Photo: Getty Images
John Osborne shared the powerful meaning behind the “massive chest tattoo” he got when he had a day off of work. though the Brothers Osborne artist said it possibly started as a way to “cling to my youth” with two babies on the way, a quote he heard from his brother and duo partner TJ Osborne shifted its meaning.
John and his wife, Lucie Silvas, welcomed twins Maybelle and Arthur in March. Brothers Osborne accepted the Vocal Duo of the Year category at the 57th annual CMA Awards on Wednesday night (November 8), and John noted during the duo’s acceptance speech that that last year, he announced his wife’s pregnancy on stage. Now, their twins are home and “she’s lost the baby weight, (but) I have not lost it,” John joked on the Bridgestone Arena stage in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
When the award-winning duo retreated backstage, they caught up with iHeartCountry and other media outlets, including discussing the meaning behind John’s “massive” tattoo, and TJ’s shimmering jacket (which, he admitted, “why am I gonna talk about my jacket” after listening to John, who laughed and said “that’s an awesome jacket, though!”).
“Honestly, I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was like, I knew kids were on the way, and I’m like, ‘I gotta cling onto my youth,’ so I’m just gonna do something really crazy and get a massive chest tattoo,” John said when he shared his story backstage. “I had…an actual day off — not a normal day off for us, which is running errands, going and picking up things where you actually work all day — I had nothing to do, and I was like… ‘I’m gonna go get a big tattoo on my chest.’ And in a way, symbolically — not to get too philosophical about it, I guess — but it is a sailor ship, and I’ve been very vocal about my mental health, and a lot of struggles I’ve had over the years. (TJ) actually told me this quote after I’d gotten the sailor ship tattoo, was, ‘smooth waters don’t make good sailors.’ And it’s an amazing philosophy and it’s something I’ll carry with me forever. I feel like I have become my best self in the most trying times of my life.”
TJ hilariously segued into his own story, when asked about his jacket. It was one that he had made to perform at Stagecoach Music Festival in 2022. TJ reflected that “when I was closeted, I was very fearful that if I wore anything flashy that it would bring questions or doubts. …I just always avoided that.” That Stagecoach performance, TJ said, was the first big show where he was able to “step into myself in a very public way,” and he “wanted just to feel comfortable and do these things, even though this is a very common thing in country music, I always felt uncomfortable doing that. So, I wore it tonight mainly because it was extremely expensive and I wanted to reuse it.”
The multi-Duo of the Year winners admitted they were “in shock” to win the honor again, and said that being able to share that moment with family is a special moment. John said he and his brother aim to relish these moments, particularly after being in Music City for “well over a decade” before landing their record deal, and knowing that “at some point, it [award nominations] will pass.”
“It’s amazing. I feel very grateful. I mean, he and I are so alike but so different in all the right ways. It’s very yin and yang, and I feel grateful that we have each other,” John said, and TJ added: “To have someone, my brother, alongside me, getting to experience these really ineffable things. It’s really, really cool.”