Andrew Osborn was born into bluegrass.
The mechanical engineering major woke most mornings to the sound of his dad’s fiddle at their home in San Rafael in the early years of a childhood punctuated by trips to bluegrass festivals, where he would drift to sleep in his tent to all-night jam sessions around the campfire.
“My mom made my dad take at least one of his three kids when he went to festivals around the state,” said Osborn, joking he was likely the one picked the most because he was the youngest and possibly most annoying of his siblings.
Osborn’s own musical journey began at age 4 with the fiddle. He learned the trombone, then fell in love with the string bass – an instrument that kick-started his bluegrass odyssey upon a chance meeting with two exceptionally gifted mandolin/fiddle-playing brothers from Alameda who enlisted him to play in the musical group that became Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band.
Picking prowess, heavy grooves and melodic creativity catapulted Crying Uncle onto the bluegrass scene, earning them the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Momentum Band of the Year Award in September.
Artists in the early years of their careers are chosen by IBMA professional members for the Momentum Awards, with earlier winners including ace guitarist Billy Strings and vocalist-guitarist Molly Tuttle, who both went on to win Grammys.
“I was pretty excited to hear that we won,” said Osborn, the band’s rhythmic anchor and key vocalist. “I wasn’t sure we were going to get it, since there were other good bands that had been nominated, but it was really cool to win an award like that.”
Osborn plans to continue performing with the band around the country – and globe – as he pursues his parallel passion for innovation through engineering at Cal Poly.
Tanks and trombones
Music and machining go hand in hand for Osborn.
“I can see music in engineering and vice versa,” said the third-year engineering student and shop tech.
“Growing up around a CNC machine shop, you can hear harmonies between the different machines running at certain speeds, sometimes creating fourths, fifths and minor thirds,” he said. “It’s something you can hum along to.”
Osborn has always felt at home among machines. Besides playing the bluegrass fiddle, his dad worked in manufacturing and engaged in hobby machining, crafting a model steam engine and inspiring his son to cultivate his own interests.
Just ask Osborn about World War II tanks, and he lights up.
He developed an early fascination for the armored vehicles and by fourth grade had built his first tank from cardboard to give him an edge during Nerf wars. He upped his tank game in seventh grade with a machine made from wood set on a metal frame, but his crowning achievement came as a senior in high school with the construction of a metal tank with tracks and wheels.
Fittingly, he spends his summers home in San Rafael working at the World War II U.S. Military Vehicle Museum, known for its extensive collection of operational tanks and vehicles.
Back on campus, he reprises his role as a shop tech, imparting his passion and guiding other students in discovering the inventive aspects of manual machining.
“There are many ways to make a square block. You are given a drawing and dimensions, but then you get to choose the method – using a lathe, mill or even machinist’s file – which is where the creativity comes in,” he said.
When he’s not in the shop, you can likely find him performing on his sousaphone with the Mustang Band or trombone with the Cal Poly Symphony, Wind and Brass ensembles or Jazz Combo.
He became captivated by the trombone at the age of 9, when he watched his dad perform as an actor in a production of “The Music Man,” and joined the Marin Symphony Orchestra two years later.
He’d switch out his trombone for the string bass to attend the bluegrass festivals he loved – including the one that put him into the Quale brothers’ orbit.
Bluegrass kids and big dreams
Osborn met Teo and Miles Quale at the 2016 Father’s Day festival, hosted by the California Bluegrass Association, in Grass Valley.
They were all part of the Kids on Bluegrass program that brings together young musicians to practice, then perform on the festival’s main stage. Miles on fiddle, Teo on mandolin and Osborn on bass quickly discovered their talents aligned – a realization that was reinforced when their paths crossed again at a fiddle workshop.
Miles and Teo added Osborn and original guitarist John Gooding to their duo that became Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, named after the brothers’ wrestling matches in which the first one to make the other “cry uncle” or give up would win. National flat pick guitar champion Ian Ly later replaced Gooding.
Recognized as one of the most exciting young bands in acoustic music, Crying Uncle has won a slew of awards, built a global fanbase and rocked venues in places like Finland, France and Japan. Its members, now attending schools across the state, reunite for weekend performances and summer tours, sharing big dreams for the future.
Osborn hopes to embark on a full-time career in bluegrass after graduating from Cal Poly, with aspirations for a later role in manufacturing.
“Music and engineering are analytical and expressive all at the same time; there is a lot to analyze about music and there is creative design in engineering,” he summed up. “I’m really grateful I get to do both.”
By Emily Slater
