Sonny Osborne, the banjo-picking sibling in seminal bluegrass group The Osborne Brothers, died on Sunday (Oct. 24) at age 83.
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Sonny was born on Oct. 29, 1937 and raised in Hyden, Kent., site of the still-active Osborne Brothers Hometown Festival. As chronicled in Sonny's autobiographical song "Me and My Old Banjo," he learned to play at age 11 and practiced religiously until he felt comfortable performing in public.
Sonny and his older brother Bobby debuted as The Osborne Brothers on Nov. 8, 1953 on Knoxville, Tenn. radio station WROL.
The Osborne Brothers' mark on bluegrass music and other genres includes, and is hardly limited to, its popularization of high-lead vocal trios, its blurring of the line between bluegrass and country music as members of the Grand Ole Opry (inducted in 1964) and its place in history as the first bluegrass group to perform on a college campus (Antioch College in 1960) and at the White House (1973).
Sonny left a mark as a five and six-string banjo innovator. His talents elevated the careers of everyone from Osborne Brothers collaborators Jimmy Martin and Red Allen to Bill Monroe himself (Sonny was a Blue Grass Boys member briefly in 1952).
Sonny and Bobby Osborne didn't just change music history for bluegrass audiences. The brothers popularized a song that transcends bluegrass, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's "Rocky Top," and recorded Paul Craft's "Midnight Rider" before The Eagles immortalized it on 1974's On the Border.
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Rhonda Vincent was among the bluegrass and country artists playing tribute online to Sonny.
"Ours hearts grieve from the passing of Sonny Osborne," she wrote on Facebook. "He and his brother Bobby are the greatest influence of our music as The Osborne Brothers. We tried to emulate their harmonies and instrumental arrangements. They became friends and mentors and one of my lifetime highlights was when they joined me for our performance at the Ryman Auditorium where this photo was taken. He was an innovator of a unique banjo style — bold and outspoken, and seldom revealed his soft hearted side. Sending my love and prayers to his entire family."
After his retirement from live performing in the early 2000s, the Bluegrass Hall of Fame inductee contributed his Ask Sonny Anything column to Bluegrass Today.
Sonny died at his home in Hendersonville, Tenn. His cause of death has not been announced.
