Lonesome River Band at the 2025 Osborne Brothers Festival – photo © Roger Black
Gospel night kicked off the 32nd annual Osborne Brothers Hometown Festival on Wednesday, August 6. Dean Osborne led the opening ceremonies and introduced the Yerkes Singers for the first set of the festival. The 10 Minute Gospel Band, Fairway Drive, Mountain Drive, and The Kevin Wilson Band brought five hours of soul stirring gospel music to the Bobby Osborne Pavilion to finish the first night of the festival.
Thursday found the Mountain Heritage Ensemble and The Rockhouse Ensemble from the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music in Hyden taking the stage to get the day’s events started. The Southbound Reunion and Higher Vision/ East Bound bands both turned in sets that got the crowd fired up as Ralph Stanley II and the Clinch Mountain Boys followed by the Queen of Bluegrass Music, Rhonda Vincent and her band, The Rage, finished up the second night of the festival.
Friday started off at noon with a workshop with Paul of Wooton and Adams schooling those who arrived early in the finer points, sounds, and techniques of Old Timey Fiddle Music. Wooton and Adams are also a band that is a product of the Kentucky School of Bluegrass and Traditional Music there in Hyden, KY. Tidalwave Road, a popular band from Williamsburg, KY, followed by local Leslie County favorites, The Creekers and New Outlook, set the stage for The Lonesome River Band, Authentic Unlimited, and the Dean Osborne Band to finish out the night. During the course of the evening the stage was turned over to the Leslie County Volunteer Fire Departments to present awards to the firemen and other first responders that exhibited outstanding service throughout the year. The festival has always been used as a fundraiser for the fire departments of the county.
The final day of the festival got started with the Cody Mountain Boys, New Outlook, and Hillbilly Fever. Kentucky Just Us from Glasgow, KY is alway a crowd pleaser, and this year was no exception with two stellar performances on Saturday. The young ladies of Coaltown Dixie, another crowd favorite, pleased the audience one more time at the Osborne Brothers Festival. The atmosphere was now set for The Grascals and Dave Adkins, along with his band Mountain Soul. Both bands had the fans truly hyped up as they turned in amazing performances.
The cherry on top seemed to be the Osborne Brothers Jam Band featuring Bobby Osborne Jr getting some help from Jamie Johnson of the Grascals, and some of his dad’s former band mates as they recreated much of the music of The Osborne Brothers. Bobby Junior did his dad and uncle’s songs up right. I do believe that Bobby and Sonny would be very proud of him.
With that, the 32nd Annual Osborne Brothers Hometown Festival in Hyden, Kentucky, went into the history books. I am sure that Dean Osborne and his team would like to say thank you for coming to this year’s festival, and hope to see you there next year!
We’ll have more of Roger’s photos over the next few days.
