Bobby Osborne - 90 today (update)

Robert Van 'Bobby' Osborne was born ninety years ago today, became a professional musician in his late teens, fought in the Korean war as a US Marine, made indelible impressions on the development of bluegrass music, and is still actively recording and leading his band, the Rocky Top X-Press. His life, with the numerous awards and honours received, is outlined on his website and in Fred Bartenstein's article for the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, into which he and his younger brother Roland 'Sonny' Osborne were inducted in 1994.

It may be inappropriate to wish Bobby Osborne a happy birthday - only six weeks have elapsed since Sonny's death on 24 October - but the BIB unreservedly wishes him many happy returns of the day.

Update 9 Dec.: Several video interviews with Bobby are on YouTube, but priority should be given to 'A Kentucky treasure: the Osborne Brothers story' (2014), compiled by Russ Farmer from interviews by the late Marty Godbey.

© Richard Hawkins