Brothers Osborne are one of music’s most consistently adventurous bands, a duo connected by not just blood, but also a lifetime of performing together, and a shared working class upbringing in Deale, Maryland. The reigning CMA and ACM Duo of the Year winners, John and TJ Osborne are leaders of a progressive and still classic school of country music, and the faces of the new generation of Nashville.
The siblings took home their first GRAMMY in 2022, winning Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their song “Younger Me,” inspired by TJ's recent coming out. The song is featured on the deluxe version of their GRAMMY-nominated album, Skeletons. The band has been nominated for 10 GRAMMYs in total, standing as five-time CMA Vocal Duo of the Year, and are four-time ACM Duo of the Year. Overall, they have collected six CMA awards, seven ACM trophies and received the ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2019. Their critically acclaimed hit songs have tallied multiple RIAA Gold and Platinum certifications, while surpassing more than 2.7 Billion global streams.
Previously sharing the bill with Chris Stapleton, Eric Church, Little Big Town and Miranda Lambert, Brothers Osborne’s latest headlining We’re Not For Everyone Tour hit more than 50 markets. Last fall, John Osborne produced Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville, and Brothers Osborne contributed the song “Play Ball.” They wrapped 2022 with a limited-edition collaboration with WhistlePig Whiskey, launching the WhistlePig PiggyBack Legends Series: Brothers Osborne Barrel. Their upcoming fourth studio album, Brothers Osborne, was released on September 15th (EMI Records Nashville), featuring the chart-climbing single “Nobody’s Nobody,” out now. Keep up with Brothers Osborne and see upcoming tour dates at BrothersOsborne.com.
-----
Stephen Wilson Jr. opens every one of his performances the exact same way, by walking to the microphone and introducing himself to the crowd: “I’m Stephen Wilson Jr. — I am my father’s son.” The Nashville-by- way-of-Indiana singer followed his father into the boxing ring as a child, before diverging from his dad’s path to become a scientist and, eventually, a songwriter. “My first stage wasn’t a stage at all, it was a boxing ring,” says Wilson, who pays tribute to his father and processes his unexpected death on his debut album Son of Dad. “Writing and making this album has been very therapeutic for me to learn who I am and what my existence looks like after my father,” he says. “Because life has to go on.”
Wilson’s creative life began in earnest upon moving to Nashville, where he signed a publishing deal and had his songs recorded by stars like Brothers Osborne and Caitlyn Smith (in a collab with Old Dominion). Now signed to Big Loud Records, he’s telling his own story on Son of Dad through songs like “Grief Is Only Love,” “Hang in There,” and the autobiographical centerpiece “Father’s Son.” He’s also performing to audiences around the world: Wilson has played festivals everywhere from CMA Fest in Nashville to the Black Deer Festival in the U.K., and toured with artists like Midland, Hailey Whitters and The Lone Bellow. All of this led Rolling Stone to name him “one of the most interesting artists to watch this year, a true original."
Through it all, he remains a man of juxtapositions — a scientist and a believer, a peaceful soul and a confident boxer, an introverted songwriter and a gregarious performer. And, most importantly, his father’s son.
“You don't have to put Jr. after your name. It’s an optional suffix,” Wilson says. “But it says you’re extension of your father. It’s very powerful.”