Vinton’s Tyler Osborne joins The Low Anthem band
VINTON–Tyler Osborne is a lucky man. Like many youngsters with farfetched dreams of playing for the NFL or becoming movie stars, Osborne had dreams of playing in a successful band. Now, at age 21, having just graduated from James Madison University in December, he is embarking on a career performing with the indie folk group, The Low Anthem.
Beginning on January 16, Osborne will spend the winter months touring Canada, as the band opens for the City and Colour tour. That will be followed by a summer in Europe, playing venues such as the No Direction Home Festival in Nottinghamshire, England.
Vinton's Tyler Osborne (center) has joined The Low Anthem band, formed by Ben Knox Miller (left) and Jeff Prystowsky (right) in 2006. The band will be touring in Canada this winter and performing in Europe during the summer of 2012.
Osborne can’t believe his good fortune, fully expecting that in the present economy he would be lucky to find a tedious desk job fetching coffee—not a job with a critically acclaimed band, who are launching a tour that has already sold out in most venues.
The Low Anthem was formed in 2006 by Ben Knox Miller and Jeffrey Prystowsky, who were fellow students at Brown University in Rhode Island. They later added Jocie Adams, Mike Irwin, and, now, Osborne.
They have released four albums: “The Low Anthem” (2006), “What the Crow Brings” (2007), “Oh My God, Charlie Darwin” (2009), and “Smart Flesh” (2011).
“The Low Anthem is described as an indie folk band. ‘Indie’ meaning independent; in the beginning there was no record company backing them. They did the work themselves, booking their own tours, producing and releasing their own albums. ‘Folk’ means there is an underlying Americana influence in their music,” explained Osborne.
The band self-released their first two albums, then in 2009 signed with the Nonesuch Records label, a company whose artists were nominated for 11 Grammy awards in 2010.
They are well-known locally, opening for EmmyLou Harris in a sold-out show at the Jefferson Center in November 2010, and performing at Floydfest. They play over 200 shows each year and last year performed on the David Letterman show.
Osborne became acquainted with The Low Anthem after hearing them play in Harrisonburg.
“I just fell in love with their music. It’s honest and sincere, and they don’t try to fit into a mold to be popular,” said Osborne.
He traveled to see them perform in Washington, D.C., a few months later and talked to them after the show. He had made such an impression that they remembered him by name.
Whenever The Low Anthem appeared even remotely close to Roanoke or JMU, Osborne would go see them. Sometimes they stayed at his family’s home in Vinton while passing through from Floydfest or another venue.
Osborne spent the summer of 2010 in New York City doing an internship with Kate Landau, the general manager for The Low Anthem.
After that his new job basically found him. He auditioned and became their newest member.
Osborne says that he is “not much of a singer” but in a press release, The Low Anthem describes him as “a great multi-talented musician, as good as they come.”
His parents, Shawn and Will Osborne, are delighted with their son’s newfound career, and are big fans of the band.
“They are cordial, polite, engaging, unpretentious, and a lot of fun to talk to–a very impressive group of people,” said Shawn Osborne. “They are a very creative and innovative band. I think that’s what attracted Tyler to them in the first place. Watching them play live is a lot of fun. It’s organized chaos,” she added.
Tyler’s journey in music began at age 4 when he asked for a “real” flute for Christmas. That led to lessons with Deborah Kemper in Salem, who taught him to play using the Suzuki method, which emphasizes learning music by ear over musical notation.
The fact that he was then home schooled gave him the time and flexibility to focus on music.
“I wouldn’t be the person I am now; homeschooling was the better choice for me. You can go at your own speed,” said Osborne.
He finished the home school curriculum at age 15 and began taking classes at Virginia Western. He was able to transfer to JMU as a sophomore when he was 17 years old.
Tyler Osborne performed at The Bazaar, a venue which features local independent musicians, on Brandon Avenue in Roanoke.
Osborne decided on a music industry major at JMU, a course of study combining business marketing and music courses, rather than a performance major. He didn’t think he would be able to support himself as a classical musician, where the competition for positions is fierce, and he was not interested in teaching. His choice of major will allow him to work as a manager or a promoter later on, if his enthusiasm for the life of a performer wanes.
The flute remains Osborne’s favorite instrument, although it’s important to be a multi-instrumentalist with The Low Anthem. They incorporate 30+ instruments in their performances, including relatively obscure instruments and devices, such as the zither, pump organ, oil drum, Tibetan singing bowl, jaw harp, musical saw, cell phone, bowed crotales, and theremin, which is a Russian instrument invented in the 1920’s that produces space age sounds. They experiment with sounds that can be made out of anything, even the air flow in a room.
“There are so many sonic possibilities with anything around you,” said Osborne.
Members of the band play the instruments interchangeably, switching from one instrument to another during a song.
Their experimentation with sound extends to their choice of recording studio, having recorded one album in winter in an empty log cabin next to a woodstove, and another in an abandoned pasta sauce factory.
On the upcoming tour, The Low Anthem will travel together in a 15 passenger van pulling a 5×8 trailer. There are 8 people on their tour: the five performers, a tour manager, a sound technician, and a marketer. The Canadian tour will be a challenge since many venues are hundreds of miles apart in wintry weather.
Osborne is thrilled about joining The Low Anthem. “It is such an opportunity—to see the world, without having to pay for it, doing what you love,” he said.
By Debbie Adams
