Concert Review—

New Material, Soulful Covers Dominate Joan Osborne’s Showcase

By John Voket

RIDGEFIELD — Attendees didn’t have to arrive at the stripped-down duo performance by singer-songwriter Joan Osborne at The Ridgefield Playhouse on March 20 knowing any of her own songs to appreciate the talent she brings to virtually anything she chooses to sing. As a result, she not only pleased hardcore fans with unique renditions of her big hits “One of Us” and “St Teresa,” she pushed the button for Deadheads, soul fans, R&B lovers and even devotees of an artist by the name of Prince.

Accompanied only by Keith Cotton, who lent piano, guitar and vocal support, Osborne explained that she rarely tours in such a sparse configuration, but enjoyed having the chance to dig deep into her collection of favorite songs, paying tribute to some of the great artists she grew up listening to, and who obviously influenced her storied career.

It was also a chance for her to begin honing touring versions of songs she developed for Love and Hate, an ambitious multi-media song cycle that was part of her recent “American Songbook” installment at New York’s Lincoln Center.

In a chat with The Newtown Bee earlier this month, the veteran performer described her Ridgefield show — part of a brief seven stop duo tour — as something of an introspective exercise, or a cleansing of the palate following her Lincoln Center showcase which featured not only a selection of new original music, but a complex mix of coordinated images, videos and live interpretive dancers.

“It’s definitely a 180. I like being able to do these more complicated things, that are more challenging and interesting,” she said. “But as a writer and a singer there’s something to be said for stripping it down to the complete bare bones and seeing if your songs can hold up that way.”

Osborne said if her songs and performance thrived in this sparse format, then she was confident her selections were fundamentally good songs at their roots.

“You can arrange them and orchestrate them in all kinds of ways but in the end it really has to be about the song and the way you perform it,” Osborne continued. “In a way it’s a true test of the songs — do they can stand up to this kind of bare bones presentation.”

She obviously felt the same way about the raft of covers she rolled out and mixed in generously among her own new and well-known offerings. Among those was an exceptionally well-played version of “Brokedown Palace,” originally performed by The Grateful Dead, and a number she had the pleasure of singing as a member of The Dead, a post-Jerry Garcia reforming of surviving band members, and during her stint with Phil & Friends, featuring Dead bassist Phil Lesh.

As she ended the song, one vociferous audience member shouted out, “Jerry is smiling!”

Osborne followed up with Cotton moving from grand piano to a funky B-3 organ for a deeply funky “Ain’t No Sunshine.” She then expressed her deep respect for Van Morrison before strapping on an acoustic guitar and launching into one of his big hits, “Tupelo Honey,” which also teased a verse from Emmy Lou Harris’ “Boulder to Birmingham.”

Her take on “Son of a Preacher Man” was equally pleasing to the audience, who respectfully clapped along on cue, but who otherwise permitted each song of the program to progress with pin drop silence. Warning that the show was already running on overtime, she took the energy up a few notches utilizing pre-recoded rhythm tracks plugged in through her smart phone, which was positioned beside her on stage, to send folks home with Dave Mason’s “Only You Know and I Know.”

But the fans would not be denied an encore, so Osborne obliged with perhaps the best cover of the night, a sultry “Little Red Corvette.” If anyone thought nobody could present a sexier take on this number than Prince himself, they should hear Osborne’s version.

In fact, she commented to The Bee following the show, Osborne has gotten such overwhelming feedback to record that hit on one of her own records, she was in the process of sending Prince a bootleg to gauge his reaction to the idea.