Sonny Osborne is a bluegrass

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

 singer and five-string banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

 player. A master of the style developed by Earl Scruggs

Earl Scruggs

Earl Eugene Scruggs is an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a 3-finger banjo-picking style that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music...

, called the "Scruggs style

Scruggs style

Scruggs style is the most common style of playing the banjo in bluegrass music. It is a fingerpicking method, also known as three-finger style. It is named after Earl Scruggs, whose innovative approach and technical mastery of the instrument has influenced generations of bluegrass banjoists ever...

", he is best known for his collaboration with his brother Bobby Osborne

Bobby Osborne

Bobby Osborne is a bluegrass musician known for his mandolin playing and high lead vocals.Born December 7, 1931 in Leslie County, Kentucky, Bobby Osborne is known primarily for his collaborations with his brother Sonny Osborne in their band, the Osborne Brothers. He was a pioneer in conceiving the...

 as the Osborne Brothers

Osborne Brothers

The Osborne Brothers, Sonny Osborne and Bobby Osborne , were an influential and popular bluegrass act during the 1960s and 1970s...

.

Biography

Sonny Osborne began playing the banjo at the age of eleven when his father bought him one. With a little help from Larry Richardson, he soon found out how to play. His brother Bobby worked with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers and Sonny had a chance to join in with them during jam sessions. Bobby enlisted in the Marine Corps., and Sonny went on to work with Bill Monroe

Bill Monroe

William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...

's Bluegrass Boys for a couple of months between June and September 1952. Only fourteen years old, he recorded nine tunes with the "Father of Bluegrass

Bill Monroe

William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...

". Meanwhile, the same year, he recorded, on Gateway Records, together with guitarist Carlos Brock, fiddler Billy Thomas, mandolin player Enos Johnson and Smokey Ward on bass, calling themselves "Stanley Alpine". By now, his family had moved to Dayton, Ohio

Dayton, Ohio

Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...

 and Bobby returned from the Marines. Sonny and Bobby appeared together on WROL in Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

 on November 6, 1953. They had a recording contract on RCA Victor

RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...

 and together with Jimmy Martin

Jimmy Martin

Jimmy Martin was an American bluegrass musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass".-Early years:Born James H. Martin in Sneedville, Tennessee. Jimmy Martin was born into the hard farming life of rural East Tennessee. He grew up near Sneedville, singing in church and with friends from surrounding...

, the Osborne Brothers

Osborne Brothers

The Osborne Brothers, Sonny Osborne and Bobby Osborne , were an influential and popular bluegrass act during the 1960s and 1970s...

 made their first recordings on November 16, 1954.

Sonny Osborne was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor

International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor

Induction to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, called the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor from its creation in 1991 through 2006, is managed by the International Bluegrass Music Association, and the Hall itself is maintained at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in...

in 1994 and retired in 2005 due to a stroke which crippled his right hand.

Links

• http://www.sonnyosborne.com/sonny.html

Sonny Osborne Talks With Tony Trischka