laceyth9 - Posted - 12/06/2015:  18:08:24

Well put Bill.  I concur.

Tim L.

chuckv97 - Posted - 12/06/2015:  19:52:37

On "Other banjo related topics" forum, Jim Pankey posted a letter from the IBMA ,about this issue. It's worth reading - please do so before cancelling. (I'd transfer it to this thread but don't know how). Bill Evans makes the same point in his above post.

Edited by - chuckv97 on 12/06/2015 19:54:08

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/06/2015:  20:12:55

Sonny,

What was it like backstage at the Opry around Christmas time? Was it business as usual or was the season being felt. I always love hearing the bluegrass and country (real country)  Christmas music.

Ken

fgodbey - Posted - 12/07/2015:  09:17:03

Bill said: "I hope we can get back to talking about Sonny, his music..." 

Yep.

And I'll add, "Happy birthday Bobby O. !"

--Frank

TheChief - Posted - 12/07/2015:  10:05:41

In effect then, you're saying to them "Just go ahead and do us anyway you want, we are old dirty bluegrass, we don't deserve anything!" My whole career has been a struggle to have our music played. Even with national chart records..21 of them..."they" still wouldn't put bluegrass in rotation with country artists. I went to the powers that be, and never got a straight answer to the simple "WHY!"

My subscription is canceled. Money does not over ride principles, to my way of thinking. Right is always right, truth is always truth, and wrong is always wrong!! If they can live with it, I can live without it.

I'm a firm believer in allowing folks to do what suits them, so if you feel they're right, then keep everything status quo, by all means.

s

TheChief - Posted - 12/07/2015:  10:27:34

Ken, backstage at Christmas time was a different feeling and atmosphere...among the artists. Kinder, more friendly, just a good, warm, attitude. They would put up a tree, with about a jillion lights. That was when the Opry was the Opry. I don't really  know if that's changed, I haven't been there in 10 years. I'm sure it would be different for me, so many that I knew are gone, passed from this life but I would imagine it's probably somewhat the same. One can't easily change, or ignore CHRISTMAS.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOBBY.

S

TheChief - Posted - 12/07/2015:  10:35:56

Jan...Bullhead City.

I'm not sure if yours was the only banjo neck made from the Bean Blossom tree. I will run a check and see if I can come up with an answer for you.

I trust you and Mike are in good health and doing well.

s

TheChief - Posted - 12/07/2015:  10:48:17

Chuck from Canada...MERRY CHRISTMAS CHUCK FROM CANADA.

Hey, I read the IBMA letter and sure, it made good sense, but what they, (siriusxm) did was wrong. In my opinion

They refunded my money, and offered free everything...I declined.

s

fgodbey - Posted - 12/07/2015:  10:51:02

Sonny said:  In effect then, you're saying to them "Just go ahead and do us anyway you want, we are old dirty bluegrass, we don't deserve anything!"

I sure hope I didn't come across sounding like that!   This music has been a major part of my life for over 50 years & I resent any & all efforts by whomever to shove it off the map.  I guess what I wanted to point out was that there's a long thread here on the BHO devoted to SeriusXM's crummy decision... go here: banjohangout.org/topic/311996

It's also a topic on Bluegrass Today & Facebook, as well as other forums & lists, and I kinda felt like here on The Chief's channel it was more fun to talk about what Bill Evans mentioned earlier in his post.   FWIW, I don't have satellite radio in my car 'cause it wasn't an option when I upgraded my ride a few years ago & there's no convenient way to add it.  But I DO play lots of CDs.

Anyway, sorry for the confusion; and, once again, Happy Birthday Bobby O.!

--Frank

chuckv97 - Posted - 12/07/2015:  12:24:26

Thank you, Mr. Sonny Osborne! Merry Christmas to you and yours also,, and Happy Birthday to your brother Bobby, who I hear on the Opry regularly. I respect your position with the SiriusXM stuff - it's just that I drive truck and that station keeps me sane when playing in traffic. All the best, Chuck.

---

Originally posted by TheChief

 

Chuck from Canada...MERRY CHRISTMAS CHUCK FROM CANADA.

Hey, I read the IBMA letter and sure, it made good sense, but what they, (siriusxm) did was wrong. In my opinion

They refunded my money, and offered free everything...I declined.

s

---

Aradobanjo - Posted - 12/07/2015:  13:32:17

Hello,

I stayed the course. I found nothing offensive in the decision. Lately, I have the Internet to listen. Good enough. I am not driving at the present. 

TheChief - Posted - 12/07/2015:  14:58:39

Frank, sorry

I didn't intend to single you out. You know me better than to think I would ever do that. What I meant was, in General, if if we stand silent, and allow our music to be pushed around by those who believe it to be not important enough, nor popular enough to warrant keeping it on the air, then "they" are not important enough for me, or anyone else to spend their hard earned dollars to keep their channels on in my car, home, office, or bus. I canceled, and I'm proud of me for doing it. THEY can make all the excuses about rotating or anything else they can come up with, we were singled out. I believe that.

Understand, I'm not directing, dictating, asking anyone else to follow, nor calling for a boycott, that would be stupid of me. I'm merely stating my opinion. Just saying what I did and why. That's all.

And, you know, I could be wrong..after all, I bought an American Motors (formerly Nash) Rambler in  1963!! BUT, I could play "Cripple Creek" once upon a time. 

s

Edited by - TheChief on 12/07/2015 15:02:50

Spike2 - Posted - 12/08/2015:  00:31:30

Thank you, Sonny. I appreciate you doing that. At your convenience, of course. 

What's his name , I mean Mike, is doing fine. This year wasn't so kind to me but in my head I'm still perfect. Lol

Jan....Bullhead. City. 

fgodbey - Posted - 12/08/2015:  11:04:47

Sonny said: "I didn't intend to single you out. You know me better than to think I would ever do that."

Absolutely!  My only fear was that I'd come across with the wrong attitude!  Re. car choices... I drove a Mercury Comet for a while, also ca. 1963... felt like pedaling would get me there faster!

Pressing on: Tonight on the Kentucky Educational Network they will be showing A Kentucky Treasure: The Osborne Brothers Story, at 9:00 pm EST.  It's a documentary produced by KET veteran Russ Farmer & on which my late wife Marty & I were coconspirators.  If I do say so, it turned out very good.  Check it out: ket.org/series/KTROB/

Be prepared for a donations appeal as it's fund-raising week... I don't know if it'll be the case tonight, but sometimes they offer shows like this on DVD as incentives to pitch in.

--Frank

banjoman56 - Posted - 12/08/2015:  16:10:41

Merry Christmas from Ky Sonny and all!

davehicks - Posted - 12/11/2015:  09:07:42

It was the one and only reason I ever subscribed to digital radio. I haven't had it for several years in my own vehicle, but was in my wife's car the other day waiting while she shopped, and scrolled to channel 61, which I couldn't find. I figured she paid for cheaper programming and didn't get it anymore.

TheChief - Posted - 12/12/2015:  07:53:09

Jan...best I have been able to find out, your Chief was the only one with the Bean Blossom tree neck. So that one is truly one of a kind.

Merry Christmas to you and Mike.

s

TheChief - Posted - 12/12/2015:  07:55:33

MERRY CHRISTMAS KOJI IN JAPAN

Tim13 - Posted - 12/12/2015:  13:40:31

quote:

---

Originally posted by bevans

 

 

I hope we can get back to talking about Sonny, his music and his banjos just as soon as possible but I do have one thing to say about the Sirius/XM situation. Sirius/XM pays the artists and labels (and these are sometimes different entities and they are sometimes not) a LOT more than Pandora, Spotify and the new Apple Music streaming service. The checks that even sidemen on a recording receive from SIrius/XM airplay can be pretty good and if you're the featured artist and/or the label (or owner of the recording), you can receive even more. 

For me, the difference is between $100 or more from Sirius/XM airplay in a reporting period and...believe it or not...just 43 cents from combined Pandora and Spotify plays. And that's for 15,000 Pandora & Spotify airplays of one song that I am both the featured performer and the label owner in a three month period - and you read it right, 43 cents. If those 15,000 plays were iTunes purchases at 1.29 cents each, I'd be earning almost $14,000 a quarter after Apple's cut...but as it is right now, it's 43 cents. For Sirius/XM (which doesn't play me 15,000 times in a reporting period - they hardly play me at all, except for Ned Luberecki's show - God bless Ned!), it's still much better - as I indicated above, it can be around $100 per reporting period, for little old me, at any rate. I know of one banjo player who receives 12 times that amount from just being a sideman on various high profile recordings that are getting a lot of airplay.

So...my thought is don't unsubscribe from Sirius/XM but lodge your complaint and hopefully enough of us expressing concern will prevent this from happening again. If Sirius/XM were *totally* gone from the available options, professional bluegrass musicians would definitely feel this in their wallets and purses. The differences for the most popular performers in our genre could be thousands of dollars - literally. And with hardly anyone buying CDs any longer, the royalties from Sirius/XM is one of the bright spots we have for earning income from recordings, even if it's a dim bright spot (if that makes any sense)!

Just my 43 cents, folks!

 

---

I find this insight quite interesting, and I have a couple questions if I may.

--Why the disparity between Pandora and SXM?  I view them as one and the same, a radio station, that pays royalties for "over the air" playing of music.  Clearly that's not true.

--If Sotify, Pandora, and the rest, all pay so poorly, why does any artist put their music on those services?  Seems almost the same as playing a free gig, in hopes of getting hired by someone else...

--Do you get royalties from other internet radio stations like The Front Porch, and BluegrassMix?

Forty three cents!  Unbelievable.  That's almost insulting.  Pandora has to be making out quite handsomely.

Tim

Edited by - Tim13 on 12/12/2015 13:42:37

Spike2 - Posted - 12/14/2015:  00:34:40

Sonny, thank you so much for the information about my Chief. It's nice owning the only Chief with the Beanblossom walnut neck to go with the special Greg Rich engraving. Yep, it is one of a kind for sure. 

Merry Christmas to you and Judy, too. 

Jan

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/15/2015:  16:28:19

My wife is driving the car with Sirius and she told me the Bluegrass is back on and the display on the radio says bluegrass again.

ken

HPNomad - Posted - 12/16/2015:  18:08:50

Hey Sonny, I sent you a couple of emails a few weeks ago not knowing I could just reach you on here. Thanks for giving me answers to my questions and Merry Christmas to you and Bobby.

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/16/2015:  19:39:11

quote:

---

Originally posted by From Greylock to Bean Blossom

 

My wife is driving the car with Sirius and she told me the Bluegrass is back on and the display on the radio says bluegrass again.

ken

---

My bad, it was scheduled to resume now. I did not think it was scheduled to resume for a few days. Sorry.

Ken

TheChief - Posted - 12/17/2015:  18:07:03

Corey, glad I could help.

s

laceyth9 - Posted - 12/18/2015:  19:23:14

Hey Sonny! I just got home from the Schuster Center in Dayton where my wife and I watched The Nutcracker for the very first time. I was disappointed to discover there were no banjos in the ballet! I did discover though that the old Rikes Store's animated Christmas window displays had been preserved/restored and were there in the Schuster Center for all to see. Those displays go back a very long time and I bet you saw them as a kid. My wife and I stood and watched every one of them. Very neat.

Merry Christmas from Dayton!

Tim L.
Chief #5

HPNomad - Posted - 12/19/2015:  21:30:27

Sonny,

Has either you or Bobby considered writing a book on the history of The Osborne Brothers?

TheChief - Posted - 12/21/2015:  14:05:52

A book you say? Not together, my own book is in the working stage now however...when it will be completed is a good guess.Bill Evans is working on it as we speak.

S

HPNomad - Posted - 12/22/2015:  01:03:08

quote:

---

Originally posted by TheChief

 

A book you say? Not together, my own book is in the working stage now however...when it will be completed is a good guess.Bill Evans is working on it as we speak.

S

---

Eagerly awaiting, Sonny!

caloscalzo - Posted - 12/26/2015:  14:14:03

Excited to hear that Bill Evans is working on your book.  That will be a great and needed read.

Still loving my Chief.  What a great instrument.

Hope you had a great Christmas Sonny.

Craig

TheChief - Posted - 12/27/2015:  07:56:38

ROCKY TOP HAD A BIRTHDAY ON DECEMBER 25. IT WAS 48 YEARS OLD.

I've done this professionally since I was 14 years old and Rocky Top is the only song with a release date of December 25. I'm sure there are more, but I'm not aware of them, if they do exist. 

The flip side of that Decca single was...fittingly...MY FAVORITE MEMORY.

Thank you LORD.

s 

Timeless1952 - Posted - 12/27/2015:  11:18:48

Rocky Top was just another up tempo song wasn't it ????   LOL!!!    You know I'm kidding right.

K

chief3 - Posted - 12/27/2015:  11:43:29

A blessing sure enough but I think the success of Rocky Top had something to do with the band who laid it down. And that's another blessing right there.

TheChief - Posted - 12/27/2015:  12:58:07

"JUST ANOTHER BLUEGRASS SONG" is exactly what we thought it would amount to when we did it. It was released as the B side of the record. MY FAVORITE MEMORY, THE A SIDE was gonna be our salvation. We were all wrong.

Thank goodness for being wrong. ROCKY TOP was, and still is, a career maker. It lives on, and on, and on.

s

TheChief - Posted - 12/27/2015:  13:03:21

Corey...I had an uncle in the Navy during the 2nd World War.

Thank you for your service.

s

bbanjoboy - Posted - 12/27/2015:  13:25:42

Well as for me.. I'd rather here 'my favorite memory' any day of the week.. buy I must say.. Rocky Top was always what they wanted to hear when I played for a living.. it got us a lot of bookings and it was always fun to play.. because I knew that when we played it, it was quiting time!.. LOL

chuckv97 - Posted - 12/27/2015:  19:47:49

When we played bars in the '70's Rocky Top always got the people singing along - real loud sometimes.lol. Depending on the night, it was no.1 for applause, up there with FMB, OBS, and the Ballad of Jed Clampett. (But I could never get the right phrasing on the kickoff to Rocky Top like Sonny did).

bbanjoboy - Posted - 12/27/2015:  20:08:56

Rocky top is to bluegrass what Freebird is to rock n roll

Ceres Banjo Works - Posted - 12/28/2015:  05:33:05

Bigger.

---

Originally posted by bbanjoboy

 

Rocky top is to bluegrass what Freebird is to rock n roll

---

Lynne - Posted - 12/28/2015:  14:57:44

I hid a post and those reacting to it, that was unnecessary and not relevant . Plus it was just not right

Timeless1952 - Posted - 12/28/2015:  16:59:59

Oh My!!

K

HPNomad - Posted - 12/28/2015:  19:18:57

quote:

---

Originally posted by TheChief

 

Corey...I had an uncle in the Navy during the 2nd World War.

Thank you for your service.

s

---

Thanks Sonny, I'm just doin' my job and living off navy pay. What was your uncle's job during the war?

TheChief - Posted - 12/28/2015:  21:37:09

Not sure, I think he was on a carrier ship,

He did a lot of painting and scraping.

s

TheChief - Posted - 12/29/2015:  11:11:45

Wonder what MR. Moderator took off? I like that, although it might have been me...if so I deserved it, I guess.

Thanks MR. moderator for riding herd on us.

S

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 12/29/2015:  11:15:25

Sounds like it was probably a Chicago Cubs fan saying they were going to win the NL Central next year,.

Ken

chuckv97 - Posted - 12/29/2015:  11:37:51

I can never figure why people can confuse Osmond with Osborne anyway. O well.



Years ago there was a guy by the name of Mark Osborne on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bill Hewitt, who owned country music radio station CKFH with his dad Foster, was the Leafs play-by-play man. One time he exclaimed excitedly,"And here comes Sonny Osborne flying up the wing!" Me and my brother cracked a rib over that one. 😆

Edited by - chuckv97 on 12/29/2015 11:38:33

HPNomad - Posted - 12/29/2015:  13:44:19

quote:

---

Originally posted by TheChief

 

Not sure, I think he was on a carrier ship,

He did a lot of painting and scraping.

s

---

Sounds like he was a Boatswain's Mate!

HPNomad - Posted - 12/29/2015:  13:51:41

quote:

---

Originally posted by chuckv97

 

I can never figure why people can confuse Osmond with Osborne anyway. O well.



Years ago there was a guy by the name of Mark Osborne on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bill Hewitt, who owned country music radio station CKFH with his dad Foster, was the Leafs play-by-play man. One time he exclaimed excitedly,"And here comes Sonny Osborne flying up the wing!" Me and my brother cracked a rib over that one. ��

---

There's a band out there that YouTube likes to confuse The Osborne Brothers with. I guess it's one of those indie bands that do the stomp and shout "Hey!" thing. I think they're called the Brothers Osborne (Yes, I'm being serious)

as606 - Posted - 12/29/2015:  15:41:04

Sonny,
I recently bought a copy of Carl Smith "Sings Bluegrass",I was just wandering do you have any recollections of that session. Maybe other musicians,or any other information. Sounds like you played your 6 string on it. There are no credits on the back of the record jacket,unfortunately. Great record! Thanks in advance.

Edited by - as606 on 12/29/2015 15:43:23

TheChief - Posted - 12/31/2015:  09:53:20

Carl Smith was a very good personal friend and some might not know but Carl was one of the biggest, most popular Country music artists of the 50s. The first Artist to hire a drummer as a band member, and to have drums on the Grand Ole Opry. (Buddy Harmon) He loved Bluegrass music and was really pleased to do this album. When we did shows with him, or see him at the Opry he would always find us and say how much he wanted the job of singing and playing guitar with us. Of course he was kidding, but I do believe Bobby took him seriously. He grew up with Bluegrass music, from the Knoxville area.                  

Bobby played mandolin, Curly Chalker steel, Ray Edenton guitar, Tommy Jackson Fiddle, Johnny Virgin drums, Carl guitar, Bob Moore, Lightning Chance, or Henry Strzlecki, Bass. I knew Henry pretty well but I never could figure out the spelling of his last name. SORRY!

It was a fun album although MR. Chalker was not the most agreeable guy I have known. Incidentally he also played Dobro on the album too. Throughout the sessoins he gave the impression that he was belittling himself for being there. One must remember though that Curly Chalker was one of the premier steel players of that time and was almost like an embarrassment to him to be doing a Bluegrass album. That was in the mid 60s and Bluegrass was not as well known on the West coast, which was where he had come from. Great player, however it just didn't work out for him in Nashville.

S