Anders Osborne is a strange character. I first heard his music by way of my hometown band The Frank Stalloners. The Stalloners were playing at a festival in Pennsylvania called Equifunk in 2010, and one of the acts performing there, was Anders Osborne. He came out on stage with a Billy Gibbons like beard, and a shaggy top. He unassumingly wore jeans and a t-shirt, and was accompanied by a drummer and a bassist. Ok, I thought, that's what we're here for right? To hear some music, drink a few beers, get nuts? Well, it didn't take long before I was sold. The man shreds. He's got a great, distinctive voice, and undeniable songwriting talent. He looks like a man from the dirt, and his songs have that earthy, stripped down, honest quality to them. But the guy can really play a guitar. He's not sloppy, but its not entirely clean either. He's located a nice point of existence between the two, that clearly displays his chops, but intentionally muddies it up a little. At times it was straight up beat driven, hardrock/blues. At others, it was a bit more melodic and soulful. But one thing was for sure, it was always heartfelt.
A song or two through his set I turned around, as I was standing in the front row. There was Danny and Matty brotherly shoving each other proclaiming that they had found the next great act. And it was true. Anders became a staple in all of our playlists. I purchased some of his albums and I listened to them extensively, and still do. He's very original, and his influences are very diverse. He was born and raised in Sweden, but by sixteen, he was hitchhiking his way across the world. Literally. He played music in Europe, The Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, before finally settling down in New Orleans. Kind of perfect no? And you can hear a range of different sounds, but that New Orleans flavor permeates the entire palette. I've seen videos of him doing shows as a three piece where he replaces the bassist with a Tubist. You've got to love that. Maybe I'm a novice, but I have not seen a lot of that in my day.
Anders, as mentioned, is also a very accomplished songwriter. He was for-hire on the Nashville scene for quite some time, and his song "Watch the Wind Blow By" was recorded by Tim Mcgraw. It hit No.1 and sold over 3 million albums. He's got a nice collection of albums of his own, my favorites of which would be Ash Wednesday Blues(2001), Tipitina's Live 2006(2006), Coming Down(2007), and American Patchwork(2010). Though in fairness, I haven't really heard a lot of his early stuff from the late 80's, early 90's.
I also met Anders once outside a benefit concert he was performing at under the title of the "Wetland All-Stars." Now I've met famouses before (that's a Nick Rubino term), but I never gush over, interrupt, or bother them. However, it just so happened that Anders was entering the event at the Hiro Ballroom at the same time Kim and I were. I figured, fuck it, this guy's not that famous and I justified an "excuse me, you're Anders Osborne right? I saw you at Equifunk in 2010, you were awesome man!" Anders turned to me, looked me dead in the eye and said kind of dismissively, "yea man." Then he walked away. Immediately, I felt stupid, which was only compounded by Kimi's all-to-pertinent exclamation, "your a fag." We definitely had a good laugh, because it was out of character for me, and it taught me a valuable lesson; just keep your mouth shut and don't bother the talent.
"My Old Heart" is off the album Coming Down, which has some very heartfelt, stripped down songs and is overall a little less heavy than some of his other albums. That's musically. His lyrics are something else to behold on this one. They're an honest reflection of his emotions about himself. Its very personal, very insightful. He admits his faults, his past, his problems, and in doing so he's "coming down" to earth, to the reality of it all. This is nothing new for Anders, but this soulful introspection is something that he does better than almost anyone else I've ever heard. "My Old Heart," is a great example of this. It's a sad yet soothing gem, that I haven't stopped listening to since I first heard it.
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