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Brothers Osborne’s John On His ‘Massive’ Tattoo

Brothers Osborne won their sixth Vocal Duo of the Year honors at last week’s (11/8) CMA Awards in Nashville. The brothers from a small town — Deele, Maryland — have…

John and TJ Osborne backstage at the CMA Awards. John is wearing a light blue blazer and a hat and TJ is wearing a rhinestone black jacket.
Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Brothers Osborne won their sixth Vocal Duo of the Year honors at last week's (11/8) CMA Awards in Nashville. The brothers from a small town -- Deele, Maryland -- have made their mark in country music since coming to town more than a decade ago.

Backstage, after winning the award both guys said that they never take this stuff for granted. Then, John Osborne talked about the huge tattoo of a sailing ship on his chest. The tattoo is partly seen on the duo's latest self-titled album. John explained, "I don't know what it was; maybe it was because kids were on the way (he and his wife Lucie welcomed twins in March of this year), and I had to cling on to my youth, so I was like, 'I'm just gonna do something really crazy and get a massive chest tattoo.'"

He continued, "I had a day off, like an actual day off, not a normal day off for us, which is running errands, going and picking up things where you actually work all day. It was like I had nothing to do, and I was like, 'You know what? I'm just gonna go and get a big tattoo on my chest.'"

John said he found a great reason for the new tattoo after he got it. He said, "In a way, symbolically, not to get too philosophical, but it is a sailor ship, and I've been very vocal about my mental health and a lot of the struggles I've had over the years, and he (TJ) actually told me this quote after I got the sailor ship tattoo was 'Smooth waters don't make good sailors.' And it's an amazing philosophically, and it's something I'll carry with me forever. I feel like I have become my best self in the most trying times in my life."

As Halloween quickly approaches, we look at five of country music's creepiest songs over the years. From Johnny Cash to Eric Church, it can get downright scary at times when country stars look to the dark side for a song or two.

5 - "Ghost Riders in The Sky," by Johnny Cash

A country classic by the Man In Black. "An old cowboy went riding out / One dark and windy day / Upon a ridge, he rested / As he went along his way / When all at once a mighty herd / Of red eyed cows he saw / Plowin' through the ragged skies / And up the cloudy draw / Their brands were still on fire / And their hooves were made of steel / Their horns were black and shiny / And their hot breath he could feel."

4 - "Skeletons" by Brothers Osborne

A fun and a creepy song about hiding who you are. This whole album,"Skeletons," is just right for Halloween. The title song, "Skeletons," plays with ominous music, and the lyric video features the duo as skeletons; they even bring out massive 14-foot skeletons on stage with them when they sing it live. "You got skeletons in your closet / It's written all over your face / Every little lie stacked so high / Can't keep your story straight / I don't know oh oh / How they got there, it's getting under my skin / You got skeletons in your closet / And I got bones to pick with them, oh."

3 -"You, Me & The River" by Chris Janson (With Eric Church)

A murder song where Church's character gets buried in the creepy as-hell music video. "Hey buddy, hey buddy, ain't that Mississippi muddy / In this town, well, yeah, she takes what you give her / So tonight I lay me down to sleep / And pray my soul and my secret to keep / Between you, me and the river."

2 - "The Legend of Wooley Swamp," by The Charlie Daniels Band

Another country classic that has played heavily at Halloween since its release in 1980. The song about an angry ghost. The lyrics of the song begin, "If you ever go back into Wooly Swamp son you better not go at night / There's things out there in the middle of them woods / That'd make a strong man die from fright / There's things that crawl and things that fly / And things that creep around on the ground / And they say the ghost of Lucias Clay gets up and it walks around."

1 - "Creepin'," Eric Church

The title says it all about a love that will not go away. Even the melody is creepy. "You shot out of hell like a bullet from a gun, / A flip of a switch, A thief on the run, / And since the day you left me Baby, / I can feel the lonely, I can hear the crazy. / Just a Creepin' / Creepin' / Just a Creepin' / Creepin.'"

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.