If you are interested in bluegrass, then you probably know that the genre as we know it today began in 1945 with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, which featured Lester Flatt on guitar, Earl Scruggs on banjo, Chubby Wise on fiddle, and Cedric Rainwater on bass, and, of course, Bill on mandolin. Other bands began to play this music, too, such as the Stanley Brothers, Jim and Jesse, Reno and Smiley, Flatt and Scruggs, Jimmy Martin and others. Those are usually referred to as the first generation or the pioneers.

The Osborne Brothers were another such band. Jimmy Martin was with them at first but left to form his own band. For two years after that, the great singer and guitar player Red Allen was in the Osborne Brothers’ band. They recorded 16 tracks together, which I have in a Bear Family set. David Grisman’s label, Acoustic Disc, has just released a live recording of 36 tracks from their performance at New River Ranch in 1957 which you can download here. The photo here was actually taken the same year in Wheeling, West Virginia, and shows their regular bass player, Ray Anderson, who was under the weather and missed the shows presented here. You might also notice that Bobby Osborne is holding a banjo in that photo. The Osbornes were the first bluegrass band to feature double banjo harmony, and they do that on “Ho Honey Ho” on this recording. Indeed, the Osbornes were extremely inventive on vocals, Sonny’s banjo, and Bobby’s mandolin, and they influenced many bands formed later. The liner notes are written by Grisman and by bluegrass historian Neil V. Rosenberg.

There was no fiddler in the band, though there were fiddlers such as Tommy Jackson, Art Stamper, and Gordon Terry on the commercial recordings. Billy Edwards played bass in this appearance. This recording comes from two shows which both start with “Cumberland Gap” and end with “Cripple Creek,” but those are the only overlaps and both are brief. Sonny Osborne plays banjo lead on a short version of “Cumberland Gap,” followed by band introductions. Next they go into the murder ballad “Down in the Willow Garden,” which is a duet by Bobby and Red. When they recorded it, Bobby played harmony banjo, but he plays mandolin in this show. That is followed by “Who Done It?,” which has all three–Bobby, Sonny, and Red–singing on the chorus and Bobby singing lead. Then they play “Love and Wealth,” which was not released on a recording. Next is “Ho Honey Ho,” with the harmony banjos. Then comes “Poison Love,” also not on a recording. Then they sing “That’s How I Can Count on You,” yet another never released previously. The same is true of “After Dark,” and “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” “They Sleep Together Now at Rest,” “Little Maggie,” “Gone Home,” “Darlin’ Corey,” “Fraulein,” “Ground Hog,” “Angel Band,” “Auld Lang Syne,” and “Cripple Creek,” which ends the first show.

As noted, the second show opens again with “Cumberland Gap.” Only one number in this show was ever commercially released, “Ruby,” which was their first hit. After the intro, they do “I Cried Again” which Red sings solo. “Down Where the River Bends” follows. The remaining tracks are “Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky,” “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight,” “Highway of Sorrow,” “Six White Horses,” “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Shortnin’ Bread,” “Paul and Silas,” “Sunny Mountain Chimes,” “In the Pines,” “Pretty Polly,” “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke,” “Mansion on the Hill,” “Ruby,” and “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow.” Again, the show ends with a very short rendition of “Cripple Creek.” Red sings lead on most of these numbers, but Bobby, of course, with his powerful and clear high tenor voice sings “Ruby.”

In the liner notes, Neil Rosenberg remarks that tracks from this show had been circulating for a long time and speculates that my old friend, Mike Seeger, might have recorded it. In any case, these are definitely historically important and very high quality recordings which are well worth listening to.

Recorded by Mike Seeger at New River Ranch in Rising Sun, MD on June 30, 1957.