New To Top 30: Brothers Osborne
This week’s new entry to the Top 30 is “Rum” by Brothers Osborne. This is actually T.J. and John Osborne’s second single. But it’s their first to make it into the very competitive Top 30. We asked the guys who it felt to have a song in the Top 30:
It’s a nice feeling! Our first time. It’s incredible. Not to go too far back, but we’ve been playing music since we were kids, listening to the radio and countdowns ever since we were kids. Then moved to Nashville, worked the hardest we’ve ever worked, got a record deal, work even harder, and our first single got into the 30s, and then feel off. So to get into the Top 30 is a milestone achievement for sure.
Have you felt the power of this single? (TJ) Absolutely, that’s probably been the coolest thing. You have milestone chart numbers, but it can distract you, so what we pay attention to is what the fans are digging. That’s what the coolest thing. Even when Rum was in the 40s, people gravitated to it. They knew it, they were buying it, and it felt like a hit song even as it was just charting. I’ve always admired bands, as soon as they started a song, the whole crowd knows it, they start cheering, and it’s an awesome feeling to have a song like that.
Where is it in the set? (John) It’s near the end. It’s not the last song, but it’s later in the set. We try not to hold it too long, cause they get a little antsy. They start screaming for it the second song, and we have an hour set, so sometimes we’ll play it five times in a row.
You’re celebrating your first Top 30 by releasing a 5-song EP collection, so people can become more familiar with your music: We’re selling CDs of the EP at our shows, so you can go to our merch booth. Or you can download on iTunes. We wrote all five songs.
So talk about writing Rum, where did the idea come from? (TJ) It goes back to our Maryland days. A great songwriter named Barry Dean came in with this idea of Rum, and we thought we’re not the beachy kind of guys. But then we thought about working man’s rum, blue collar everyday, making the best out of what you have, making your own paradise in your home town. So we went to our hometown, Deale Maryland, and shot the music video there, so people could see where we originated.
How did the people there react to the video shoot? We tried not to make it too intense, so we kept the crew small, and the people there got into it, I think that had something to do with the alcohol.
As you said, you guys were born and raised in Deale, Maryland. In Anne Arundel Country, out on what is called the Delmarva Peninsula, near the Chesapeake Bay. What was life like growing up in Deale? We grew up right on the bay, so we went pier fishing a lot, and we grew up near a lot of farm lands, but a lot of people in our town make their living on the bay. It’s an interesting place to grow up. The best crabcakes in the world are Maryland. When we were kids, we’d go out on the bay, get a net, and get a bushel of crabs, take ’em to the house and steam ’em. But right now, the bay is actually over-harvested. So the crabs have become a bit expensive.
You guys are hitting the road this week with Eric Church: It’s our first big arena tour. The first time we’ve played some place that big. There’s gonna be a lot of new things. We have a 25 minute set, a lot of the songs will be on the EP, so we’re excited about that.
The other guy on the Eric Church tour this year is a legend: Dwight Yoakam. Have you met him yet? Not yet. We’re looking forward to it. Part of me hopes we hit it off, and the other part of me hopes he gets like Doyle from the movie Sling Blade.
After that, you go out with Little Big Town: They’re awesome, they’re great artists, great people, they’re already hooking us up with gifts. So it’ll be cool.
Category: VIDEO
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