Bashful Brother Oswald (1911 to 2002), born Beecher Ray Kirby and known in the band as Pete, played Dobro with Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys from the 1930s until Acuff’s death in 1992. His resonator guitar on Acuff’s Grand Ole Opry broadcasts and 1940s records such as Wreck on the Highway made the Dobro a country music sound. Josh Graves, who brought the Dobro into bluegrass, studied him.
Why Oswald matters
Oswald is the link between Hawaiian steel guitar and bluegrass Dobro. He learned slide guitar from a Hawaiian player in Michigan, took it to Knoxville, and put it on national radio with Roy Acuff. No Depression credited him with popularizing the Dobro in country and bluegrass music.
Life and career
Kirby was born on December 26, 1911, in Sevier County, Tennessee, one of eleven children. His father played fiddle and banjo. As a boy he learned guitar, clawhammer banjo, and gospel singing.
Around 1929 he moved to Flint, Michigan, to work on the Buick line. At a house party there he met a Hawaiian guitarist named Rudy Waikiki and began copying his style, raising the strings on his own guitar. He bought a National resonator guitar, played Hawaiian music in bars and beer gardens, and worked the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair crowds for tips.
In 1934 he moved to Knoxville and played resonator guitar with local bands, including Roy Acuff’s Crazy Tennesseans, which became the Smoky Mountain Boys. When banjo player Rachel Veach joined the band, Acuff billed Kirby as her bashful brother Oswald so an unmarried woman could tour with the group. He played the part in a floppy hat and overalls with a braying laugh.
He played his first Grand Ole Opry show with Acuff in January 1939 and stayed with Acuff for more than 50 years. In 1972 he played on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Will the Circle Be Unbroken. After Acuff died, the Opry made Oswald a member in his own right. He also appeared on The Great Dobro Sessions, which won a Grammy. He died on October 17, 2002, at 90.
Playing style
Oswald played Dobro lap style with a steel bar, the Hawaiian way. The Country Music Hall of Fame describes his style as distinctive and points to his playing on 1940s Acuff records such as Wreck on the Highway and The Precious Jewel. He also played clawhammer banjo and guitar and sang tenor harmony in the Acuff band. A signature model Dobro copied his 1928 Model 27.
Influences and legacy
Oswald learned from Rudy Waikiki and the Hawaiian records of Sol Hoopii and others. He played beside Roy Acuff for half a century. Josh Graves named him among the steel players he studied before building the bluegrass Dobro style. Phil Leadbetter’s father played in a band with him.
Signature tunes and songs
Wreck on the Highway, with Roy Acuff The Precious Jewel, with Roy Acuff Old Age Pension Check, with Roy Acuff Brother Oswald’s Special.
Essential recordings
Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys, 1940s recordings Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1972) Brother Oswald (Rounder, 1994) The Great Dobro Sessions (Sugar Hill, 1994)
Awards and honors
Grand Ole Opry member (1990s) Grammy Award, Best Bluegrass Album, The Great Dobro Sessions, as a featured player
Watch and listen
Oswald plays his Dobro theme song.
What to learn from Oswald
Learn Wreck on the Highway on Dobro. Play the melody with the bar, and slide into each note from below. Then add a vibrato by rocking the bar a little as the note rings. Oswald’s lesson is the voice of the instrument: a Dobro can sing a slow song the way a person does.
Sources
Bashful Brother Oswald, Wikipedia Bashful Brother Oswald: 1911 to 2002, No Depression Bashful Brother Oswald, Country Music Hall of Fame oral history Bashful Brother Oswald, BluegrassBios.com Bashful Brother Oswald, Brad’s Page of Steel
Related players
See the Dobro players hub and the Dobro guide. Josh Graves carried his sound into bluegrass. Tut Taylor and Gene Wooten joined him on The Great Dobro Sessions.