Charleston’s own Justin Osborne, lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the band SUSTO, will show off his new sound on Jan. 28 at the Music Farm.
Rather than the typical dark, druggy alt-country/rock hybrid that SUSTO normally plays, Osborne will team with Holler Choir, an Asheville, N.C.-based roots band led by singer-songwriter Clint Roberts. Holler Choir is known for its blend of Appalachian old-time, bluegrass and Americana.
It’s a meeting of two musical worlds called the SUSTO Stringband. On the collective’s recently released debut album on the major label New West, which is appropriately titled Vol. 1, Osborne dove into SUSTO’s five-album catalog for material.
So for example, a ragged, mid-tempo rocker from the band’s first album, becomes a low-key folk hoedown, complete with fiddle, mandolin and upright bass. The crashing, anthemic “Mt. Caroline” from 2023’s My Entire Life is now a chugging bluegrass tune with soaring fiddle and burbling banjo.
Osborne first met and performed with members of the Holler Choir in late 2022 at an open mic night in Asheville.
“My wife and I had just moved to Asheville,” Osborne said in a recent interview with the Charleston City Paper. “We were trying to find friends, and we met the Holler Choir at this really well curated local spotlight event called ‘Open Folk,’ that functions like an open mic. I played some SUSTO songs, and then the Holler Choir went on after me, and I was just floored.”
Osborne introduced himself and started hanging out with the band, along with its extensive circle of collaborators.
“There are a lot of people in that scene, doing old-time music and bluegrass,” he said. “And coming from rural South Carolina originally, that music really spoke to me. So meeting a group of folks who are well-versed in that tradition was really fun for me.”
After playing with Holler Choir for a while, Osborne began to wonder what his songs would sound like in those older acoustic styles, and the SUSTO Stringband was born.
“I’m really excited about the reception this music has had, nationally and internationally,” Osborne said. “It’s really opened me up as a songwriter and a performer.”
IF YOU WANT TO GO: Doors open at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 28. Music Farm, 32 Ann St., Charleston. Tickets cost $44.50. musicfarm.com.
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