Anders Osborne was born in 1966 in Uddevalla, Sweden. At the age of 7 his family moved to Island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, an island known for its artist-friendly atmosphere, ancient architecture and serene landscape, captured so poignantly by resident and famed movie director Ingmar Bergman in several of his films. Anders’ father, a professional drummer who toured northern Europe with various jazz and popular rock bands throughout the sixties, would bring home early reel to reel bootleg recordings of contemporaries like Little Richard, Fats Domino, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, “Cannonball” Adderley, Bobby Womack and the Valentinos, John Coltrane, Jimmy Smith and Charlie Parker. Listening to all of this music paved the way for an aspiring young artist. Osborne began playing drums, piano, guitar, and singing in local groups, performing his own compositions as well as songs by singer-songwriters of the time, including Van Morrison, Neil Young and Bob Dylan.
Since 1994, Anders has been working as a professional songwriter in Nashville, first for Polygram and now for Universal. He spends a couple of weeks there each month, writing and producing for/with other artists. His song, “Watch the Wind Blow By,” was recorded by country music star Tim McGraw, hitting No. 1 on the country charts for 2 weeks and selling over 3 million albums. Osborne’s songs have been recorded by artists like Keb’ Mo’, Tab Benoit, Double Trouble, Dr John, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and many others who have garnered Anders’ Grammy Awards for songwriting and producing.
[View New Orleans Music Calendar for 12/27/2008]
