Tim O’Brien (born 1954) is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Wheeling, West Virginia. He played mandolin and fiddle and sang lead in Hot Rize, which won the first IBMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1990. He also plays guitar, banjo, bouzouki, and mandocello. He has won two Grammy Awards, and Hot Rize entered the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2025. His fiddle playing has its own page.
Why O’Brien matters
O’Brien is the model of a singer who plays mandolin. In Hot Rize his mandolin drove the rhythm with an easy, rolling feel while he sang lead. He writes songs that bluegrass bands still cover, and he moves between bluegrass, Irish music, old-time, and folk without seams. For a jammer, he shows that tone, groove, and song choice matter as much as speed. He even made a short video for CBC Music on how to chop on the mandolin.
Life and career
O’Brien was born on March 16, 1954, and grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, the youngest of five children. At 12 he heard a Bob Dylan record and decided to play music. He taught himself guitar, fiddle, and mandolin, and sang folk songs with his sister Mollie at church and coffeehouses.
In 1973 he left Colby College and headed west, telling his mother he knew 200 songs. In Boulder, Colorado, he played swing with the Ophelia Swing Band. On January 18, 1978, he started Hot Rize with banjo player Pete Wernick and Charles Sawtelle, and Nick Forster soon joined on bass. Over twelve years Hot Rize became known for fresh harmonies, Wernick’s melodic banjo, and O’Brien’s rhythmic drive. The band also played sets as a comic country act, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, with O’Brien as Red. Hot Rize won IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 1990, the year it stopped touring full time. Their song Colleen Malone won IBMA Song of the Year, and O’Brien was IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 1993.
He then made duet albums with Mollie for Sugar Hill and went solo. His 1990 duet with Kathy Mattea, The Battle Hymn of Love, reached number nine on the country chart. In 1999 he started his own label, Howdy Skies. His album Fiddler’s Green won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album, and he won a second Grammy with the Earls of Leicester, a tribute band to Flatt and Scruggs. He toured with Mark Knopfler in 2010. Hot Rize reunited with Bryan Sutton on guitar after Sawtelle’s death.
Playing style
O’Brien’s mandolin is about groove. His chop is relaxed but firm, and he leans into the rhythm the way a good fiddler leans into a shuffle. His breaks are melodic and singable, often built straight from the vocal line, with tasteful slides and double stops. He seldom plays more notes than the song needs.
Because he plays fiddle, his mandolin phrasing has a fiddler’s flow, and he plays fiddle tunes on mandolin with a bouncing, danceable feel.
Influences and legacy
O’Brien came to music through Bob Dylan and the folk revival, then bluegrass and swing. He played beside Charles Sawtelle, Pete Wernick, Nick Forster, and later Bryan Sutton in Hot Rize. He has recorded with Andy Statman, Darrell Scott, and Kathy Mattea, and shared festival stages with Chris Thile.
His songs and his approach to singing while playing mandolin influenced a generation of band singers. Gillian Welch gave her first demos to Tim and Mollie, and they recorded two of her songs before she had a record deal.
Signature tunes and songs
Colleen Malone The Battle Hymn of Love.
Essential recordings
Take It Home, with Hot Rize (1990) Take Me Back, with Mollie O’Brien (Sugar Hill, 1988) Red on Blonde (1996) Fiddler’s Green (2005) The Earls of Leicester, with the Earls of Leicester (2014)
Awards and honors
IBMA Entertainer of the Year, with Hot Rize (1990) IBMA Song of the Year, Colleen Malone, with Hot Rize IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year (1993) Grammy Award, Best Traditional Folk Album, Fiddler’s Green (48th Grammy Awards) West Virginia Music Hall of Fame (2013) Grammy Award, Best Bluegrass Album, The Earls of Leicester (57th Grammy Awards) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, with Hot Rize (2025)
Watch and listen
O’Brien shows how to chop on the mandolin for CBC Music. This is the most useful two minutes a new mandolin player can watch.
What to learn from O’Brien
Learn to sing and chop at the same time. Pick a song you can sing, like Gentle on My Mind, and chop on two and four while you sing the lead. At first your voice will pull the chop off the beat. Keep at it until the two run on their own. Then build a break from the vocal melody, the way O’Brien does, so your solo sounds like the song.
Sources
Tim O’Brien (musician), Wikipedia Hot Rize, Wikipedia Tim O’Brien, Grammy Awards Recipients and inductees by year, IBMA
Related players
See the mandolin players hub and the mandolin guide. O’Brien has played with Chris Thile and recorded with Andy Statman. Ronnie McCoury and Don Rigsby also sing lead from the mandolin chair. His fiddle work is on his fiddle page.