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Today we feature a classic bluegrass album from C.J. Lewandowski. It’s a reflection on his time with legendary picker Bobby Osborne.

Keep On Keepin’ On

“That song is probably fifty years old, or sixty years old now, and came from a band in Indiana. The Bluegrass Blackjacks were their names,” Lewandowski said.

The opening track was first suggested by a friend for the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. 

“That’s probably the only song I suggested from the very beginning,” Lewandowski said. “The rest of the album was primarily Bobby’s thoughts and creativity.”  

Lewandowski and Osborne first started work on the album back in early 2023, and just six months later Bobby passed away.

“I shelved it for a while,” Lewandowski said. “I didn’t want to listen to it. I didn’t want to listen to the mixes or mix it. I didn’t want to hear his voice… so it took me a few months to get over some of the grieving process to where I could start thinking about it again.”

Lewandowski first considered releasing the eight tracks that were completed, but after attending the IBMA awards and watching tributes from Del McCoury and others, he decided to go back into the studio.

“I thought ‘if Del wants to be on the project, who else might want to be on the project?’ So I started reaching out to some of my friends and people that I knew Bobby really respected and thought were friends,” Lewandowski said. “I know that most anybody is influenced by the Osborne Brothers so it’s kind of easy to call up folks and say ‘hey do you want to play on Bobby’s last record?’”

Catching the Bug

Lewandowski first started singing at church with his grandmother before picking up the mandolin. 

“My mom passed away when I was ten, and I think that has a lot to do with my deep dive of bluegrass music,” Lewandowski said. “I think it’s important to how I came around it.”

Lewandowski said that one of his mothers best friends had a child named Steve about his age on the same street, and the two quickly became close. 

“One thing we went to do that totally changed our lives was we went to the movie theater and saw Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?,” Lewandowski said. “We thought it was a jailbreak movie, but it was something completely different because of the soundtrack.” 

Lewandowski would later go on to meet T. Bone Burnett, who produced the soundtrack, told him how important that moment was to him.

“Steve’s family was into bluegrass music, and his grandpa had a banjo under the bed, so Steve got it out and was messing with it, and (his grandpa) said ‘now that’s not a toy, either learn how to play it or put it up,’” Lewandowski said, “and Steve got stubborn enough to where he said ‘OK I’m going to learn how to play it.’ So therefore I followed suit because we did everything together, and before we knew it we had a little band.” 

C.J. and Steve

Lewandowski said that the bluegrass scene had a sense of family and community that he was longing for, and that he formed relationships with many of the first generation bluegrass players in the area.

Rocky Top Express

Lewandowski first met Osborne when he was a teenager in Eminence, Missouri while attending a bluegrass festival. 

“I got to see the Osborne Brothers two times, and then Bobby came the next year as Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top Express,” Lewandowski said. 

At the time he was in a band with the emcee of the festival, and was invited backstage where he met Bobby. The photo from that encounter is included in the liner notes of the album. 

“A few years later I started traveling with the Karl Shiflett & Big Country Show out of Texas and we were playing a lot of the same shows together,” Lewandowski said.

They became familiar with each other, and after the tour Lewandowski enrolled in a class Osborne taught at the Kentucky School of Bluegrass & Traditional Music in Hyden.

“I wanted to take lessons from Bobby,” Lewandowski said, “and we were sitting there one day and Bobby is like ‘what are you doing here? You’re already out playing music for a living. You’re doing this, you’re doing that. What are you trying to gain from this school here?’ And I said ‘I signed up because I wanted to take classes from you.’ And he said ‘well shoot, just take down my phone number. You don’t have to come down here to Hyden to come visit me.’ From that moment we became kind of buddies.” 

Lewandowski started visiting a few times a month in Portland, Tennessee and the two soon formed a close friendship. He would often check in on Osborne while social distancing for the virus, and helped to push the Grand ‘Ol Opry to feature some of the legendary artists on their live streams who had lost their in-person performances in the shutdown. 

“He loved to text,” Lewandowski said. “He was a texting fool.” 

Osborne was a member of the Grand ‘Ol Opry for over fifty years, and is featured in the bluegrass hall of fame. 

“Probably the most recognizable, or premiere voice of bluegrass music,” Lewandowski said. “Two days before he passed away, he told his daughter that I was his best friend. I’ve been nominated for a Grammy, and had IBMA awards, and played all kinds of cool places, but that right there is what it’s all about I feel like. He was like a grandpa to me when I needed him to be.”

The Osborne Brothers were influential for mixing country music with traditional bluegrass. It was first seen as rebellious before being known as traditional. Bobby would often explain to Lewandowski that they were following their own inspirations as trying to “beat the legends at their own game’ would be impossible. 

“What you have to do is create your own thing, and you have to be yourself,” Lewandowski remembered Osborne saying. “You take this traditional based bluegrass legend, and for him to say ‘go be you,’ that was like me standing on a throne like I’ve just gotten included in the community. Just to get his word of ok was nice.”

Po’ Ramblin’ Boys

Lewandowski now lives in the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee when he’s not touring, where a thriving bluegrass scene keeps local musicians busy.

“I play a couple of legal moonshine distilleries a few times a week,” Lewandowski joked, “and still go out on the road with the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys as often as we can.”

The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys formed just over a decade ago as a “distillery band” in Gatlinburg. 

“It was just a band of a bunch of friends that I’d known for years,” Lewandowski said. “We all wanted to play music for a living and this was the best opportunity to do it, so I called them up and they all moved to Tennessee like I did, and for a good year and a half we never even left that distillery.” 

Eventually they began getting popular on social media, and started getting called to play festivals. They later received a Grammy nomination and have been featured at the Grand Ol’ Opry. 

“I’ve always been the oldest guy in the group,” Lewandowski joked. He’s only 38, but seems wise beyond his years. “It’s inspiring that the younger folks called me and wanted the job. I feed off of their youth and new ideas and all that stuff, so it’s inspiring I think from both sides.”

The Poor Ramblin’ Boys are featured in “Keep On Keepin’ On” as well as “Blue Heartache.”

“I hope everybody enjoys it as much as I enjoyed putting it all together,” Lewandowski said. “Long live Bobby Osborne. Keep on keepin’ on.”

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More information about C.J. Lewandowski can be found here.

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