SUSTO goes rogue with acoustic set at Savannah's Service Brewing Company

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Justin Osborne of SUSTO began his music journey when he was a child by sneaking some playtime on his late grandfather’s old Yamaha acoustic guitar, a family heirloom that he and his brothers were forbidden to lay a finger on by their parents for fear of them breaking it.

Now all grown up, Osborne can be seen holding the guitar on the cover of his live album, "Rogue Acoustic"; Recorded Live at the Royal American in Charleston, South Carolina.

Osborne’s brother did, in fact, break the neck off of the guitar, but it has since been repaired. “My parents initial fear and why they hid it from us actually did come true down the line,” recalled Osborne. “But, I think it still served it’s purpose. It was my granddad’s guitar, he never learned how to play it and left it to us. All of my brothers learned how to play on that guitar, and I became a songwriter on that guitar.”

SUSTO is making a stop at Service Brewing Company on his “Rogue Acoustic” tour (although his grandfather’s guitar is staying home). Osborne will be joined on stage by his drummer, and supporting artist Rose Hotel, making SUSTO a trio, a departure from his usual solo and full band shows.

“It’s definitely a different vibe, but not necessarily in a bad way,” said Osborne. “It’s nice because in some ways we have the vulnerability that you have in a solo show, but then also it’s nice to have drums and the punch that comes along with a full band.”

After three excellent albums of folk/rock/alt-country in the vein of Wilco, and years of touring, Osborne was inspired to record a stripped down live album at his favorite bar in his home town of Charleston.

“I had been doing a lot of touring with the full band and I was sort of ending the album cycle for my last record, 'Ever Since I Lost My Mind,'” explained Osborne. “I had gotten hired to do a couple of festival shows where I was a campfire performer, where it was late at night and I would go out and command a crowd with no amplification, standing on a picnic table around a fire. There was something raw about that that got me really excited. The music is always fun and exciting, but at the time I was looking for a new way to have fun with it. That’s when I got the idea to capture a similar kind of energy.”

Osborne decided to record at the Royal American where he used to work, built his band, and always played to a full house.

“I got the idea to make the live album to be almost like an audible watermark on our music scene.”

There was a time when Osborne had given up on music. Before forming SUSTO, Osborne had spent several years hustling with another band, trying to breakthrough into the music scene. Osborne lost confidence and decided to pursue a degree in anthropology. With an interest in Latin American politics, Osborne studied abroad in Cuba where he rediscovered his desire to write music.

“It was naive,” Osborne said of quitting music. “I was just in my mid-twenties, but felt like I had been working forever when I’d only been working for a handful of years. I gave up, but going to Cuba, it was really the people I became friends with that helped me find my confidence again to do it. It was also the things I learned about being more open as an artist and being a bit more brave about what I was willing to say and how honest I was willing to be.

“I started writing songs at fifteen, but I’d always done it and shared them with my folks, and held back a little bit because I knew my mom was going to hear my albums, so I didn’t want to say what I was really feeling or what I had done.”

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Osborne also discovered an interest in trova, a Cuban genre of troubadour music that is is often politically subversive, confessional, sacrilegious, and risqué. Trova didn’t change Osborne’s sound, but it did help him find his courage.

“That inspired me to be a bit bolder and to look around me and try to describe what I was seeing as a songwriter in a way that wasn’t censored by worrying what other people might think,” said Osborne. “It wasn’t like I was doing anything groundbreaking, it was just, in my own life, I letting go of the ‘child/parent’ mentality of not wanting to disappoint my parents. In Cuba, I reached a Rubicon where I realized this art form is my therapy and if I really want to let it work for me I need to be more honest and throw myself into it again.”

Osborne jokes about how he recommitted himself to music by getting knuckle tattoos reading “ACID BOYS” (now the name of his record label) to ensure that he would never be able to get a ‘real’ job again.

Osborne named his band SUSTO after a Latin American term that refers to a condition of constant spiritual panic. The letters in SUSTO also happen to appear in Osborne’s name.

Now married with a two-year-old daughter, the feeling of susto still applies to his life and his music. Osborne’s daughter was born six months before the pandemic struck and his father also passed away during the pandemic.

“It definitely always there,” said Osborne. “The theme of SUSTO is facing that existential dread or facing that susto head-on and being open about it, but also being hopeful and trying to find ways to stay positive and deal with the many blows of life. That was why I named the band SUSTO in the beginning. I decided to name the band that after I decided to name the album I was working on. That thread continues on in all our albums.”

“Becoming a dad is the scariest thing and the most rewarding thing all at once,” Osborne added. “This new capacity to love has opened up, but also new capacity to worry. Everything seems to have higher stakes, but it’s been an amazing experience.”

Being off of the road during COVID-19 has given Osborne time to spend with his family and see his daughter’s milestones like learning to walk and talk. He has also gotten back into the studio with his long time friend and producer Wolfgang Zimmerman to record his next album, due for release this Fall.

SUSTO’s last album was produced by Ian Fitchuck (Kacey Musgraves' "Golden Hour") and released on Rounder Records. Osborne enjoyed his experience with a big label, but is much more content to be taking his time at home and working on his music at his own pace at a studio that is only ten minutes from his home.

“We were able to go further, and explore more, and bring in collaborators, and that’s the approach we we’ve been developing with the first two albums, before we did the whole label, big studio thing,” said Osborne.

“I really enjoyed it because we worked at our own pace, we got to explore, and I’m really excited about sharing what we did because I’m very proud of it. It makes me happy to hear it.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: SUSTO w/ Rose Hotel

WHEN: Friday at 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Service Brewing Company, 574 Indian St.

COST: $10-15

INFO: sustoisreal.com

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: SUSTO goes rogue with acoustic set at Savannah's Service Brewing Company