This is perhaps one of the finest sounding bluegrass albums I have ever listened to. I have some excellent Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs albums, but this recording is in a class all its own. It has both pop appeal and the more haunting elements of country music recordings made between 1927 and 1955.
The melodies, harmonies and tonal delivery of the vocals is just plain flawless. This is where the emotional power of country, folk, and blues just outshines any other genre - a format that is strictly Americana. It just doesn’t get much more authentic than this. Top shelf material indeed! I will be keeping it close to my turntable in the weeks to come. More details on the album can be found in a short review by Teddy Wilburn on the back cover.
I went trolling through the search engines looking for a posted CD rip, but I only managed to come up with a dead torrent to a FLAC rip whose source is unknown. As far as I know, this 1966 LP was never re-issued on CD. In any case this is a fairly decent 192kbps rip from my original Decca LP issue (DL 74767).
Track List:
1) Yesterday’s Gone
2) Footprints in the Snow
3) Hey, Hey Bartender
4) Big Spike Hammer
5) Lonesome Day
6) Faded Love
7) Up This Hill and Down
8) Making Plans
9) I Know What It Means to Be Lonesome
10) I’ll Be Alright Tomorrow
11) Sure-Fire
12) In the Pines
For the last 14 years, the Osborne Brothers have hosted the Osborne Brothers Hometown Festival in Hyden, Kentucky.
The following biographical details were taken from OsborneBrosFestival.com:
Bobby Osborne:
In June 1949, at age 17, Bobby Osborne made his first radio broadcast appearance at WPFB in Middletown, Ohio. At his father’s insistance, Bobby sang “Ruby” for the first time, and 50 telegrams were received by the station asking them to have Bobby sing it again. They did, he did, and as they say, “The rest is history!” That song became a signature for The Osborne Brothers throughout their career.
Later that year Bobby, along with Larry Richardson, joined the very first Lonesome Pine Fiddlers band that featured bluegrass music, following the band’s stint playing western swing. This band consisted of Bobby on guitar, Larry Richardson on banjo, Ezra Cline on bass, and Ray Morgan on fiddle. They recorded four sides for Cozy Records, owned by John Bava. “Pain in My Heart”, “Lonesome Sad and Blue”, “Will I Meet Mother in Heaven”, and “Don’t Forget Me”.
In 1950, Bobby and Jimmy Martin started a band that went by the name of Jimmy Martin, Bob Osborne and the Sunny Mountain Boys. They worked at the famous WCYB radio station in Bristol, where others such as Mac Wiseman, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, Jim and Jesse, and The Stanley Brothers also performed. Members of this band were Bobby, Jimmy, Curly Ray Cline, Charlie Cline, and Little Robert (Robert A. Van Winkle).
In his early performing years, Bobby played with such bands as The Miami Valley Playboys, The Silver Saddle Boys, and Rex & Eleanor Parker.
Bobby also worked a few weeks for the Stanley Brothers, just prior to being drafted into the Marine Corp.
1951-Bobby was drafted into the U.S. Marine Corps, and was stationed in Korea during most of the fierce fighting. He was wounded in action and received the Purple Heart medal.
Sonny Osborne:
Sonny was born on October 29, 1937, and began playing banjo at age 11, when he was in the sixth grade. His brother, Bobby, was working in West Virginia with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers at that time. Larry Richardson was playing banjo with Bobby and sometimes he would come home with Bobby. When Sonny saw and heard Larry play, he felt that he could learn to do that, and asked Larry to show him how to play. Larry, however, would play his banjo with his back to him so Sonny couldn’t see his fingers. Sonny vowed to learn how to play on his own, and he soon did just that.
He began by convincing his dad to buy him a $100 Kay five string banjo which they ordered through the school music department. Before the banjo arrived, Sonny remembers sitting in class at school, trying to figure out a Ralph Stanley break on “We’ll Be Sweethearts in Heaven”. Sonny felt he had the right hand figured out for that song, and also “Cripple Creek”. A few weeks later when the banjo finally arrived, to the amazement of his Dad, music teacher and himself, Sonny was immediately able to play it. He practiced at least five, and sometimes as much as 15 hours a day, out on the back porch swing. Often he’d still be up at 4:45 a.m., at which time he would hurry off to bed and pretend to be asleep before his father awoke for work at 5:00 a.m. and checked on him. Sonny says his father never was the wiser.
Shortly thereafter, Sonny began playing music with some local musicians: Claude Stewart, Jerry Williams, and Carl Eldridge. He also went on a trip with his family to West Virginia to see Bobby. At that time, the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers band consisted of Bobby, Jimmy Martin, Ezra Cline, Charles Cline, and “Little Robert” (A. Vanwinkle). Sonny was allowed to stay a few weeks in West Virginia and play with them. It was during this time period that Bobby and Jimmy Martin made the recordings for King. Sonny was in the studio with them but did not play.
Sonny played Junior High basketball and baseball, and in the 9th grade he made the Varsity football team. Sonny states that he was “too lazy to play”, even though he was approached by some colleges about going to school and playing football. Bobby was in Korea at this time, in the United States Marine Corp. When school was out in June of 1952, Jimmy Martin and Sonny went to Beanblossom, Indiana to see Bill Monroe. Bill hired Jimmy, and with Jimmy’s insistance, also hired 14 year old Sonny. A week later they were off to Nashville. On Sonny’s first Grand Ole Opry appearance with the Bluegrass Boys, he performed “Rawhide”. It was during this time period when Sonny recorded nine tunes with Monroe. This was quite an experience for 14 year old Sonny, and he continued as a Bluegrass Boy through the summer until school started in September.
Sonny describes his 10th grade year as a “disaster”. His parents had moved from the farm and the relatively small Jefferson Township High School to Dayton, Ohio and the very large Fairview High School. Once again, the powers that be wanted him to play football and Sonny refused. School was rather difficult from that point. It was around this time that Sonny met his wife, Judy, of over 40 years, who happened to live across the street from the Osborne family. The following April, Bill Monroe came through Dayton. Sonny persuaded his father to allow him to go with Bill to Toledo, Ohio and “play a date or two” with him. By now, Sonny knew this was what he wanted to do with his life. When they returned, Bill asked Sonny’s father if he could go to work with him on a permanent basis. Sonny’s father agreed on the condition that Bill would “look out for him”. Sonny said that was the last he ever heard of that conversation, and at age 15, he found himself naive and out on his own, with Jimmy Martin, Charlie Cline and Bill Monroe to learn from. Sonny stayed with Bill until Bobby’s release from the Marine Corp.
Sonny & Bobby began their career performing together on 6 November 1953, at WROL Radio in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Maybe it’s the harvest season y’all, but I feel like listening to down-home music. I was actually hoping to rip up some great Steve Martin (the comedian) banjo for ya, but I haven’t been able to find it yet. I did find something else that’s pretty juicy though - tune in tomorrow to find out what it is. In the meantime, here’s a nice 
