Tim O’Brien

Recording Artist · Active 1984–present · Wheeling, West Virginia · timobrien.net · Also a musician
Contemporary Bluegrass Folk / Americana Old-Time (Traditional)

Tim O'Brien is one of the most versatile and influential roots musicians of his generation — a two-time IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year, a multi-instrumentalist who moves easily between mandolin, guitar, fiddle, and bouzouki, and a songwriter whose compositions have been recorded by Kathy Mattea (“Walk the Way the Wind Blows,” “Untold Stories”), Garth Brooks (“When No One's Around”), the Dixie Chicks, and many others. His work with Hot Rize defined 1980s bluegrass innovation, and his solo career has explored Irish and Appalachian connections in deeply original ways.

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  • Born in Wheeling, West Virginia. Influenced by WWVA's Wheeling Jamboree and his sister Mollie, a singer and his frequent duet partner. Heard the Greenbriar Boys and the New Lost City Ramblers as a teenager.
  • Moved to Boulder, Colorado in the early 1970s. Played in the local bluegrass scene including stints with Town and Country Review.
  • Co-founded Hot Rize in 1978 with Pete Wernick (banjo), Charles Sawtelle (guitar), and Nick Forster (bass). The band's combination of original songwriting, sharp arrangements, and western-swing alter-ego Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers made them one of the most original bluegrass acts of the 1980s.
  • Named IBMA Entertainer of the Year in 1990 (with Hot Rize) — the first winners of the award in IBMA history.
  • Hot Rize went on hiatus in 1990 when O'Brien left to pursue a solo career, signing with RCA; guitarist Charles Sawtelle was later diagnosed with leukemia and died in 1999. The group has reunited periodically since, releasing When I'm Free in 2014.
  • Extensive solo catalog on Sugar Hill and Howdy Skies Records (his own label) — over 20 albums since 1984's Hard Year Blues. Key releases include Odd Man In (1991), Red on Blonde (Dylan tribute, 1996), The Crossing (Irish-Appalachian connections, 1999), Fiddler's Green (2005, Grammy winner for Best Traditional Folk Album), and Chicken and Egg (2011).
  • “Walk the Way the Wind Blows” (co-written with Kathy Mattea) and “Untold Stories” were major 1980s country hits for Mattea — Tim's first entries into mainstream country songwriting.
  • Extensive duet work with longtime partner Darrell Scott (Real Time, 2000; We're Usually a Lot Better Than This, 2007; Memories and Moments, 2013) and with wife Jan Fabricius (mandolin, vocals).
  • Side projects include the Earls of Leicester (Jerry Douglas's Flatt & Scruggs tribute, 2014–present), Red Horse (with John Gorka and Lucy Kaplansky), and the O'Boys.
  • Co-wrote Garth Brooks's 1993 #1 country hit “When No One's Around.” Songs covered by the Dixie Chicks, Kathy Mattea, Patty Loveless, Nickel Creek, and many others.
  • Two Grammy wins: Best Traditional Folk Album for Fiddler's Green (2006) and Best Bluegrass Album for The Earls of Leicester (2015).
  • IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 1993 and 2006; Hot Rize's IBMA Entertainer of the Year 1990.
  • Inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2025.
  • Married to singer-songwriter Jan Fabricius; the couple tours and records together. Lives in Nashville.

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