June 9, 2007: Vol. 30, No. 23

She might have lost the nose ring and moved off of the pop charts and into Cobble Hill, but singer-songwriter Joan Osborne, who will be performing on June 16 at the Prospect Park Bandshell as part of Celebrate Brooklyn, is still singing. GO Brooklyn’s Chris Varmus caught up with Osborne, who dished on Celebrate Brooklyn, being a mom and life after “One of Us,” the God-themed tune that put her on the charts (and in the Religious Right’s crosshairs). Since that 1995 album went triple-platinum, she’s put out only two more discs of original material (the 2000 follow-up “Righteous Love” and “Pretty Little Stranger,” which came out last year), plus two CDs of R&B covers.

GO Brooklyn: What was your introduction to New York, and how did your music career get started?

Joan Osborne: I first came to New York to go to film school and fell into the roots blues music scene that was happening in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Growing up in Kentucky, I wasn’t exposed to a lot of the music that would end up having the biggest influence on me — people like Etta James, Helen Wolfe and Otis Redding. I sang at my first open mic kind of by accident after a friend dared me. After that, I was hooked. I started performing more and put a band together; we’d do four one-hour sets at all kinds of places. The first recordings I did were live. We made a CD to sell at shows. That’s how we got from place to place; it was gas money or maybe a meal.

GO: You’re best known for your hit song “One of Us.” How did that early exposure change the course of your career?

JO: That song was actually written by Eric Bazillian as something he wanted to do himself, and he brought a sort of dirge-like, Nick Cave-ish version of it into the studio where we were making “Relish” [Osborne’s first album]. Rick Chertoff, the producer, had the idea to do it as a pop song, and so I did this really innocent version, like a question asked by a child. The success of that song has been kind of a double-edged sword, obviously, ultimately positive because it’s enabled people to get to know me, but there’s been a bit of pressure to recreate that level of success. I’m not in the pop mainstream anymore and that’s freed me up to do more of what I like. The new album is very much a Philly Soul/early ’70s sound. There are personal songs as well as covers, and it’s all integrated seamlessly.

GO: Was it a challenge to fit your new songs into that older style?

JO: It’s actually kind of liberating. You know, it’s a satisfyingly simple problem to solve. Songwriting is about taking the personal and making it universal, so that doesn’t change, even over time.

GO: How has being a mother changed your perspective in terms of songwriting?

JO: She’s 2 1/2 — they grow up fast! But yes, I’ve written songs for her and about her. Motherhood is a profound emotional experience. You can’t avoid your feelings anymore after going through something like it. It’s definitely made me look at my own experiences more honestly, whether it was romantic entanglements or whatever else. Songwriting is a process of remembering details and truths.

GO: Will your “Celebrate Brooklyn” performance be your first at Prospect Park?

JO: I actually can’t remember if I’ve ever performed in Prospect Park; if I did it was a long time ago. I used to live in Park Slope, then moved away for some years, and now I’m [in] Cobble Hill. I’m a Bandshell regular, though. I go with my friends all the time. I can’t wait to perform there — I know it’s going to be a ton of fun.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper