The singer and her bandmates regaled a rapt St. Cecilia Music Center audience on Thursday with ‘Dylanology’ as well as her own memorable songs. Review, photos.
Joan Osborne: Loving the ‘beautiful, beautiful hall’ of St. Cecilia’s Royce Auditorium. (Photo/Jeffrey Wilkinson)
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With her focus on Bob Dylan’s music in the studio and on tour, Joan Osborne clearly revels in the seemingly ageless appeal of this legendary American songwriter and his bottomless catalog of enduring songs.
“The other thing about him is that he’s still doing it, he’s still touring, and he’s not just an oldies act that goes out and does the 20 songs that everybody knows,” she told Local Spins in a recent interview.
“He still is writing and recording new stuff. … He still is connected to what he’s doing.”
The same could be said for Osborne, who at 63 continues to tour, write and record after more than 30 years as an in-demand artist revered for her own music and interpretation of songs by Dylan and others.
While her concert Thursday night at a packed St. Cecilia Music Center in Grand Rapids was part of her “Sings the Songs of Bob Dylan” tour, she also took time to showcase some of her own material, including “St. Teresa” and “One of Us” from her Grammy Award-nominated 1995 debut album, “Relish,” as well as three songs from her latest collection of original music, 2023’s “Nobody Owns You.”
Kicking Up Her Heels: Osborne (Photo/Jeffrey Wilkinson)
The enduring appeal of “Relish” has inspired a unique upcoming project more than 30 years after its release: Osborne plans to release a completely overhauled version of “Relish” in the fall – a jazz take on the acclaimed collection created with award-winning bassist Christian McBride and a cadre of “incredible” jazz musicians.
She calls “Relish Reimagined” a “whole different animal.”
On Thursday, Osborne proved that her adaptations of classic Dylan songs with guitarist Jack Petruzelli and keyboardist Will Bryant are a “whole different animal,” too, including a Dylan cover from “Relish” — “Man in the Long Black Coat” — that shined amid the brilliance of its reinterpretation.
Meanwhile, “Highway 61 Revisited” took on a psychedelic and dreamy vibe with Osborne pounding on a single drum and “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” adopted a gospel- and blues-drenched flavor, complete with harmony vocals and fuzzy guitar riffs.
Indeed, there was plenty of room for jamming and solos throughout the night, with Osborne’s uber-talented bandmates unleashing fetching arrangements of Dylan tunes that also shed new light on his lyrics — thus further proving the prowess of this diverse and penetrating songwriter who actually won the Nobel Prize in Literature and a special citation Pulitzer Prize.
Osborne, whose voice wavered at times (she occasionally sipped tea and used a throat spray between songs), danced and delivered plenty of heartfelt emotion throughout the hour-and-15-minute set that included a touching, message-filled tune written for her daughter, “Nobody Owns You.”
There were also hidden Dylan gems amid the icon’s more recognizable tracks unfurled by the trio: Osborne’s poignant and emotional slant on 1989’s “Shooting Star” was an early highlight, enhanced by Bryant’s Elton John-hued piano work.
It was a night that spanned music from two impressive careers, with Osborne reflecting at one point on her debut more than three decades ago: “I’m still here.”
The appreciative and enthusiastic crowd on hand Thursday was very glad of that.
(Osborne makes another Michigan stop tonight (May 1) at The Ark in Ann Arbor. Get tickets, details here.)
PHOTO GALLERY: Joan Osborne at St. Cecilia Music Center
Photos by Jeffrey Wilkinson
