Wrecking Crew Bass Player Joe Osborn Was a Greatest Hits Package Unto Himself

Imagine if you had this compilation of 1960's and 1970's rock 'n roll hits:


"Travelin' Man" - Ricky Nelson
"Ventura Highway" - America
"Holly Holy" - Neil Diamond
"Memphis" - Johnny Rivers
"California Dreamin'" - The Mamas & The Papas
"Windy" - The Association
"Dizzy" - Tommy Roe
"MacArthur Park" - Richard Harris
"Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" - The Fifth Dimension
"Closer To You" - The Carpenters
"Midnight Confessions" - The Grass Roots
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkel


Well, I would call that a great afternoon drive.


Yet what these dozen songs have in common is that Joe Osborn played bass on every single one of them.


As a member of the vaunted group of LA session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, Osborn was a greatest hit package unto himself. When in collaboration with the likes of Larry Knetchel on piano and Hal Blaine on drums that trio


Later Osborn would move to Nashville and play bass on numerous country hits by the likes of Merle Haggard, Chet Atkins, Kenny Rogers and Reba McEntire. No doubt country music fans could come up with compilations of their own.


Sadly, Osborn passed away over the weekend following a long battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 81. Osborn might not have been a household name, but he sure had a household sound. R.I.P.