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The Amazing Bass of Joe Osborn
"Poor Side of Town" by Johnny Rivers. "Monday, Monday" by The Mamas and Papas. "They Long to Be Close to You" by The Carpenters. "Travelin' Man" by Ricky Nelson. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by The Fifth Dimension. What do these songs have in common? Besides being No. 1 hits on the Billboard pop charts, they all feature Louisiana native Joe Osborn on bass guitar. He was part of the studio rhythm section on the West Coast, along with Hal Blaine on drums and Larry Knechtel on piano. Together they were known as "The Wrecking Crew," and their discography is staggering. It is safe to say that if you were listening to the radio in the '60s and early '70s, then you were listening to Joe several times an hour, all day long. Joe's Top 40 Pop-Rock Discography Joe's Top 40 Country Discography Osborn grew up in Shreveport and learned to play guitar at age 12 by listening to the radio. He played with little bands in local juke joints and began recording some with Dale Hawkins in the late '50s, but you could say his professional career really began in 1959 in Las Vegas. That was when he switched to the bass guitar. "The attitude was that the bass should be felt, not heard," Osborn said. But he had learned to play guitar with a pick and carried that over. "People were actually hearing my notes, not just the booming sensation that other guys were sending out," he said. A year later Osborn moved to Los Angeles to play with Ricky Nelson and soon became the most sought-after bass player of his time.
Listen to a medley of Joe Osborn bass lines, courtesy of Lakland!
Osborn remained in California until the mid-'70s, sometimes working as many as 20 sessions a week and sometimes flying back and forth from Los Angeles to New York. Like the other members of "The Wrecking Crew," he was charging double— sometimes triple— scale, but it only seemed to make him more in demand. Osborn then moved to Nashville to find a slower pace, and in 1990 he returned to Louisiana.
Osborn occasionally travels to do a session, but he spends most of his time at home in Keithville. He loves organic gardening, writing music and helping his kids and grandkids develop their musical talents. "Darren plays keyboard, David is a drummer and my grandson Chris plays bass," he said. "But all of us are bass players." Together they call themselves Third Generation, and they are working on what Osborn calls "the world's first bass player quartet."
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Some of
Osborn's fondest memories from that
era took place in a recording studio he built in the garage of his North
Hollywood home. Joe worked with a variety of young, would-be stars in those
days, including Jan & Dean, Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal and Kenny Rogers. It was
there he recorded the young, undiscovered Karen and Richard Carpenter; he began
developing his signature upper register bass lines and melodic slides while
playing with them. " 'Let the Sunshine In' is probably one of the most
talked about bass lines," Osborn said, "but one of my personal
favorites is The Carpenters' 'For All We Know.' " Throughout this song
you can hear the Osborn-original creative slide technique. 
Last
October Osborn traveled to Manhattan to receive a lifetime achievement award
from the Bass Collective and Bass Player Magazine. One of his proudest
achievements is Lakland's new Joe Osborn signature bass, a replica of the 1959
Fender Jazz bass he used on all those hit records. "We copied that bass
exactly," he said. "I can't stress that enough!"