined family sessions that shaped the brothers' earliest interest in performing. They played alongside their father, a plumber, in a band called Deuces and a Quarter, and represented their high school in a regional battle of the bands before graduating.

John moved to Nashville first, attending Belmont University, and TJ followed after finishing high school. The brothers initially worked separately, John as a sideman guitarist and TJ playing upright bass and writing songs for other artists. They began performing together in area clubs and bars, signed a publishing deal in 2011, and secured a recording contract the following year.

TJ sings lead in a low baritone; John plays guitar, favouring long, blues-inflected solos that push the duo closer to Southern rock than most contemporary country acts. Producer Jay Joyce has shaped much of their recorded sound. Their songs move between barroom humour and slower, more reflective writing, a range that has held across each of their albums.

Their debut single, "Stay a Little Longer," became a top-five country hit in 2015 and led to the album Pawn Shop that same year, followed by Port Saint Joe in 2018, Skeletons in 2020, and a self-titled album in 2023. Later singles "It Ain't My Fault," "Shoot Me Straight" and "All Night" continued their chart run, and they appeared as featured artists on Dierks Bentley's "Burning Man."

In 2021 TJ Osborne came out publicly as gay, becoming one of the few openly gay artists signed to a major country label. The duo's work has brought a Grammy Award, six Academy of Country Music Awards and five Country Music Association Awards, along with the ASCAP Vanguard Award and a place on Billboard's list of the 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time.

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countrysouthern rock