Brothers Osborne recorded a very cool version of the 1970 Elton John-Bernie Taupin song, “Take Me to the Pilot” for the new star-studded compilation, Restoration: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. The collection, which also features Little Big Town, Kacey Musgraves, Dierks Bentley, Chris Stapleton, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson and many others, came out on Friday (April 6th).
The boys nearly recorded another one of Elton’s hits, but decided that “Take Me to the Pilot” would be the best fit; a song they could have easily seen themselves record, even if the collection wasn’t part of the equation.
“If you go back and listen to a lot of Elton’s early material, it sounds like some grooving, almost rock-country tunes, and ‘Take Me to the Pilot,’ sounds like a song we could’ve easily have recorded,” says John Osborne.
“We were listening to songs of Elton’s that we thought would be great to do, and some of the songs we were just big fans of, but we realized we probably weren’t the best artist or band to recreate it,” says TJ Osborne. “Then we were listening to ‘Take Me to the Pilot,’ and we thought man, this is something that we probably would’ve wanted to cover and record anyways, regardless of it being on the Restoration project and so we did. I’m pretty proud with how it turned out.”
Brothers Osborne, who are nominated for two ACM Awards (Vocal Duo and Music Video of the Year for “It Ain’t My Fault”), are set to release their brand-new album, Port Saint Joe, on April 20th. They’re currently making their way up the country charts with “Shoot Me Straight.”
Audio / Brothers Osborne talk about being part of the Restoration album, a tribute to the songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
DownloadBrothers Osborne (Take Me to the Pilot) OC: (TJ) …it is rad. 1:04
JOHN: “We’re really stoked about being a part of the Restoration album, the Elton John tribute record, and there’s amazing artists on there and we’re honored that they’d even ask us to be a part of it. If you go back and listen to a lot of Elton’s early material, it sounds like some grooving, almost rock-country tunes, and ‘Take Me to the Pilot,’ sounds like a song we could’ve easily have recorded.” TJ: “That song, something about ‘Take Me to the Pilot,’ we were listening to songs of Elton’s that we thought would be great to do, and some of the songs we were just big fans of, but we realized we probably weren’t the best artist or band to recreate it. Then we were listening to ‘Take Me to the Pilot,’ and we thought man, this is something that we probably would’ve wanted to cover and record anyways, regardless of it being on the Restoration project and so we did. I’m pretty proud with how it turned out.” JOHN: “Yeah, me too. I hope they love it. We’ve caught wind that they like it, which is an incredible honor. I’m always excited when even the pizza delivery guy knows who we are, and to think that Bernie and Elton actually know who we are is pretty rad.” TJ: “It is rad.”
