Brothers Osborne electrifying, encouraging
A fascinating thing happened at the Brothers Osborne concert at the Palace on Saturday night.
About halfway through their set, lead singer TJ Osborne addressed the crowd. After acknowledging the challenges of the pandemic, Osborne noted how he used that time to selfreflect and publicly come out as gay last year.
The audience cheered, and he went on to comment that he initially “feared the worst” in terms of audience reaction, but he’s found encouragement in a response like the one from the Albany crowd. Brothers Osborne then unveiled a new song called “Younger Me,” a mid-tempo number indebted more to indie rock than pop-country, augmented by a well-made video highlighting LGBTQ people of multiple races and genders. Upon its conclusion, the fans gave it an effusive response and the brothers followed it up with a red-hot rendition of the rollicking “Rum.”
It’s 2021; none of that should be a big deal and the audience on Saturday treated sex and gender with the same feel-good cheer it treated established countryplaylist hits like “Stay a Little Longer.” But given the negative stereotypes of the country genre and its fanbase, this moment (combined with alt-country singer Orville Peck’s strong set at Empire Live a mere month ago) offers a sign that the definition of what it means to be country is expanding.
There’s a new generation of listeners and performers rooted in the country tradition, butsubtly broadening its possibilities. A flawless acoustic cover of “Folsom Prison Blues” and a rapturously received rendition of their duet with Dierks Bentley, “Burning Man,” highlight how Brothers Osborne can fit nicely into the traditional country landscape.
Songs like the brothers’ “Shoot Me Straight” are of the stomping Southern rock/outlaw country variety, but lead guitarist John Osborne offered up a torrid outro solo more befitting an arena rock show. Penultimate track “Ain’t My Fault” rocked, coming off like the bastard child of ZZ Top and AC/ DC.
This served to highlight something about the audience at the nearly sold-out show, which was wildly enthusiastic and pretty much universally standing throughout the 90minute set. They appreciate and are deeply into the tried-andtrue sounds of country. But much like Brothers Osborne, they’re operating off other noncountry cultural reference points as well. That could be the Rolling Stones, as evidenced by their appreciation of a cover of “Honky Tonk Women,” the ’80s arena rock swagger that was brought to “Dead Man’s Curve,” “I’m Not for Everyone” and “All Night,” which saw the brothers dressed in day-glo jumpsuits amid massive glow-in-the-dark skeletons brought on-stage for a very fun finale.
Opening act Tenille Townes’ 45-minute set was entertaining. She touched on ’90s female alternative rock with songs “White Horse” and “Comeasyou Are,” but it was a pair of covers that really helped her win over the fans. First was a cover of U2’s “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” that Townes successfully urged swaths of concertgoers to sing along to. The second was a fun, straightforward spin on Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ “I Hate Myself For Loving You.”
Townes also joined Brothers Osborne during their set on that previously mentioned “Honkytonk Women,” where she sang hard and clearly had a lot of fun.