The many songs of Joan Osborne
Published in Berkshire Eagle, 3/11/11
By
Jeremy D. Goodwin
GREAT BARRINGTON—Joan Osborne is greedy.
That's the word she playfully uses to describe her penchant for exploring a variety of musical genres over the course of her frequently-surprising career. Since initially rocketing to prominence on the success of "One of Us," the indelible, chart-topping hit from her 1995 debut album "Relish," the creatively restless singer has followed a zig-zag career path.
"I just love so many different kinds of music. I know the conventional wisdom about having a career is to define yourself very clearly and just be that one thing really well," she says in a telephone interview from her home in Brooklyn. "I always felt that I wanted to try everything that I was drawn to. I have been very lucky that I've been welcomed into all these different musical worlds and musical environments."
Many examples of her musical taste are likely to be showcased when she plays the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center tonight, in a duo tour in which she is accompanied by her regular pianist, Keith Cotton.
Osborne has recorded blues-inspired pop, a country-inflected album, another LP stocked with classic soul and R&B hits (followed by a record of new material bearing those influences), a Christmas record, was a key Lillith Fair participant (in 1997), and even toured with two post-Jerry Garcia incarnations of the Grateful Dead.
She says that fans she’s picked up while exploring any of these musical avenues are apt to show up at any given gig, hoping to hear some of the material that got them interested in the artist. A particular treat these days is when fans go to concerts in tow with teenaged sons or daughters who were introduced to Osborne’s work through their parents and discovered their own affinity for it.
So in what style does she feel the most comfortable?
"Whether you're singing R&B or country or folk, you have to bring soul to it. For me, that's the job, to really get to the heart of the song and the emotion of the song—and allow it to sing you, in a way," she reflects. "It's not about being a great singer and showing off all of your tricks. It's about serving the song and letting the meaning of the song come through, however you can in your own individual way. If I had to label myself it would be as a soul singer, not because of that genre specifically but because of the approach."
She says she uses these duo shows as a chance to exhume long-forgotten material, and come up with new surprises every night. A recently unearthed chestnut was "Stella Blue," a Grateful Dead song she remembers performing perhaps once or twice before, but falling in love with.
With only a pianist joining her onstage, the extra sonic space created for her voice lets Osborne explore subtleties that are lost when the full band is on hand. "One of the cool things about it is that as a singer I’m able to challenge myself to find all these different extras within my voice. There's nowhere to hide. But you also are able to take each moment and each breath of the song and fill it with everything that your voice has—and it's all very audible. "
It’s also a more intimate environment in which the give-and-take between performer and audience is more direct, with songs occasionally requested and comments or questions going back and forth. Yet the audiences for these shows have been particularly attentive to the music, she observes.
As for “One of Us,” the hit that served as Osborne’s introduction to so many but in no way summarizes her work, either then or now, it continues to have cultural resonance. Just last fall it was covered on the very popular Fox TV series “Glee.”
Osborne seems to have no issue with the song’s continuing prominence in her bio, and says she was perfectly happy to see it pop up in this new context. “It made me a big hero with my [college-aged] nieces. I think it brought them a lot of cred in their dorms. I was cool for a whole week there after it aired,” she says with a laugh.
But this evidence of the lingering resonance of that song—written for her by Eric Bazilian, formerly of The Hooters—is merely the latest example, she says.
“It's just another testament to how interesting that song is. It's had a life beyond me doing it. You can go on You Tube and see Japanese high school girls at karaoke bars doing it. This is just another incarnation of the song's life, and I think there'll be more.”
GREAT BARRINGTON—Joan Osborne is greedy.
That's the word she playfully uses to describe her penchant for exploring a variety of musical genres over the course of her frequently-surprising career. Since initially rocketing to prominence on the success of "One of Us," the indelible, chart-topping hit from her 1995 debut album "Relish," the creatively restless singer has followed a zig-zag career path.
"I just love so many different kinds of music. I know the conventional wisdom about having a career is to define yourself very clearly and just be that one thing really well," she says in a telephone interview from her home in Brooklyn. "I always felt that I wanted to try everything that I was drawn to. I have been very lucky that I've been welcomed into all these different musical worlds and musical environments."
Many examples of her musical taste are likely to be showcased when she plays the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center tonight, in a duo tour in which she is accompanied by her regular pianist, Keith Cotton.
Osborne has recorded blues-inspired pop, a country-inflected album, another LP stocked with classic soul and R&B hits (followed by a record of new material bearing those influences), a Christmas record, was a key Lillith Fair participant (in 1997), and even toured with two post-Jerry Garcia incarnations of the Grateful Dead.
She says that fans she’s picked up while exploring any of these musical avenues are apt to show up at any given gig, hoping to hear some of the material that got them interested in the artist. A particular treat these days is when fans go to concerts in tow with teenaged sons or daughters who were introduced to Osborne’s work through their parents and discovered their own affinity for it.
So in what style does she feel the most comfortable?
"Whether you're singing R&B or country or folk, you have to bring soul to it. For me, that's the job, to really get to the heart of the song and the emotion of the song—and allow it to sing you, in a way," she reflects. "It's not about being a great singer and showing off all of your tricks. It's about serving the song and letting the meaning of the song come through, however you can in your own individual way. If I had to label myself it would be as a soul singer, not because of that genre specifically but because of the approach."
She says she uses these duo shows as a chance to exhume long-forgotten material, and come up with new surprises every night. A recently unearthed chestnut was "Stella Blue," a Grateful Dead song she remembers performing perhaps once or twice before, but falling in love with.
With only a pianist joining her onstage, the extra sonic space created for her voice lets Osborne explore subtleties that are lost when the full band is on hand. "One of the cool things about it is that as a singer I’m able to challenge myself to find all these different extras within my voice. There's nowhere to hide. But you also are able to take each moment and each breath of the song and fill it with everything that your voice has—and it's all very audible. "
It’s also a more intimate environment in which the give-and-take between performer and audience is more direct, with songs occasionally requested and comments or questions going back and forth. Yet the audiences for these shows have been particularly attentive to the music, she observes.
As for “One of Us,” the hit that served as Osborne’s introduction to so many but in no way summarizes her work, either then or now, it continues to have cultural resonance. Just last fall it was covered on the very popular Fox TV series “Glee.”
Osborne seems to have no issue with the song’s continuing prominence in her bio, and says she was perfectly happy to see it pop up in this new context. “It made me a big hero with my [college-aged] nieces. I think it brought them a lot of cred in their dorms. I was cool for a whole week there after it aired,” she says with a laugh.
But this evidence of the lingering resonance of that song—written for her by Eric Bazilian, formerly of The Hooters—is merely the latest example, she says.
“It's just another testament to how interesting that song is. It's had a life beyond me doing it. You can go on You Tube and see Japanese high school girls at karaoke bars doing it. This is just another incarnation of the song's life, and I think there'll be more.”
