* 2 bios below.
DUO: Tim O’Brien and Jan Fabricius
Tim O’Brien and his wife Jan Fabricius have performed together nationally and internationally since 2015. The original songs on their new release Paper Flowers offer tangible proof of a deep collaboration, and serve as a narrative of the couple’s life together.
Tim O’Brien might operate a bit under music business radar, but he’s been an essential part of the fabric of the folk, bluegrass, and Americana scenes for the past fifty years. Since his emergence as singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter with the iconic 1980’s bluegrass group Hot Rize, the West Virginia native has continued down a diverse and constantly evolving musical pathway. In the process he’s written songs for people like Garth Brooks and the Dixie Chicks, released rootsy classics like Red on Blonde and The Crossing, and earned a few Grammy awards.
A registered nurse from Kansas, Fabricius started dating O’Brien in 2011. After moving to Nashville in 2013, she took a crash course in the music business as tour manager. O’Brien describes their musical evolution, “Jan started adding harmony vocals and mandolin to shows and recordings soon after we became a couple. We would play music around the house, and she would learn new songs as I wrote them. Then soon enough we started writing together.” O’Brien’s two most recent releases, He Walked On and Cup of Sugar include songs cowritten with Fabricius.
When Cathy Fink and Jon Weisberger approached O’Brien in 2023 to contribute to what became 2024’s Bluegrass Sings Paxton, Tim and Jan wrote the song You Took Me In with the man himself. Encouraged by the results, the three scheduled weekly Zoom co-writing sessions and the songs kept coming. Paper Flowers includes twelve of those songs as well as three more originals.
Tim and Jan perform as duo and in a band setting with bassist Mike Bub and fiddler Shad Cobb. Both live in the studio, they present an acoustic music roots repertoire that’s at once both original and traditional.
Tim O’Brien
Born in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1954, Grammy winning singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien grew up singing in church and in school. After seeing Doc Watson on TV, he became a lifelong devotee of old time and bluegrass music. Tim started touring nationally in 1978 with Colorado bluegrass band Hot Rize. His songs “Walk the Way the Wind Blows” and “Untold Stories” were bluegrass hits for Hot Rize, and country hits for Kathy Mattea. Soon more artists like Nickel Creek, Garth Brooks, and The Dixie Chicks covered his songs. Over the years, Tim has collaborated with his sister Mollie O’Brien, songwriter Darrell Scott, and noted old-time musician Dirk Powell, as well as with Steve Earle, Mark Knopfler, Dan Auerbach, Sturgill Simpson, and Steve Martin.
Living in Nashville since 1996, O’Brien’s skills on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and banjo make him an in- demand session player. He tours in a duet setting with his wife Jan Fabricius on mandolin and vocals, and in a band the includes bassist Mike Bub, fiddler Shad Cobb, and Fabricius. A voracious reader who loves to cook, he has two sons, Jackson (born 1982) and Joel (born 1990). The International Bluegrass Music Association awarded him song of the year in 2006 and named him best male vocalist in 1993 and 2006. He was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2013 and into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2022.
Recent releases He Walked On and Cup of Sugar wove stories of everyday life into socially conscious themes. Other notable O’Brien recordings include the bluegrass Dylan covers of Red on Blonde, the Celtic-Appalachian fusion of The Crossing, and the Grammy winning folk of Fiddler’s Green. His duet with Darrell Scott, Real Time, is a cult favorite, and he won a bluegrass Grammy as part of The Earls of Leicester. Tim O’Brien and Jan Fabricius released their first full collaboration Paper Flowers, in June of 2025. Its fifteen original songs serve as a narrative of the married couple’s life together.