Brothers Osborne to Perform 'Meaningful' Track 'Younger Me' — Written After TJ Came Out — at CMA Awards
Brothers Osborne are bringing a message of acceptance to Wednesday night's CMA Awards.
The duo — comprising of siblings TJ and John — are set to perform their track "Younger Me," which TJ wrote about his experience coming to terms with his sexuality, at the awards show. The performance comes after the "Skeletons" singer publicly came out as gay in February.
"This is an important message that I wish I could tell my younger self," TJ, 36, told the Associated Press. "The fact that we get to play a song that is so meaningful, particularly to myself, at a country music award show, it's one of those things that just kind of transcends the awards itself, money itself, fame."
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The Maryland native added, "The biggest thing that bothered me was not that I was being recognized but it kind of gave the message that maybe people that are gay or LGBTQ aren't really that accepted in this state. While that may be true in certain areas of our stage, I don't feel like it is in Nashville. It's a very accepting city here."
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At Wednesday's show, the pair are nominated for three awards, including album of the year for their LP Skeletons, along with vocal duo of the year.
"There was an element to recording Skeletons that it felt like it was the end of times, you know," said John, 39. "I was like, this might actually be the last record we ever do in our life, and let's record it as if it is. And it still feels like that to me. We threw all of our chips on the table."
Jason Kempin/Getty TJ Osborne and John Osborne of Brothers Osborne
The guitarist shared that he had to "go away" and "had to restart" as he was struggling himself with issues of anxiety and depression, as well as suffering from tinnitus while the two recorded the album.
"Country music is a beautiful genre," John added. "But there has been this kind of undercurrent of… there's a vault and only certain people are allowed in. However, when you go to shows, you see people of all walks of life enjoying it."
In late August, the duo spoke on CBS This Morning about the positive effect that TJ coming out has had on the duo's fans.
"My life has changed in a lot of ways and I've been talking about this at the shows. I didn't realize what a sense of purpose it would bring to my life to be here. I didn't realize how much it would resonate especially," TJ said at the time.
"I wasn't thinking about the parents of children who are queer or whatever they are and how that would really help them to help their relationship," he added. "That's something that never dawned on me."
TJ came out as gay in an interview with Time earlier this year.
"There are times when I think I've marginalized this part of me so that I feel better about it," he said in the interview. "And I realize that it is a big part of who I am: The way I think, the way I act, the way I perform. God, think of all the times that we talk about love, and write about love. It's the biggest thing we ever get to feel. And I've kept the veil on [it]."
The CMA Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan, are broadcasting live from Nashville on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
