Brothers Osborne Reflect on 2017 Success: ‘We Stayed True to Ourselves’
Brothers Osborne's impressive success of the past few years is attributed to their perseverance.
In 2017 alone, the duo of John and TJ Osborne celebrated back-to-back wins at the ACM Awards for Vocal Duo of the Year and New Vocal Duo of the Year, plus Vocal Duo of he Year at the CMA Awards. In addition, their hit "It Ain't My Fault," which peaked inside the top 15 on both the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, earned them a CMA Award for Video of the Year and a nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 2018 Grammy Awards.
These significant victories are a result of plenty of blood, sweat and tears shed over the years. "It's amazing," TJ reflects in an interview with Taste of Country about their accolades. "We've worked so hard to get where we are and I think there's a lot of ups and downs along the way. We've always stayed true to who we are, kind of stuck to our guns, so I really feel that where we are now is just really a product of us just being constantly relentless and just trying to make it work."
While they find themselves making a significant impression on the genre now, it wasn't always that way. TJ says there were times when they could have gone done a less authentic path and gained more notoriety, but see their current success as a reward for standing firm in their character.
"I think there were many, many times where we could've taken some routes that would've been easier and had some success," he says. "And we just stayed true to ourselves and stuck to our guns, and I think that we're getting rewarded for that now and it just makes it only the better."
The award-wining duo gave back to like-minded people during the holiday season in 2017 when they performed a surprise show for truck drivers out in the Nevada desert as a way to say thank you to them during the busiest time of the year, a grounding experience for the brothers.
"They're doing the job that I think a lot of us couldn't ever do, so it was really nice to get in front of these people and show our appreciation," John says of the intimate show. "They're the life blood of America as far as I'm concerned, and it was good to shake the hands of the people putting in the labor. They were just really cool—just good, solid, real folks that just remind you of where you come from."
Brothers Osborne recently released their latest single, "Shoot Me Straight."
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