Brothers Osborne’s Difficult Childhood Paved the Way to Nashville

Brothers Osborne, the duo made up of TJ and John Osborne, has previously said they want to stand up for the underdogs, and be a voice for those who may not otherwise have one. But now, the siblings are explaining why they feel that is so important – because they once were the underdog.

“There were times when TJ and I would come home from school and all of our electricity would be off because our folks had a hard time paying the electric bill,” John recalls to Billboard. “And instead of crying about it, our dad would turn it into a really fun game of hide-and-go-seek in the dark.”

“It was almost like, when the power went out, we looked forward to it,” adds TJ. “We had no idea that we were poor. We just thought that was just life — I guess for [some] people, it is.”

TJ and John are two of five children their parents raised in rural Maryland, but it was the two of them that carried on the dream of their parents, who also tried to find success as singer-songwriters in Nashville, before their father became a plumber.

“We were the token band that would play,” John recalls. “We knew at an early age how to work really hard but also enjoy ourselves at the same time … It naturally had an effect on us and the way that we write and the way that we perform. You can’t ever hide your inspirations.”

One song on their recent Port Saint Joe album, “While You Still Can,” pays homage to the parents who sacrificed so much for them.

“Our dad was always telling jokes — the same old jokes [we reference in the song] — and we try to tell them like our dad would,” says John “And our mom, like every other mom in the world, is constantly calling and wanting to have a conversation even when we don’t have time. It just reminds me to kind of make the time, if you can, for those people.”

Brothers Osborne has already enjoyed plenty of success, with a handful of awards and five Top 30 singles, but because of their humble beginnings, they are much more interested in good, honest music than the income commercial success can bring.

“We’re not afraid about taking some risks and falling flat on our faces, because we did come from nothing, and we know what it’s like,” TJ says. “We had a great time — we really enjoyed our lives when we had nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I love to be able to put food on the table and provide for myself, but I think it’s allowed us a lot of freedom to have been brought up that way. We’re not really attached to, you know, the fortune and the fame.”

“We know what we have,” adds John. “We were raised to enjoy life with or without success — and that’s the most important thing.”

Download Port Saint Joe on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Instagram/brothersosborne