What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette T he last time brothers John and TJ Osborne performed on the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion stage, it was the summer of 2016, and the duo were one of the support acts for country superstar Miranda Lambert. As Brothers Osborne prepare for their Rogers return on Sept. 17 — headlining their own "We're Not For Everyone Tour" — frontman TJ marvels at the changes just a few years can bring. "I mean, s***, it's been almost two years since anyone's really been out to tour," Osborne points out. The duo's third studio album, "Skeletons," was released in October 2020, so that time away from the road allowed for space to really focus on the message and the aesthetic of the eventual tour, he shares. "We're at a really fun place where we can play a lot of our own music, and it's either playing a hit or a song that's very familiar to the crowd," he says, "so I think the shows have gotten a lot better as far as the way the set list goes. We really stepped it up in so many ways, just across the board. The tour is a larger production and, I'm not just saying this, but we really did take a big step up from where we were last time touring to now." The tour gets its name from the fourth track on the brothers' most recent release and has become something of a mission statement as they take on this new chapter. "If 'Pawn Shop' was our introduction, and 'Port Saint Joe' was like the first conversation we had with someone over a beer, then 'Skeletons' is the moment where you start getting down to the real stuff and showing who you really are," John says in the pair's bio. "If you really want to get to know us, this is the record to do it." On "Skeletons," Brothers Osborne chose to show some sides that some people knew existed but had never been featured in that way before, Osborne reveals. John, as the band's versatile guitar hero, had never brought his vocals up from backing to lead before "I'm Not For Everyone." And on "Muskrat Greene," John gets another moment to shine. "Even though we're comprised of me being the singer and my brother being a guitar player … it's not just someone holding a guitar. I mean, he's a true guitar player — a guitar player's guitar player," Osborne says proudly of his brother. "So we always thought, 'How the hell do we not have an instrumental?' So we thought, let's do that now; let's put it out there like a really cool moment. And to those people [who] just want to hear this amazing guitar player wail, they're just big music fans, it was kind of really for them." For the moment, Osborne says, the pair feel they are giving everyone what they want with this tour and this set list. There's true rock-out moments, times when it breaks down to acoustic- driven, instrumental moments, heartfelt moments, party moments. "There's so much going on in this set right now that, honestly, I'm just emotionally and physically, mentally, exhausted when I get off the stage — in a good way," Osborne confesses. "I don't want to have to be just a one- dynamic band or have one song that SEPTEMBER 12-18, 2021 WHAT'S UP! 3 ROGERS While a connective thread of Southern-tinged country rock is woven through the band's repertoire, Brothers Osborne frontman TJ Osborne says it has been a concerted effort, particularly on "Skeletons," to put forth work that is consistent in its diversity. Maryland roots, surprisingly to some, laid an early foundation of country music in a region with a deep Appalachian bluegrass history. Such a beginning blended with obvious nods to Southern rock icons has established Brothers Osborne as an influential new voice in the industry. And they like it that way, Osborne says. (Courtesy Photo/Natalie Osborne) The Boys Are Back In Town See Brothers Page 4 AMP welcomes familiar faces, fresh music