Artist Spotlight – Willow Osborne

By: Marsha Channell

Just 5 miles north of the Great Smoky Mountains Park, you will find a small town with the population of just around 6,500 people known as Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Pigeon Forge is known and visited every year by many people. In 1961, Rebel RailRoad was an attraction that many loved to ride like those during the Civil War, then reworked as Tweestie Railroads to catch the excitement of the GoldRush Junction during the mid 1960’s. In 1976, it was purchased by the Herschend Brothers from Branson, Missouri and renamed it as Silver Dollar City after their successful park in Branson. In 1985, the Herschend Brothers approached Dolly Parton for a partnership and that led to her becoming majority partner and renaming it to the amusement park we all know and love today, Dollywood. 

You ask, what is the significance of Pigeon Forge? Well, along with being a great place to visit and check out the Smoky Mountain Opry, dinner theatres and Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, it is also the hometown of our new Artist Spotlight, Willow Osborne. Being inspired at the early age of 3yrs old by Gary “Biscuit” Davis to play banjo, it was only less than a year for Willow to be gifted a banjo and lessons. While her mom was only planning to buy a toy banjo, faith had another path for her to take. Looking everywhere for a toy banjo was a very hard task and landed her mom at a store where the man behind the counter told her, “Don’t buy her a toy, buy her this banjo here and I’ll teach her”. That man, who turned out to be a 5-time international banjo champion and Dolly Parton’s longtime band leader, inspired her at 3yrs old and still today – thank you Gary for being such an inspiration. 

Taking lessons and practicing banjo throughout her growing years, Willow has been able to share her music and skill in front of many venues all over the states including playing at Dollywood on a regular basis. Music has been a part of her life from her years in diapers, to her first big concert with her mom to see Mayday Parade (rock band), to playing on stage at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival (Telluride, Colorado) in 2025.  

Becoming an artist and creating a career of it can be an uphill battle and sometimes even difficult at times, however; being able to meet and learn from successful artists (Béla Fleck, Gillian Welch, Dolly Parton, Dan Tyminski, Bobby Osborne (no relation), and Noam Pikelny) that have been in the business for years, it is a true blessing. Like many artists, Willow has many artists that provide inspiration every day but her main musical inspiration is her husband, Jesse Blue Eads. Playing together and being able to draw ideas from lines and chords that he plays is something that she does not take for granted and feels blessed every day for it. 

Gillian Welch has been an all-time favorite musician and songwriter of Willow’s along with finding inspiration in Julian Lage, Béla Fleck and Sam Amidon.  Willow and her husband, Jesse, had an amazing opportunity to sit down with Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn last year and just hang out – still one of the coolest moments of her life. A couple other memorable moments in Willow’s life, straight off her bucket list, were when she was asked to sit in with Water Tower at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival last year and topping that was when she was presented with the opportunity to play with one of her idols, Daniel Donato, at his Cosmic Country Christmas Jam the last four years.

If Willow could write a letter to her younger self, she would say “Don’t be afraid to play bluegrass AND anything else I want to play. It’s ok to love traditional bluegrass and love folk, jazz, & all the other sub-genres. Make sure to pay attention to how Billy Strings makes it huge by playing all the different stuff he does – you will be inspired! There is room in this big sonic world for everybody to make the music they want to make. Remember to practice and practice more scales”.  As for telling up-and-coming artists, Willow would tell them to make sure and advocate for themselves in a business sense. You have to try and find a balance between the artistic side & the business side of yourself which is always a struggle.

Rapid questions –

What is your favorite Holiday? “Christmas! Oh, I love Christmas. I love the lights, trees, cookies, presents, cheesy Hallmark movies, coziness and everyone’s a little kinder. But above all that, I’m thankful for what truly Christmas means and for the hope it represents”.

If you were not part of the music scene, what would you be doing?  I think it would be really fun to be a librarian or run my own bed & breakfast like Lorelei Gilmore.

Do you have a hobby outside music?  I have many hobbies (probably more than I can keep up with). Right now, I’ve been sewing a lot – bags, pouches, quilts. Next up is a coffee cozy.   

Who is your favorite super hero?  In my life, truly, Jesus is my super hero! He saved my life and pulled me out of the water. I am thankful everyday that he looked at a mess of a person that I was and decided I could be saved. In the fantasy realm, I am a huge fan of Star Wars & Lord of the Rings. Aragorn & Obi-Wan Kenobi are favorite hero’s of mine as well. 

What is your favorite kind of ice cream?  I have been making ice cream at home this year (another hobby).  I make a salted caramel with a homemade salted coconut cream caramel and y’all, it was SO good that it was gone that night.

What is your favorite snack food for the road?  I love the Soley Organic Mango slices, a Vintage Cola Ollipop, a Chomps Beef Stick & the Joyride Sour Gummy Worms. 

What is your favorite sport and team?   I… don’t know a single thing about sports other than football is on when Thanksgiving is happening lol. 

What is your favorite movie line?  Wow… probably something from Star Wars. It’s hard to pick though… funny answer: “Hello There”. Serious answer: I always think about Obi-Wan’s speech to Anakin on Mustafar. “You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness! You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you!”.

What’s been happening lately –

Willow just released her take on Julian Lage’s song “Nothing Happens Here” on August 21st.

She is very excited about having the new release out with Gravy Records. 

Make sure to check Willow Osborne out on her socials and YouTube pages