Second Cup Café: Joan Osborne

Singer-Songwriter Sings The Blues With A Country Touch

(CBS)  Singer-songwriter Joan Osborne is known for her bluesy voice and thoughtful lyrics. She says her latest album, "Pretty Little Stranger," is her version of a country record — some of it "very traditional, some less so."

Osborne visits Second Cup Café to sing songs from the album.

Originally from Anchorage, Ky., Osborne fell into music by accident while she was a film student at New York University.

She was having a few beers with a friend at a Manhattan blues bar when, on a dare, she got up and sang "God Bless The Child." She did so well that the piano player at the bar asked her to try out for the club's open mic night.

The bar that launched her career, it turns out, was just around the corner from where she lived. Osborne came back for open mic night and was hooked.

She quickly became immersed in the New York blues scene of the 1990s, playing alongside acts like Blues Traveler and the Spin Doctors. She ended up doing so well that she quit her day job and decided to pursue a music career instead of going back to college.

After releasing two self-produced albums on her own label, Womanly Hips, Osborne decided to sign with a major, Mercury.

In 1995 she released her first album for the label, "Relish," which contained her hit song "One of Us." She received five Grammy nominations in 1996 including best album and best new artist, but didn't win.

Through the rest of the 1990s, Osborne toured on her own and as part of the Lilith Fair Tour. She also was busy with causes like Planned Parenthood and Rock the Vote!

In 2000 she released "Righteous Love" which made it to No. 90 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. She followed it up with 2002's "How Sweet It Is," an album of classic soul and R&B covers from the 1960s and '70s.

Her latest album, "Pretty Little Stranger," features guest performers Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Sonny Landreth and Rodney Crowell. Osborne wrote six original songs for the album which also features tunes penned by Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, and Patty Griffin.

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ALways fond of her "One of us"