Bluegrass musician Bobby Osborne, who helped popularize the track “Rocky Prime,” died early Tuesday, in accordance with an announcement from the school the place he labored. He was 91.
Osborne and his brother Sonny made up The Osborne Brothers, and their model of the track “Rocky Prime” in 1967 turned an official state track of Tennessee, his web site mentioned. Osborne was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Worldwide Bluegrass Music Corridor of Fame.
“To say he was a legend falls wanting the influence he had on all of us,” mentioned Paul Schiminger, interim government director on the Worldwide Bluegrass Music Affiliation. “An revolutionary musical pioneer, Bobby set and held the gold customary for bluegrass vocals.”
Whereas Osborne and his brother can be remembered by many for the track “Rocky Prime,” Schiminger mentioned that hardly scratches the floor of the numerous songs they recorded and carried out.
A local of Hyden, Kentucky, Osborne taught on the Hazard Group and Technical School’s Kentucky College of Bluegrass and Conventional Music in Leslie County for a number of years.
In January, he acquired the Governor’s Awards within the Arts for his dedication to sharing Kentucky’s wealthy historical past within the arts all over the world.
Osborne was nonetheless performing and instructing final yr when he advised WYMT-TV that “so long as I can open my mouth and sing, I ain’t going to give up.”
Hazard Group and Technical School President Jennifer Lindon mentioned the college was deeply saddened to study Osborne’s loss of life.
“He was a pioneer within the Bluegrass music trade and a champion for Jap Kentucky,” she mentioned.
