I was excited to see Joan Osborne at Johnny D’s recently; I saw her perform a couple of times with Trigger Hippy, but had never seen her perform only her music. This seemed to be a rare opportunity to see her in a small club where the intimate nature of her new album could be highlighted.

Joan Osborne

Joan is touring with Kevin Cotton to support her latest release, Love and Hate.

This album seems quite a departure from her previous oeuvre, yet it suits her perfectly. It imparts a sense of being in a cabaret or piano bar, listening to a terrific songbird.

Joan Osborne

Performing most, if not all, of the songs from the new album accompanied by Kevin on the piano for most songs but guitar on several, Joan demonstrated why she is so beloved.

Joan Osborne and Kevin Cotton

In Joan’s words (copied from her biography), “I feel like this record is like the novel that sat in the author’s drawer for 50 years,” Osborne notes.  “More than any record I’ve ever done, it felt like it needed the time to change and evolve and become what it was supposed to be.  Whenever you make a record, there’s always an element of uncertainty, of not knowing how people are going to receive it, and that was really amplified in this case because of the time element.  But I felt like I had to keep going, so we just kept taking the next step and kept moving until it arrived at the place it had to be.”

Joan Osborne

She also played her two most iconic hits, ‘One of Us’ and ‘St. Teresa’, which were probably the songs many in the audience came to hear.

Joan Osborne

There were two opening acts this night. The first was a local musician, Ruby Rose Fox, who appeared with two of her backup singers, The Gloria Steinems. What a voice! She was the 2014 winner of Best Female Vocalist at the Boston Music Awards.

Ruby Rose Fox

Next up was Derik Hultquist, a singer-songwriter from Nashville who is touring with Joan.  I enjoyed him and look forward to hearing more from him in the future.

Derik Hultquist

I hope everyone discovered that Joan continues to make relevant music and will continue attending her live performances. Her voice and her writing are as strong as ever.

Joan Osborne

The emotion that pours from Joan is priceless.

Ticket courtesy of Johnny D’s; all opinions are my own.