Listen Top Ten: Listening to the Rain (#8)

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Every now and then I do such a 180 in music styles from day to day that I feel compelled to make a public service announcement. Yes, the same person who’s posting a bluegrass song today posted a Chicago song yesterday. And will be posting some serious rock and roll later. Duke Ellington famously said there’s only two kinds of music: good and bad. So, from my “good” collection, here’s today’s song with “listen” in the title. #8: Listening to the Rain - Osborne Brothers A few quick disclaimers. First, it’s Osborne, not Osbourne, and this is Bobby and Sonny, not Ozzy. I don’t think I want Ozzy singing “Rocky Top” anymore than I want a bluegrass version of “Crazy Train” (although if you do want a bluegrass version of “Crazy Train” the Yonder Mountain String Band obliged, and I’m not kidding). And this is the Osborne Brothers, not the current “country” band Brothers Osborne. The latter hails from Maryland, while Bobby and Sonny are from Hyden, Kentucky, thank you very much. For clarification: these are the guys who did “Rocky Top.” And, as this song shows, they actually DID do more than “Rocky Top.” Although they started as a bluegrass band and ended as a bluegrass band (in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, no less), they had this “middle period” where they had drums and steel guitars on their songs. Sonny passed away last year. Bobby, at 91, is the second-oldest member of the Grand Ole Opry as of this writing (behind 93-year-old fellow bluegrass great Jesse McReynolds). That’s the great thing about bluegrass: it doesn’t kick its legends to the curb when they turn 40 the way country music does. Listening to the Rain Written by Don Delaney Recorded by the Osborne Brothers From Ru-Be Eeee, 1970 The beating on the window can’t compare: