Pretty Little Stranger
Though Joan Osborne has referred to this as "my version of a country record," the music is likely to find more favor in coffee shops and on NPR than with honky-tonks and the Grand Ole Opry. It conjures comparisons with Rosanne Cash's artistry after her country hitmaking days, as if Osborne came to Nashville to make the sort of music that CashleftNashville to make. While it may not achieve the commercial success that Osborne enjoyed with her popular breakthrough, "One of Us," it's the most consistently compelling album of her career. Produced by Steve Buckingham (Dolly Parton), with harmony support from Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, and Rodney Crowell, Osborne mixes six strong originals with six choice covers, rarely overpowering the material through displays of vocal technique, as she occasionally has in the past.  Much of the material deals with the aftermath of relationships (including one with a woman on "After Jane"), with results ranging from a mixture of resilience and vulnerability on the title track through the insistent groove of "Who Divided" and the eternal optimism of "Till I Get It Right."  There's also a folkish rendition of the Grateful Dead's "Brokedown Palace" that Osborne makes her own, and some live-wire slide guitar from Sonny Landreth on "Dead Roses." The closest she comes to classic country is a bittersweet reading of Kris Kristofferson's "Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends," while the closing balladry of "When the Blue Hour Comes" (with co-writer Rodney Crowell on harmonies) is pure heartbreak.--Don McLeese