• Joan Osborne & Suzanna Choffel - April 13th
• 9:00pm

After helping celebrate our opening night of New Years Eve 2008, Joan Osborne returns to City Winery for two very special shows in 2010. The singer is touring again and we are thrilled to have her return to our stage to pickup where she left off after a fantastically entertaining show. Please join us in celebrating one of the truly talented singers of recent time.

ABOUT JOAN OSBORNE

Originally from the Louisville suburb of Anchorage, Kentucky, Osborne moved to New York City in the late 1980s, where she formed her own record label, Womanly Hips, to release a few independent recordings before signing to Mercury Records, "Soul Show" was her first album. Her second (and first major label) album is Relish (1995), which became a hit on the strength of the single "One of Us." The song was much more pop-oriented than the rest of the album, which was steeped in country, blues and folk music. "Right Hand Man" and "St. Teresa" were minor hits following the success of "One of Us." Her audience grew significantly with her appearance at Lilith Fair, which placed her in the same school of female singer-songwriters as Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan. Her third studio album was "Righteous Love", a long-delayed release.

She was featured in the 2002 documentary film "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" and toured with legendary Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers. She and her band accompanied the Dixie Chicks for a national tour in the summer of 2003, during which time she also joined veteran San Francisco jam-rockers the Dead as a vocalist, and released her fourth album, titled How Sweet It Is, a collection of classic rock and soul covers.

In November 2006, she released Pretty Little Stranger, her self-described "Nashville album." It includes one song "After Jane" about a relationship with a woman (Osborne herself has had relationships with women.) In 2007, she issued Breakfast in Bed, a return to the soul music that she had covered on How Sweet It Is. Breakfast in Bed also featured the two songs ("Heatwave" and "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted") that she had covered for the film Standing in the Shadows of Motown.

She sings lead vocals on the cover of "Spoonful" on Vivian Campbell`s solo album Two Sides Of If. She also provided some vocals for "Wayfaring Stranger" on Spearhead`s 1997 album Chocolate Supa Highway. She is featured on the Holmes Brothers 2007 collection State of Grace performing Those Memories of You, an old Allan O`Bryant and Bill Monroe bluegrass tune.

Osborne`s most recent album Little Wild One, was released in September 2008. And describes how in writing songs for the album she fell under the spell of two of New York's most beloved poets. "The album's opening track, 'Hallelujah in the City', is a riff on the idea of the city as a spiritual place," says Osborne. "This idea comes up in Walt Whitman's and Alan Ginsberg's poetry, the concept that the shared bond of humanity of all the citizens, all their interactions, adds up to a unique environment of the soul.

The album marks the reunion Osborne with Rick Chertoff, Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian, the writing producing team that worked with album on her debut, five-million selling breakthrough album 'Relish', which was nominated for six grammys. Chertoff sets the scene, saying, "On album opener 'Hallelujah in the City,' Eric's mandola intro and Rob's hammond chord organ bring us immediately back into the modal world of 'Relish.' And Joan's vocal, from its very entrance, grabs you with a simple power and grace that speaks of faith and intimacy, where Brooklyn and Appalachia meet in earnest."

"Sweeter Than The Rest", the album's next track, actually takes a reference from the Whitman poem, "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." Joan explains, "Sweeter was written about a man who no longer speaks to me but who continues to haunt my thoughts and dreams. The old Brooklyn ferry landing is now a park with a beautiful view of lower Manhattan, and this man and I went there one night after walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and climbing on its cables."

ABOUT SUZANNA CHOFFEL

A native of Austin TX, Suzanna Choffel combines her poetic lyrics and sweet smoky voice with funky urban rhythms to create a fresh and unique sound. In March 2009, Suzanna won the "Best Indie Band" prize at the Austin Music Awards-SXSW 2009, and in April 2009 she won 2nd Place in the "AAA" category of the prestigious International Songwriting Competition.

She uses her guitar to create staccato rhythms underneath her dazzling soulful vocal melodies, all backed by a pulsing band with unique instrumentation. Her music has been described as “indie pop with urban beats”, and "jazz-infused soul pop" with comparisons ranging from Feist to Nelly Furtado to Norah Jones to KT Tunstall. Since the 2006 release of her debut album, "Shudders & Rings", she has been finding her name atop many a music reporter's list as "one worth watching".

The past three years Choffel has been touring regionally and nationally, playing noteworthy festivals such as CMJ Fest in 2008 and Voodoo Fest in 2009. Choffel is currently wrapping up production (with Danny Reisch) on her second album "Steady Eye Shaky Bow" which will be released later this year.