By Brent Thompson

It doesn’t seem possible that Joan Osborne’s debut album, Relish – which included the hit single “One of Us” – is now 30 years old. But here we are and it’s time to celebrate it. On Thursday, November 13, Osborne and Lisa Loeb – who is also celebrating the 30th anniversary of her album, Tails – will perform at the Alys Stephens Center. Osborne has kept busy in her career, both as a solo artist and as a member of Trigger Hippy and Phil Lesh & Friends. Most recently, she and an all-star cast of fellow musicians released the live album Dylanology. Osborne recently spoke with us by phone from her Brooklyn. N.Y. home as she was about to embark on her current tour.

Southern Stages: Joan, thanks for your time. If you will, tell us about Dylanology.

Joan Osborne: It came out in the spring of this year and it’s a live album – Dylanology Live. It’s a recording of myself and the band and some special guests – including Jackie Greene, Robert Randolph and Amy Helm – performing all Bob Dylan songs. The recording was made back in 2018 and I kind of discovered it last year. I listened to it again and said, “Wow, we should really put this out,” so we put it out in the spring of 2025. My last record of original material as a solo artist is (2023 release) Nobody Owns You.

Southern Stages: The Dylanology lineup is incredible – you, Jackie Greene, Robert Randolph and Amy Helm.

Osborne: We had a released a studio version of Bob Dylan songs in 2017 and this was a tour behind that. Rather than just me going out and playing the songs by myself, I really wanted to put together something special so we invited these guests and had a full band – it was really a fun tour. I’m glad we had the presence of mind – or at least somebody did – to record it and it came out sounding really good.

Southern Stages: How did you come across the recording several years after the show?

Osborne: When COVID happened, I did a search through my archives and mostly they were physical archives of CDs and tapes in closets. But I also was checking what I had in the computer and, for some reason, I missed this one at the time during COVID. It got me into the habit of going back and checking what I had. I was looking through the Bob Dylan material that I had recorded and this live thing came up. I’m usually my own worst critic, but I felt like this was really something I could be proud of and there was no reason for it to be sitting in my archives.

Southern Stages: How long did the tour last?

Osborne: It was not a very long tour. It was just a couple of weeks, so I’m glad that we were able to record this show. We also did some shows of Dylan material as a trio and we’ll still do that sometimes. Only a relatively few people were able to see it live, so that was another reason to put the recording out – so that people can try to feel like they were there.

Southern Stages: How did the tour with Lisa Loeb come together?

Osborne: I wish I could take credit for it, but my agent and Lisa’s agent were talking and they said, “This is a moment where both of these artists are having a 30th anniversary of their debut records and the records that most people know them by,” so they saw the opportunity to do this. I had worked with Lisa a little bit in the past and we had sort of run into each other at various times over the years. We were on the same bill at Lilith Fair so we kind of knew each other, but we had never actually toured together. When they brought up this idea, I said, “That’s great – does she want to do that?’ She wanted to do it, so it’s going to be a very unique and once-in-a-lifetime thing to be doing this. I haven’t played some of the songs from the Relish album for many years, so I’m digging back into that record and wanting to celebrate that material and give the fans something special with this tour.

Southern Stages: How will the shows flow? Will you take turns opening and closing the shows? Will you perform onstage together?

Osborne: We did a couple of shows as a trial run back in the summer, and it was one of us coming out first and the other coming out and doing their set. We didn’t have any time to put together a moment on stage where we’re both performing, but I really hope and expect that it’s going to happen with this tour because we’ll have a little more time to see each other at soundchecks and backstage. I think there are some moments where we’ll be onstage together – at least I hope so.

Southern Stages: Your career has included a lot of diverse projects – I think of it as a parallel to Bruce Hornsby’s career. With that said, how do you comprise your live set lists these days?

Osborne: First of all, it’s a great compliment to be compared to Bruce Hornsby – he’s an amazing artist and I really love him. As far as putting together a show, there’s no way that I can touch on everything I’ve done in 30-plus years of my career in one show. We do try to give people the fan favorites and we try to touch on different things. More and more these days, I’m focusing the shows on a particular event or a particular record. On this show with Lisa, it’s the 30th anniversary of Relish. When we are doing some other touring this year, it’s the Dylanology material. For me, it’s a lot easier to focus on a particular theme and that way I can construct a show that really makes sense. I think it’s also cool for the fans because you want people to come back again and again and you want to give them a fresh, new experience every time. I’m continuing to write and record – I’m always exploring and I want people to enjoy that, too, so it’s not just one thing that I do. It’s, “Here’s the ongoing journey and you’re part of it, too. ”

On Thursday, November 13, Joan Osborne and Lisa Loeb will perform in the Jemison Concert Hall at the Alys Stephens Center. Advance tickets to the 7 p.m. show can be purchased at www.alysstephens.org.