Tim obrien singer biography

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After Nearly 50 Years in Music, Tim O’Brien Is More Comfortable With Himself

Over his celebrated career, which has now spanned nearly half a century, Tim O’Brien has gained notoriety as an instrumentalist and singer with the bluegrass band Hot Rize, and for his original songs, which have been recorded by Garth Brooks, The Chicks, Nickel Creek, and many more. In recent decades, the Grammy Award-winner has recorded as a solo artist and in collaboration with Darrell Scott, Dirk Powell, Sturgill Simpson, and most recently with his wife, Jan Fabricius.

We caught up with O’Brien on the heels of his annual trip to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, where he is considered an institution, to discuss his new record Cup of Sugar, which sees him taking on the role of a societal elder. Throughout the collection of songs, O’Brien takes on the perspectives of several different animals as a way of learning from the natural world, as well as characters such as Walter Cronkite. In our co

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Tim O'Brien (musician)

For other people with the same name, see Tim O'Brien (disambiguation).

Musical artist

Timothy O'Brien (born March 16, 1954) is an American country and bluegrass musician. In addition to singing, he plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki and mandocello. He has released more than ten studio albums, in addition to charting a duet with Kathy Mattea entitled "The Battle Hymn of Love", a No. 9 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts in 1990. In November 2013 he was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

Early life

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Tim O'Brien was born on March 16, 1954, and raised in Wheeling, West Virginia, the youngest in a family of fem children. At the age of 12, he first heard a Bob Dylan record, played bygd his older sister Mollie, afterwards deciding to take up music. Throughout his teens, he taught himself to play guitar, violin, and mandolin.

In high school, he and his sister Mollie

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West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, (WMHOF) Class of 2013

Blending bluegrass, folk, country, rock & roll, soul, blues and gospel, Wheeling’s Timothy Page O’Brien has helped to modernize country music’s string band and bluegrass tradition for more than forty years. The Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist has served as a bridge and a transitional figure between the sounds of the West Virginia hill country and the modern styles of bluegrass and Americana. In 2010, O’Brien was hired by Mark Knopfler to join his band for a five week tour of the US and Europe. Each night Tim was featured as the co-singer of “Sailing to Philadelphia ”, a glorious song from Knopfler’s 2000 album of the same name. James Taylor had sung the part on the original recording. And each night, after that song, Mark Knopfler would introduce Tim as either “A master of American folk music”, or “a true Renaissance man