Brothers Osborne join Kelleigh Bannen for an interview on Today’s Country Radio for a look at the deluxe version of their latest album, ‘Skeletons.’ John and TJ discuss reworking a Willie Nelson classic, the ups and downs of success, and destigmatizing mental illness. Tune in and listen to the episode in-full today at 11am PT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET or anytime on-demand here.
Brothers Osborne on “Midnight Rider’s Prayer”
JOHN: There’s an element of the song where, yeah, it is amazing that we do these things, but it is a bit dark. I mean, a lot of times it is dark while we’re driving our own van. And I think the thing that explains the song, the line in that song that explains our message, our version of “On the Road Again,” is the bridge where it says, “When your night is ending, ours is just beginning.” So everyone leaves, we’re packing our stuff up, and we’re driving again. And I don’t know, it was just a cool interpretation of the song. TJ had the idea of just using “On the Road Again” on the chorus which oddly works so well. I mean, we can’t outwrite Willie Nelson. Who can? So we asked the permission and fortunately they were cool with it.
Brothers Osborne on Willie Nelson Sharing “Midnight Rider’s Prayer” with Kris Kristofferson
JOHN: When we did the demo, [Willie Nelson] loved it so much he played it for Kris Kristofferson. When we heard that, just the fact that either Willie Nelson and/or Kris Kristofferson even knows we exist in the world-
TJ: Just the fact that they heard it. Whether they liked it or not is one thing. I just think it’s cool that they heard it.
John Osborne on Struggling with Mental Illness
My whole life I’ve dealt with mental illness in my world. I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression throughout my entire life, and I’ve gotten very good at hiding it, but I’ve done a lot of therapy and I medicate even, I’m not ashamed to admit that because I do need help. We all need help. But for me, it was that. I struggled a lot as a teenager. I wasn’t really the cool kid in high school. I was a nerd. I was very sensitive, still am very sensitive, still am a nerd. And I just was the classic tortured musician, even in high school. And it wasn’t easy. It’s amazing now it all paid off eventually, but the road to get here was very hard and it very challenging and it had a lot of turbulence.
John Osborne on Treating Mental Illness
Not to kind of go too deep down the rabbit hole, but everyone genetically is very different and it requires different modalities for everybody. Some people don’t need to medicate. Some people do. Some people need certain therapies. Some people need other therapies. But in that process, it can be very hard and a very long time. But if anyone out there that’s listening to this is struggling with it, just get help, there’s nothing wrong with it. No one cares. No one’s judging you. And also if someone like, I fell and I broke my arm, I have to take some pain meds. Well, obviously, because your arm hurts. We have to treat the same thing with our mental struggles, and just for me therapy and a little bit of medication works and just try to get some good sleep. I mean, it’s easy for some people, and I’ve done this, to rely on alcohol, to kind of get me through an awards show or things like that. But really, you’ve got to focus on yourself and do the work on yourself and you’ll find that those things are a lot easier down the road. All I could say is be patient with yourself in the journey. If I can get there, anyone can get there. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, got to be patient. You’ll reach it.
Brothers Osborne on Not Feeling Alone When It Comes to Mental Health Struggles
TJ: I think it’s important that you, Kelleigh, and John are discussing [mental illness.] Because I’ve definitely felt anxiety, but I wouldn’t say that I have a problem with it, but you know, just those moments, other things in my life where you do feel like I’m crazy, I’m alone in this feeling, what’s wrong with me? And it is nice when other people are dealing with that same thing and you don’t feel alone. John probably felt that way for a while, like I’m stuck in my own world-
JOHN: Yeah, it’s lonely.
TJ: … and I’m spiraling and no one can understand. There are other people, unfortunately lots of people, who are out there struggling with a lot of the same things. So I think it is important that you guys, it’s nice to hear y’all speak about it.
JOHN: Yeah, you’re not alone.
KELLEIGH: You know what, it connects to so much of what’s happened in the last year. TJ even sharing like your story and coming out, it’s like, that’s the thing. We hide ourselves, because we think that’s the only way to be connected because if people really knew me, they would reject me. But the more that we are able to safely share, that is the path to connection.
JOHN: Vulnerability, having true intimate connection between people and allowing yourself to be vulnerable. The outcome is not nearly as bad as you convince yourself it’s going to be.
