Brothers Osborne’s Blacklight ACMs Outfits Were Homemade by John Osborne
During their big performance of "Skeletons" on the stage of the ACM Awards on Monday night (March 7), Brothers Osborne not only delivered high-energy vocals and their signature guitar-heavy groove, but they dazzled the audience visually, too.
The centerpiece of their eye-catching show was a set of matching outfits splattered with glow-in-the-dark neon pain, which lit up in full color when the lights went down. Those outfits were handmade by duo member John Osborne, the pair explained backstage after their performance.
"When we did our music video for 'All Night,' which was off our last record, we did a glow-in-the-dark, more of a blacklight bit where it goes dark and TJ and I are illuminated, the band's illuminated — so we attempted to do that in our live show," John explained, in response to a question about the inspiration behind their onstage look.
"With a lot of trial and error, it actually panned out," he continued. "We were just thinking — if we're gonna play it on an awards show, we play a lot of them and they're all so much fun — let's really swing for the fences. There was a 50 percent chance it was not gonna go well."
There were some factors in play that were outside of their control, such as the brightness level in Allegiant Stadium. When the ACM Awards began, it was still light outside in Las Vegas, and Brothers Osborne hoped it would be getting dark outside by the time they took the stage, so that the audience could get the full blacklight effect.
"We were hoping the sun was gonna go down right before we went on. Thankfully, it did," John continues.
As for the creation of the outfits? John brought the brains — and the artistic talent — to that project, too. "We bought some coverall Dickies online. I spent two days off that I had between writing and coming here painting these in my front yard," he reveals.
"John painted these outfits by himself. Sorry," T.J. added to his brother and bandmate, looking a little sheepish for not helping with the project.
But it's not the first time that John has pursued his interest in the visual arts. Over the course of the pandemic, while the pair were off the road due to COVID-19 shutdowns, he picked up his old hobby of painting. The results aren't for sale — his painting is purely for fun, John explains, and he wants to keep it that way — but he sometime shows off his works of art on social media, such as a portrait he did of rocker Mick Jagger.
Brothers Osborne picked up a trophy for Duo of the Year at the 2022 ACMs. Together with Brittney Spencer, they also closed out the show with a performance of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walking."