TimTim Osmond moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 1995 from Pickering, Ontario and it changed his life forever. Coming to Winnipeg opened his eyes. Winnipeg is the kind of place that is so bleak and frigid in the winter that it pushes folks indoors. It’s an environment that forces people together and urges them to become more creative with their time. What that means for musicians is that are a lot of regular acoustic jams in living rooms, basements and kitchens across Winnipeg and throughout southern Manitoba. Singers, songwriters, and players from various backgrounds come together and share their experiences, innovations, and words. This is a huge part of Winnipeg culture and one of the main reasons why there are so many talented musicians in the city.
Tim started playing guitar when he was 16, playing the music he heard on pop radio and songs he learned from friends. Tim didn’t pick up the banjo until he was 23 after a friend of his bought the Deliverance soundtrack. It was then that he realized that there are quite a few interesting tunes on that recording other than “Duelling Banjos”. From there, the first disc he bought was the Doc and Merle Watson release, “Home Sweet Home”. He was most fascinated with the fact that Merle could learn the banjo so quickly and play such diverse numbers. He was hooked on bluegrass from then on. Since then Tim’s interest in bluegrass has snowballed – now a bluegrass fanatic, he is constantly driven to study the genre. A lot of what he has learned was influenced by other well-known banjo players like Ralph Stanley, Alan Munde, Don Reno, Tom Adams and Ben Eldridge, to name a few. These artists introduced Tim to a variety of styles within the bluegrass realm such as ragtime, sacred, secular, Dixieland, swing and boogie, all with urban and rural flavors. Tim takes his inspiration from the very roots of these styles all the way to the variations on those themes he hears from his contemporaries, and brings them to the table each time he plays with The Doug & Jess Band. When Tim is not playing with Doug and Jess, he works as a folk/roots artist representative and hosts an old time/bluegrass radio programme on The University of Manitoba radio station.
The Doug and Jess Band
152 Sherbrook St. Winnipeg MB Canada R3C 2B4
phone 204-772-0140
