Brothers Osborne Soak Hometown in ‘Rum’ — New Video
For their first-ever music video for the thumping summer single “Rum,” Brothers Osborne decided to head back up to the Maryland shore, load up on some Old Bay-coated blue crabs and infuse a whole lot of hometown spirit.
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“People think that county music is only in the south, but if you travel, you realize it’s everywhere,” John Osborne told Rolling Stone Country a few days before the shoot. “For the video, we are getting as many real people from our hometown involved. No chiseled abs or bikinis on a beach. We want it to look and feel like what ‘Rum’ is about.”
Filmed at the Happy Harbor Restaurant on the docks of Deale, Maryland, where the siblings grew up, there’s certainly no florescent thongs or Borat-style banana hammocks to be found — just a lot of warm flannels, old sweatshirts and a “Maryland is For Lovers” tee, plus a little crustacean-fueled karaoke with the locals.
“We didn’t have swimming pools where we lived,” says John about the Brothers’ modest childhood reflected in the song’s “We got a tarp in a truck bed” lyric. “Our uncle did that, and it was a pool for us. It was so much fun, and that’s what we did as kids. We weren’t able to go to the ocean, but we had garden hoses.”
Adds his brother T.J., “a lot of people misinterpret the song, which is totally fine, and I get a kick out of it. It does bring a beachy vibe. But it’s really about making your own paradise.” Indeed, the tune isn’t about tipping back fancy paper-umbrella-adorned cocktails in the land of Jimmy Buffett — it’s about making the best of what you’ve got, whether it’s a summer house in the Hamptons or just a rusty truck bed and a hose. Or, in this case, some shellfish, slide guitar and spiced rum from plastic cups. Because Maryland is for lovers — and Brothers.