Biography
Osborne Brothers was a bluegrass band known for their musical innovation and close harmony singing. Led by Sonny Osborne (October 29, 1937 – October 24, 2021) and his brother Bobby Osborne (born December 7, 1931), the band is remembered for their 1967 US #33 country hit song, "Rocky Top", written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and named after a Tennessee location.
One of the most innovative and popular bluegrass groups of the 1960s and 1970s, the band took their music into new directions and gained a large audience. Among their most notable achievements were their pioneering, inventive use of amplification, twin harmony banjos, double-tracked vocals, steel guitars, and drums. They were the first bluegrass group to expand the genre's sonic palette in such a fashion.
In 2005 Sonny Osborne retired, owing to a shoulder injury, and Bobby continued to tour as Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top X-press.
In addition to "Rocky Top," the brothers' hit records include "Making Plans," "Up This Hill and Down," "Midnight Flyer," "Take Me Home, Country Roads," "Muddy Bottom," "Tennessee Houndog," "Georgia Pineywoods," "Roll Muddy River," "The Kind of Woman I Got," and "Ruby (Are You Mad At Your Man)."
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