Brothers Osborne- Brothers Osborne
Label: EMI
Producer: Mike Elizondo
The brotherly country duo returns for their fourth long-player, a record that both John Osborne and TJ Osborne have emphatically heralded as their most personal outing to date. Of course, that feels like a very cliched proclamation that every artist seems to make upon the release of every record. Given the past few years however, there’s plenty of reason to believe it in this case. In 2021, TJ revealed himself as the only openly gay artist currently signed to a major country label. John’s life meanwhile has seen extreme highs (the arrival of twin children) and lows (struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts). These experiences and the considerable reflections certainly inform the themes found on life-affirming tracks like opener “Who Says You Can’t Have Everything”, lead single “Nobody’s Nobody”, and “Sun Ain’t Even Gone Down Yet”. Accompanying these songs is a noticeably more polished production from pop-rock sonic wizard Mike Elizondo, whose arrival marks the first BrOs LP not to find Jay Joyce at the helm. It’s a significant change, though not one that completely erases the duo’s muscular country-rock sound; that’d be near impossible due to the sheer boom of John’s deep baritone. But even the grittier tracks (“Goodbye’s Kickin’ In”, “New Bad Habit”, the Miranda Lambert collab, “We Ain’t Good At Breaking Up”) have much slicker dressing, and in those moments, it’s difficult not to long for some of the grease and grime that Joyce provided on past albums. We’re given full-blown cross-genre concoctions on “Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That”, with its shameless blend of glitter ball-ready disco strings and 80s synths with John’s searing guitar licks. And then there’s “Rollercoaster (Forever And A Day)”, a gorgeous closer that finds TJ delivering moving Billy Joel-styled piano pop. Brothers Osborne is unquestionably an exercise in contemporary country-pop, but of the 90s-2000s variety, not the 2010s. And that’s an incredibly important distinction to make in terms of assessing its quality. This is a solid and sincere album, and one that becomes increasingly satisfying with each new listen.
Track Listing
- “Who Says You Can’t Have Everything” (TJ Osborne, John Osborne, Casey Beathard)
- “Nobody’s Nobody” (Osborne, Osborne, Mike Elizondo, Kendell Marvel)
- “Might As Well Be Me” (Osborne, Osborne, Julia Bunetta, Corey Crowder)
- “Sun Ain’t Even Gone Down Yet” (Osborne, Osborne, Crowder)
- “Goodbye’s Kickin’ In” (Osborne, Osborne, Elizondo, Lee Thomas Miller)
- “Love You Too” (Osborne, Osborne, Jesse Frasure, Jessie Jo Dillon)
- “New Bad Habit” (Osborne, Osborne, Miller)
- “We Ain’t Good at Breaking Up” featuring Miranda Lambert (Osborne, Osborne, Miranda Lambert, Frasure)
- “Back Home” (Osborne, Osborne, Miller)
- “Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That” (Osborne, Osborne, Stephen Wilson Jr.)
- “Rollercoaster (Forever and a Day)” (Osborne, Osborne, Jamie Hartman)
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