.brothersosborne won their first Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Last year, T.J. Osborne became the only openly gay artist signed to a major country label. “I am who I am,” he told TIME last year. Read more here: GRAMMYs
With this news, T.J. becomes the only openly gay artist signed to a major country label—a historic moment for the genre. He’s had predecessors, of course: Other openly queer artists, from Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile to masked cowboy Orville Peck to, have found success by integrating country influences into their genre-defying music, and country artists including Chely Wright and Billy Gilman have passionate fanbases. But T.J.
After moving to Nashville, T.J. and John signed a publishing deal, and eventually a record deal. It was around that time, when he was in his mid-twenties, that T.J. first told his brother that he is gay. “He was very open and candid about it, and I was emotional, because my brother was finally able to be completely honest with me about who he was,” John remembers. “How often, in life, do we hold back parts of ourselves and wish that we didn’t?” His reaction when T.J.
Doing this, he hopes, will open up a new world of creative possibilities. It helps that the band already steered away from some of the gendered tropes that can show up in country songwriting. “If our songs were all about, ‘Climb on up in my truck, girl,’ that might really confuse some people,” John laughs.T.J. agrees: “It’s not that I want to write a song that starts…” He begins to croon, and it’s momentarily a shock how rich and robust his baritone is. “” He cringes.
Will conservative radio programmers or rural concertgoers be as eager to play and tailgate a gay artist, even one they already know and love? Both brothers want to believe the answer is yes. “Maybe I’m not giving my fans enough credit,” T.J. says. “Maybe I’m not giving the genre enough credit.” His reasons for doing this now, he says, have nothing to do with wanting to be loved or hated. “I just want to move on,” he says again, and it’s here that I break.
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