Crate Digging is a recurring feature that takes a deep dive into music history to turn up several albums all music fans should know. In this edition, John Osborne of sibling duo Brothers Osborne chats through his go-to country records.
John Osborne, fifty percent of sibling duo Brothers Osborne, is having a great morning the day we speak. Not only have he and his brother T.J. been nominated for Vocal Duo of the Year at the CMA Awards, he’s also scored his first solo nomination — this time for his production duties on an Ashley McBryde record. His phone is blowing up with texts, he explains, so he has notes prepared for our conversation.
In rounding up 10 albums John considers essential in his musical journey, from his “desert island” records to those that showed him that country music could be a little badass, it becomes clear that he’s truly a musician’s musician. He remembers hearing specific fiddle solos and guitar riffs; there are harmonies he returns to decades later that surely helped shape the sounds he explores with his brother.
John and T.J. are just days away from the release of their fourth studio album, a self-titled effort arriving this Friday, September 15th. “It’s certainly a departure for us, sonically, but it’s still very much my brother and I,” he says. “The bones of the project are still inherently the two of us, so if you loved what we did before, you’ll love what we do now. If you didn’t like what we did before, yeah, you probably won’t like what we do now.”
His own priorities come through in the albums he highlights. “When I look at these, I see a bunch of artists that weren’t trying to do anything other than make music that they love. And that doesn’t happen a lot, strangely,” he observes. “At the end of the day, my favorite albums are the ones where an artist’s intention was to make the best music that they can make, and that shows itself on every album on this list.”
Read through John’s thoughts on the ten albums below, and catch Brothers Osborne’s full album out this Friday.
