08/28/2026
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Remembering bassist Joe Osborn who was born on this date August 28, 1937 in Mound, LA.
Osborn began his career working in local clubs, then played on a hit record by singer Dale Hawkins. He moved to Las Vegas at age 20, and spent a year playing backup for country singer Bob Luman. With legendary guitar player Roy Buchanan among his bandmates, Osborn switched from guitar to electric bass.
In 1960, with Allen "Puddler" Harris, a native of Franklin Parish, also in northeastern Louisiana, and James Burton, originally from Webster Parish, Osborn joined pop star Ricky Nelson's backup band, where he spent four years.
When the Nelson band dissolved in 1964, Osborn turned to studio work in Los Angeles full-time. For the next ten years, he was considered a "first-call" bassist among Los Angeles studio musicians, and he worked with well-known producers such as Lou Adler and Bones Howe, frequently in combination with drummer Hal Blaine and keyboardist Larry Knechtel—the combination of Blaine, Osborn and Knechtel have been referred to as the Hollywood Golden Trio.
His playing can be heard on records by the Mamas & the Papas, the Association, the Grass Roots and the 5th Dimension. Osborn can be heard on Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water" and the 5th Dimension's version of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In". Osborn played on many of Neil Diamond's major hits in the late 1960s and early to middle 1970s.
He can be heard playing on several of Nancy Sinatra's 1970s recordings, and he was the bassist on the 1977 Christian album "Forgiven" by Don Francisco. He also played on several Johnny Rivers records.
Osborn is known for discovering the Carpenters, on whose albums he played bass throughout their career.
In 1974, Osborn left Los Angeles and moved to Nashville. He continued an active studio career, playing behind such vocalists as Kenny Rogers, Mel Tillis, and Hank Williams, Jr. One count listed Osborn as bassist on fifty-three number one hits on the country charts and at least 197 that were in the top 40's.
Osborn's playing has been credited to over 242 different songs, with many performances going uncredited in his early years.
He is also known to have kept the same set of LaBella Flat-Wound bass strings on his Fender Jazz Bass for 20 years.
Osborn left Nashville in 1988 and settled in Keithville in Caddo Parish near Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana.
From 2005 until December 2018, he continued to live in semi-retirement and record occasionally.
Osborn died December 14, 2018 at the age of 81.
