El Dobro - Posted - 02/09/2018:  17:58:55

quote:

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Originally posted by TheChief

I do have the Red Wing jersey. Would not part with it.

s

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How about the Devils hat? 

Nathan Nisley - Posted - 02/09/2018:  19:25:55

I just found this cool recording on YouTube. That's some great singing! WOW! youtube.com/watch?v=9N3uaajOAq4 A question for Mr. Osborne: Are those D-tuners on your banjo in the picture from the video? they looked sort of like your ugly tuners. Also, is that banjo the RB-3 that had the bow-tie fingerboard?

TheChief - Posted - 02/09/2018:  21:28:39

The banjo in  that picture is a 1929 Raised head RB3. I sent it to Gibson in 1953 for a fret job and when I got it back it had the Bow Tie inlay.

The tuners were made by Haze Hall in Knoxville (1953) and are of the cam design with stainless steel cover. UGLIES are quite a bit different looking and they work perfectly...every time. These tuners didn't work very well, but it was in the early days of D tuners...so, they were free. I think he made Earl a set too...Earl and Lester worked down the street at WNOX AM Radio and we worked UP the street at WROL AM Radio. Earl was 30 and Lester 42. 

That photo was taken in 1954 or 55 in the CKLW TV studio in Windsor Ontario, Canada. We did a show from there every Friday, and then WJR in Detroit Saturday. We were children. I was 17 and Bobby was 23..Jimmy was 27.

S

c

Edited by - TheChief on 02/09/2018 21:29:31

TheChief - Posted - 02/09/2018:  21:34:04

Don, I don't think I have a Devils hat but will Pay for it if you'll get one for me. You know, we almost got them..The Devils, here...I think we made the offer, and they said NO.

s

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 02/10/2018:  05:05:08

Sonny,
It looks like you did not have an armrest on that 29 archtop?
Ken

TheChief - Posted - 02/10/2018:  08:15:21

No arm rest...the bracket broke...actually the part of the arm rest that is welded and holds it to be banjo.

Did you notice the mute just behind the bridge. Those banjos were characteristically thin and didn't have much sustain. The mute really helped clean up those things.  

s

rbfour5 - Posted - 02/10/2018:  08:22:14

Sonny- Did that mute just "clamp" on to the strings and touch the back of the bridge, or just behind the bridge. What material was it made of? That's a new one to me.

Dean

El Dobro - Posted - 02/10/2018:  14:16:00

quote:

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Originally posted by TheChief

Don, I don't think I have a Devils hat but will Pay for it if you'll get one for me. You know, we almost got them..The Devils, here...I think we made the offer, and they said NO.

s

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I'll dig one up for you. Oh, thanks for taking care of Rourke.

TheChief - Posted - 02/11/2018:  10:12:02

Don, the interview is airing tomorrow on WUSB. I didn't realize Stoney Brook is on Long Island. Kentucky played them in a basketball game a couple years ago and I wondered where it was. I just found out...! 

The interview?

I thought about 20 minutes max. It lasted one hour and 25 minutes. Probably the longest interview I've ever done...certainly if not THE longest, it would rank as a strong "one of!" Rourke had done his job and was quite good.

s

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/11/2018:  16:10:49

Thnx Sonny. I take it the interview airs on this program between 6 and 8pm (EDT)?
wusb.fm/node/50253

TheChief - Posted - 02/12/2018:  06:46:08

Hey Chuck v;

I only know Rourke told me the interview is on today. No time, just "today."  wusb.fm/node/50253 For those of you who want to listen. On your computer...I guess it's world wide... Surprise surprise...I just checked the time is 6-8 pm. Eastern time. 

Lincoln's birthday. ..his 209th. 

s

Edited by - TheChief on 02/12/2018 07:00:26

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/12/2018:  08:40:40

Thnx again, Sonny. Looks like if you miss it ,(like me - I’ll be at the Blackhawks/Coyotes game), it’s available later on too. wusb.fm/station/playlists/50253

TheChief - Posted - 02/12/2018:  13:25:24

Good guy, Country singer, Rhonda Vincent's recent singing partner, former neighbor, DARYL SINGLETARY passed from this life today. Blood clot, massive heart attack. Pure country. Sad day.

s

Brett - Posted - 02/12/2018:  13:28:06

just saw that and what a tremendous country singer we've lost as far too young an age. A FINE vocalist.

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/12/2018:  13:34:14

My condolences to his wife and family.

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 02/12/2018:  14:04:04

Man, he was the real deal. He was country.  This is way too early. Here is is last song in Lafayette, Louisiana this last Saturday . Eerie like Johnny Horton:

rollingstone.com/country/news/...n-w516624

"Old Violin" Lyrics

Daryle Singletary

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 02/12/2018:  14:07:30

This to me is a definition of country: Daryle and Rhonda. wow.

youtube.com/watch?v=ge0_jcAKLKU

ken

Edited by - From Greylock to Bean Blossom on 02/12/2018 14:11:45

Brett - Posted - 02/12/2018:  17:31:44

Johnny paycheck wrote old violin. Powerful song very few could pull off.

monstertone - Posted - 02/15/2018:  12:18:34

quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

Thnx Sonny. I take it the interview airs on this program between 6 and 8pm (EDT)?

wusb.fm/node/50253

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Was this interview recorded? Is it still available to view or listen? I can get to the website, but I cannot, for the life of me, get it to play this interview. Any & all suggestions appreciated.

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/15/2018:  13:04:49

Hi jd. No, I can’t get it either. I registered but I guess they don’t archive the programs. Darn.

TheChief - Posted - 02/15/2018:  16:19:34

That interview was done by phone and was supposed to be aired on February 12th. I forgot about it so I don't actually know if it was on or not. El Dobro might know as I understand he is a friend of Rourke, the interviewer.

s

monstertone - Posted - 02/15/2018:  16:24:25

Yeah, I can get it to play,,,,hip hop rat ****

Edited by - monstertone on 02/15/2018 16:24:51

ManjoMan - Posted - 02/19/2018:  04:45:38

I finally got another Chief banjo. The "Chief" himself arranged for a trade with someone and I am so grateful. I got a Rocky Top model built in 2013 and I am extremely pleased with it. It is a great sounding banjo. Thanks again for helping me with this and spending some time reminiscing.

Northeastcountry - Posted - 02/19/2018:  19:56:10

quote:

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Originally posted by TheChief

That interview was done by phone and was supposed to be aired on February 12th. I forgot about it so I don't actually know if it was on or not. El Dobro might know as I understand he is a friend of Rourke, the interviewer.

s

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Here's a link to a WORKING archive of the interview.

Part 1: drive.google.com/file/d/1mvzqm...p=sharing

Part 2: drive.google.com/file/d/1aE9jv...p=sharing

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/19/2018:  22:23:23

Thnx for posting that, Northeastcountry. I enjoyed listening to the interview. I especially like the Chet Atkins story Sonny told. Hilarious.

TheChief - Posted - 02/20/2018:  09:46:06

Hey, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Rourke is good. I enjoyed it although Mr. JD Jones said it was nothing but                             "hip hop rat ****   ....Interesting huh. 

Thank you northeastcountry for the post.

s

monstertone - Posted - 02/20/2018:  10:32:48

quote:

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Originally posted by TheChief

Hey, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Rourke is good. I enjoyed it although Mr. JD Jones said it was nothing but                             "hip hop rat ****   ....Interesting huh. 

Thank you northeastcountry for the post.

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Sorry for the misunderstanding Sonny. I tried several times to get those two earlier links to play, but all I could ever get was hip hop. Now it could have just been the intro or a commercial, I don't know. I can't stand that stuff, so I shut it off. But the two links that Northeastcountry posted this morning worked, flawlessly. Thank you for posting that. Good stuff. You & Bobby put out some great music. I would never refer any of it as rat **** 

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/20/2018:  10:34:10

Good of you to mention the Banjo HangOut, Sonny. I was surprised to hear you were thinking of quitting in the late ‘70’s, and that the Granada kept you interested. I saw you and Bobby and the band in Vancouver in ‘78 or ‘79, an afternoon date at the folk club, on a Sunday yet. You were humming along real good that day.

Edited by - chuckv97 on 02/20/2018 10:35:54

TheChief - Posted - 02/20/2018:  16:18:32

Hey JD we all say and do things that sound different from how they were meant. I do it maybe a hundred times a day. I thought it was funny. Hip Hop rat ....! Heck it IS funny... ME? I never liked to hear myself talk...NEVER. Talk in circles, and don't make sense half the time.

s

TheChief - Posted - 02/20/2018:  16:23:54

Chuck...My goodness, 40 years ago...I remember Vancouver...Had some really good Chinese that day. Not far from the venue, we walked. Long time ago. 

s

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/20/2018:  17:48:43

wow, you remember that gig ! I was walking up the street with my banjo and saw your bus parked on the curb,,with tinted windows I couldn’t make out who was sitting near the front but I waved anyway , saw a couple of arms go up to wave back. You guys were my musical heroes, so I never forgot it.

El Dobro - Posted - 02/22/2018:  08:20:01

The Brothers Osborne, any relation?

TheChief - Posted - 02/22/2018:  10:46:47

None. California guys I believe, although I don't know that for fact. Our interpretation of music and theirs are worlds apart. 

s

Brett - Posted - 02/22/2018:  11:18:03

Mr. Sonny, just started listening to the interview, I was unfamiliar with the intro song. Sort of a blues thing that speeds up for blues banjo break, then back down. Something about if you're gonna be my woman, I think. Was that you singing lead? I think I caught your voice but wanted to make sure. And, I'm guessing (due to the banjo sound) that is the low tuned "fat" banjo maybe with the deep vega resonator setup (Vegavox pot?), I'm guessing was tuned to open E maybe with really heavy strings? Looking forward to the remainder of the interview.

El Dobro - Posted - 02/22/2018:  17:30:54

quote:

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Originally posted by TheChief

None. California guys I believe, although I don't know that for fact. Our interpretation of music and theirs are worlds apart. 

s

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Yea, they didn't sound like something that would be on the Opry.

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 02/23/2018:  09:27:07

Sonny,
Do you ever go back to that mountain cabin area that you lived in when you were young? What is it like now?
Ken

ManjoMan - Posted - 02/23/2018:  09:32:37

quote:

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Originally posted by Brett

Mr. Sonny, just started listening to the interview, I was unfamiliar with the intro song. Sort of a blues thing that speeds up for blues banjo break, then back down. Something about if you're gonna be my woman, I think. Was that you singing lead? I think I caught your voice but wanted to make sure. And, I'm guessing (due to the banjo sound) that is the low tuned "fat" banjo maybe with the deep vega resonator setup (Vegavox pot?), I'm guessing was tuned to open E maybe with really heavy strings? Looking forward to the remainder of the interview.

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I would like a shot at the answer. The song, as you are describing it, is "Gal, You Gotta Job To Do" and Sonny did sing that one I believe. I played that song for my son-in-law just before he married my daughter...

TheChief - Posted - 02/23/2018:  14:58:09

Gal You Got A Job To Do.Payed Robbie Robinson's Ome I think. He wa doing some restoration on the RB3 that Aaron has now. I borrowed that banjo till mine was done.

That is me doing the lead on that song. The fat banjo..a Vega...was made for and used on The Kinda Woman I Got. Loose head and heavier strings. I still have it.

I do go back to Hyden occasionally but it's not as much fun as some years ago. We were born in a three room cabin across from the high school about half way up the mountain. A tree has fallen through the house, and there isn't much left of it. There is a Beech tree just about 10 feet from the highway that has my uncle Boyce Dixon's initials carved into it...BD 1941. I think that it is route 80, now known as Osborne Way, (I believe)

s

chuckv97 - Posted - 02/23/2018:  21:48:54

Hope you don’t mind me posting this, Sonny. I get curious about roads and names...and it looks like another street named after J.C. Osborne.

HYDEN — Take the Hyden exit off the Hal Rogers Parkway, and one's car is immediately on the "Tim Couch Pass."



The road is named for the hometown football hero who went on to become a University of Kentucky sports icon.



“To get into Hyden, the Leslie County seat, one turns left off the Tim Couch Pass onto the "Osborne Brothers Way."



The road is named for the hometown Bluegrass Music act, brothers Bobby and Sonny Osborne, who went on to record and popularize the song — Rocky Top — that became a University of Tennessee sports anthem.” - from “kentucky.com/sports”

Edited by - chuckv97 on 02/23/2018 21:50:53

Texican65 - Posted - 02/23/2018:  21:53:36

I love all your music Sonny, but especially your early Vega stuff...I’m a Vega nut! I’ve got a ‘63 Scruggs Vega that I had restored and it’s a completely different animal now. Your Vegas always sounded so AMAZING to me...I’m surprised to hear you say that the head was loose on the one from “The kind of woman I got”...because the tone sounded so good....I really liked the ending especially. Can you remember what you had it tightened to? Thanks brother.

Dow

TheChief - Posted - 02/24/2018:  06:32:48

The head on that recording was probably, just guessing (I had not heard of a drum dial in the 60's) I would think about 87 as opposed to 91 which is where all Chief banjos are set. I also used heavier gauge strings for that song. (12,14,16, 24,12)  

The workmanship was impeccable, they sounded and recorded good, and they played so...well...easy. I wish they could have continued but when the Martin Guitar Co. bought them out I stopped hearing about Vega instruments until more recently when Deering bought the Vega name. They were unique animals for sure.

Some folks said they had seen Earl play a Vega, I didn't. However, I played and recorded with all 5 models they gave me. Bill Nelson, with whom I dealt was easy to talk to and honest, in that he did every thing he said he would do in the 8 years of my association with that company...unlike most.

Kenny Ingram, who has played the Roll Muddy River banjo for the past several years knows more about the technical part of Vega than I. (Scale, different tone rings, etc.) Perhaps he will enlighten us????

s 

Edited by - TheChief on 02/24/2018 06:47:09

gibson49classic - Posted - 02/24/2018:  06:58:39

I love my 1968 Vega Sonny Osborne Model! Plays like butter and sounds pretty darn good too.

 

Texican65 - Posted - 02/24/2018:  09:34:48

Wow, thanks a lot Sonny, all that Vega talk is mighty interesting to me. When I had my Scruggs Vega restored...I provided several sound clips from YouTube of you playing a couple of yours...and I said to the man...this is the sound I want...you get this Scruggs to sound like Sonny’s Vegas and I’ll be happy. Once finished, he did wonders for it, it wasn’t set up very well from the factory...had a 1/4” gap in the neck/rim fit...but it can’t sound like yours because that would take you playing it! :)

Which LP from the old days represents your best Vega sound/playing....I’d like to hunt it down and give it a listen.

Thanks Sonny!

Dow

El Dobro - Posted - 02/25/2018:  06:11:14

quote:

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Originally posted by TheChief

 

Some folks said they had seen Earl play a Vega, I didn't. 

s 

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There's also a photo of Earl playing a Vega on stage in Pete Seeger's banjo book. Still looking for the photo of Earl's Vega Granada.

Edited by - El Dobro on 02/25/2018 06:12:33

 

Bronx banjo - Posted - 02/25/2018:  08:59:11

Notice Lester playing a Vega guitar.

TheChief - Posted - 02/27/2018:  08:57:32

Interesting...Lester playing a Vega Guitar, Earl playing a Vega banjo. So...Vega Guitars were pretty good and I know the banjos were very good. So...Didn't Martin Guitar Co. purchase Vega? Just sayin'....!Naw...surely not!  I'm just funnin' with you!

s

Bronx banjo - Posted - 02/27/2018:  11:29:09

No worries. We've all seen the picture of Earl playing a Kay. I bet he made it sound fine.

El Dobro - Posted - 02/27/2018:  15:04:34

I wonder if the video of that photo exists.

Texican65 - Posted - 02/27/2018:  16:54:03

I’ve looked and looked for that video. I figured it’s got to be somewhere...of that was well into the motion picture age...if they had a camera and were taking photos...surely there has to be a video. Dig into Dobro.

Edited by - Texican65 on 02/27/2018 16:54:36