One has to wonder if “One of Us,” the 1995 hit recorded by Joan Osborne, is a blessing or a curse.
As catchy and radio-friendly as that song is, there’s so much more to Osborne’s music than that hit. Anyone who doubts that needs only listen to her latest album, “Bring It On Home,” filled with vintage blues, R&B and soul songs that speak to Osborne’s, well, soul.
“I think the thing is that to say I am a good sport about it makes it sounds like I don’t actually want to sing it,” said Osborne. “If there has got to be one song that I am known for above all others, that is a great one. It’s interesting, for a pop song, because it deals with these very deeply held beliefs but it doesn’t tell anyone what they should think. It asks them to search themselves, to ask what God means to them. I don’t mind singing it. I can feel the reaction of the audiences [when I do]. It’s still got the power. I don’t mind at all.”
| Onstage |
| Joan Osborne with Lera Lynn |
| When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday |
| Where: Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria |
| Info: $35; 202-397-SEAT (7328); ticketmaster.com |
In fact, Osborne credits a large part of her long career as a folk and blues singer-songwriter to the attention that song brought. In a very real way, it enabled her to record “Bring It On Home,” a project she had always wanted to undertake when she, and her voice, were ready.
“Blues music rescued me when I was in need of rescue,” said Osborne. “The voices of Otis Redding and Al Green soothed a troubled soul, the power of Etta James and Tina Turner gave me courage, and the depth of feeling of Muddy Waters and so many other great blues artists allowed me to find and express my own depths. When I began to sing in New York City in my early 20s, I wanted nothing more than to model myself on these people, to inhabit the music as they did in some small way.”
As she traveled the country touring, performing with such luminaries as the Blind Boys of Alabama, Aaron Neville and Charlie Musselwhite, the idea of the album always resurfaced.
“I was at [New York’s] Lincoln Center, guesting with the Blind Boys of Alabama,” she said. “They said, ‘We just love it when you do this kind of music, blues and soul and gospel.’ And I told them I’d love to do a record [with such songs]. Then we started to talk about it.”
Although Osborne has an album or original material ready to release, she said she was itching to get this album out first.
“It sounds trite, but coming back to it feels great,” she said. “I feel like my voice has more character now than it did 20 years ago and I feel like I can sing [these songs] better than I ever could. I’m very grateful.”
