I'm enjoying tuning in to all this bluegrass talk from Scotland!!
I first heard the Osbornes at the same Bluegrass festival as where I first heard RS and the Clinch Mt Boys, somewhere near Raleigh NC in 1969. I was a graduate student in Chicago at the time. Bobby Osborne's 'Ruby' has been a kind of signature tune ever since. (Try to find the album 'Ru-beeeee', MCA135, issued in 1973). Someone in this correspondence a few days ago mae the statement that Earl Scruggs was of course the greatest banjo man. Innovative, maybe, but so far as truth to the tradition going back through people like Dave Macon is concerned, Ralph Stanley is untouchable. For innovation in his time, Sonny Osborne has for me been untouchable, a tradition taken on by musicians like Bela Fleck. I can also remember approaching Sonny as a bit of a young nerd telling him how struck I was by the evolution of Scots tunes into the Bluegrss standards he was playing. (I think he had been playing "The Devil's Dream", originally a Scots reel called "The De'il Amang the Tailors") I look forward to visiting North Carolina next month, to the Loch Norman Highland Games. Bluegrass fans would enjoy hearing some of the music which is the main root of your tradition, so see y'all there on 20 April. Join in the ceilidh of traditional Scots music... Danus Skene ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2002 12:52 PM Subject: BG: Osborne Brothers > > Does anyone know anything about the Osborne Brothers? After seeing Ralph and > a bluegrass concert, I think I'd like to see another. My favorite CD I own is > by the Osbornes - "From Rocky Top to Muddy Bottom". IMHO, there's not a bad > track on this CD. > > Has anyone else seen them? Heard their music? A friend of mine listened to > the CD and said they sounded more country than bluegrass on certain songs. Is > there a hybrid genre called "country bluegrass"? Bobby - the lead singer - > can sing a country song but sure make it sound bluegrass just with his tenor > voice. > > I heard him sing "When The Grass Grows Over Me" the other day (I downloaded > from BearShare - one of the Napster alternatives) and it sounds bluegrass but > only because of his voice. George Jones originally sang that song (downloaded > his version, too) and for as much as I like George, I thought the Osborne's > version sounded better. > > -christy > Bluegrass Bulletin Board brought to you by the fan club of > Dr Ralph Stanley & His Clinch Mountain Boys > subscribe or unsubscribe at http://drralphstanley.com/ Bluegrass Bulletin Board brought to you by the fan club of Dr Ralph Stanley & His Clinch Mountain Boys subscribe or unsubscribe at http://drralphstanley.com/
