Performing Live Is Both Fun & Therapeutic for Brothers Osborne

With John on lead guitar and T.J. providing lead vocals, the guys from Brothers Osborne have been entertaining crowds with their neo-traditional country stylings since dropping their debut album, Pawn Shop, in 2016.

The three-time CMA Vocal Duo of the Year winners recently commemorated their sold-out, three-night run at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in February 2019 with a new album, Live at the Ryman. The 12-song offering, which features fan-favorites “Stay a Little Longer,” “It Ain’t My Fault,” “21 Summer” and more, was released digitally on Oct. 11.

As T.J. and John told Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown, not only is performing live about having fun, but it also has some therapeutic qualities.

“T.J. is such a great singer, so for me, my guitar is [my voice],” says John. “I feel like all my favorite guitar players like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, all these guys would kind of like want to transcend and just go somewhere else and close your eyes and see what happens. It’s therapy for me. Everything clears. It’s the only point in my life where everything around me just goes away and I can focus only on one thing.”

“If we’re having fun [playing live], we want the crowd to be having fun,” says T.J. “Shows are always the best when you and the crowd can kind of get on the same level and just have a good time.”

John and T.J. are once again nominated for Vocal Duo of the Year at the upcoming CMA Awards on Nov. 13. In addition, they are nominated for Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year for their collaboration with Dierks Bentley on “Burning Man,” as well as Musical Event of the Year for “All My Favorite People” with Maren Morris.

Live at the Ryman Track Listing