Concert Preview—

Joan Osborne Tour Comes Full Circle With One Piano, One Voice

By John Voket

RIDGEFIELD — Anyone who snaps up one of the remaining tickets to see Joan Osborne at The Ridgefield Playhouse on March 20 may just witness one of the closest things to musical purity available on the regional concert circuit so far this year.

Fans will also see Osborne recreate the atmosphere she experienced taking her first tentative trips to the microphone during late-night sessions with the house piano player at New York’s Abilene Cafe back in the late 1980s.

This intimate tour hitting seven venues in March with support from Keith Cotton on piano represents a departure of sorts for the Kentucky-born singer-songwriter who most recently produced and fronted Love and Hate, an ambitious multi-media song cycle that was part of the “American Songbook” series at New York’s Lincoln Center. In fact, she has rarely performed in such a sparse configuration, choosing instead to front her own band or play notable roles in showcases from Sarah McLachlin’s Lilith Tour to recent tribute concerts honoring John Lennon and Neil Young.

She has also been featured supporting Bob Dylan, The Dixie Chicks, Melissa Etheridge and in critically acclaimed appearances at the Grand Ole Opry, Austin City Limits and with various configurations of Grateful Dead alumni including Phil Lesh & Friends and the “reunion” of Lesh, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann  touring as The Dead.

With a half dozen Grammy nominations to her credit for solo work, Osborne told The Newtown Bee recently that she is looking to this stripped down tour to explore elements of her work and some of her favorite cover songs that have previously been masked by layers of other instruments and production.

And once it’s over, she’s back to the grind, preparing to take the multimedia and multi-dimensional  Love and Hate production on the road, and working with The Waybacks ahead of this year’s MerleFest, where she promises a very tasty treat for attendees to the festival’s popular “Hillside Album Hour.”

Osborne, who is most well known for her songs “One of Us,” and “St Teresa,” said that she has been blessed with various invitations to perform at these high profile events thanks to the many connections she has, particularly in the New York market. In most cases, like with the recent Neil Young and John Lennon tributes, Osborne said she was even given the option to pick the songs she wants to perform in their honor.

“They’ll send me a list of who is participating and the songs already committed to other performers on the list,” Osborne said. “When it’s somebody like John Lennon or Neil Young, I normally have a song that I will instantly want to do. But sometimes I’ll want some direction if I’m looking for something outside the box because I like to push myself a bit and not just show up and sing something I’ve been performing.”

Her own latest album, Little Wild One, was released in 2008, but much of the Lincoln Center showcase featured new material she created with touring mate Cotton and writing partner Jack Petruzzelli.

“It’s all about romantic love, and the bright and dark aspects of it,” she said.

Osborne said this body of work will become her next release, but like the Love and Hate performance, it is designed to offer fans a variety of experiences. “I think it’s going to come out in a few different ways as a CD, as a DVD if you want to see the performance piece, or as a package. We’re working that out as we speak.”

The veteran performer described her upcoming Ridgefield show 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 can thrive in this format, then she is confident they are 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.”

For information including tickets for Joan Osborne’s only Connecticut stop this tour, March 20 in Ridgefield, visit www.RidgefieldPlayhouse.org or call 203-438-5795.