The Brothers Osborne made a triumphant return to the Washington, D.C., area on Saturday, playing a 19-song homecoming set in front of a sold out, rowdy and boisterous audience at The Anthem.
The Grammy-nominated duo, fronting a muscular six-piece band that is touring in support of their second album “Port Saint Joe,” showed their musical chops with a series of extended jams that played as well to the back of the arena as it did to the front.
John Osborne, the oldest and the band’s lead guitarist, shredded throughout the set while TJ played acoustic and took on the vocal duties. Their enthusiasm and joy at playing in the nation’s capital, located only 30 miles from their hometown of Deale, Md., was palpable.
“We have been touring for years, inching her way up the ladder,” John told People magazine before the Grammys, for which the band earned two nominations. “Our shows have been getting crazier in terms of the crowd response. It’s been over the top lately. Every show is now starting to feel like that.”
Opening with four songs from “Port Saint Joe,” released last April, the band drove hard and fast through “Drank Like Hank” before moving into “Shoot Me Straight” — the first extended jam of the night. They then slowed things down with the lovely “I Don’t Remember Me Before You” and the laidback “Weed, Whiskey and Willie,” allowing the crowd to sing the chorus.
The rest of the evening was more of the same, a back and forth between the band and its adoring audience, which has seen the brothers become part of a growing segment of country that manages to blend rock, jazz and jam band elements. The group has a track on Maren Morris’ second album that comes out next month, and opener Ruston Kelly is the husband of Kasey Musgraves.
“I feel like we are at that tipping point in terms of our audience,” John Osborne said in the People interview. “Since we started touring this year, it just feels like something has changed. It feels different. We have found our people and our people are finding us.”
As long as the band continues to build on its first two albums, both of which were heavily showcased Saturday along with a mix of covers that included Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road,” more people will continue to find them.
I also hope more people will find Ruston Kelly, who released his debut album “Dying Star” in September. The 14-song album is a frank look at Kelly’s substance abuse and near-fatal overdose. With his father, pedal steel guitarist Tim “T.K.” Kelly, and sister in the band, Kelly showed punk, emo and pop influences in his performance, ending the show with the confessional track “Asshole.”
Brothers Osborne Setlist:
“Drank Like Hank”
“Shoot Me Straight”
“I Don’t Remember Me (Before You)”
“Weed, Whiskey and Willie”
“Greener Pastures”
“Down Home”
“Rum”
“Burning Man” (Dierks Bentley cover)
“Tequila Again”
“21 Summer”
“Copperhead Road” (Steve Earle cover)
“Stay a Little Longer”
“It Ain’t My Fault”
“A Couple Wrongs Makin’ It Alright”
“Pushing Up Daisies (Love Alive)”
“Shoot from the Hip”
“Heart Shaped Locket”
“Love the Lonely Out of You”
“Pawn Shop”
http://www.brothersosborne.com/