Joan Osborne says live music gets us out of our “little bubbles”

Singer Joan Osborne thinks that music, especially live music, is one of the few ways people of all different political ideologies can get together and see each other as fellow human beings. “I think there’s something really valuable in that,” Osborne tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “If we lose sight of each other’s humanity, no matter where you’re coming to the debate and what side you’re coming to the debate from, I think that’s a very, very dangerous place to be.” Osborne, who is headlining the second weekend of the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival on June 14, feels that right now, live music serves to bring people together in a public space, especially those who might be “in their own little bubbles” or in their own “mediated online world.” Joan Osborne Credit: Laura Crosta Osborne has frequently been unafraid to use her platform as an artist to stand by her values and beliefs. A co-headliner for the original Lilith Fair in 1997 (along with Sarah McLachlan, Fiona Apple, Jewel, and others), she tells City Paper she wanted to be a part of the concert because, at the time, there was a conventional wisdom in the music business that you couldn’t have more than one female act on a bill or you wouldn’t be able to sell tickets. “We all sort of knew that didn’t make any sense, and this was proof of that,” Osborne says. “I was very happy to be a part of that festival to prove all those naysayers wrong — it was the hottest ticket of the summer.” Speaking of the ’90s, Osborne has seen an uptick of a younger crowd attending her shows. Her Arts Festival show will be featuring a lot of music from her most recent album, Dylanology, which is a live album of Bob Dylan covers. While older audiences are familiar with Dylan’s work, Osborne has found that younger people at her concerts have been realizing that they recognize certain songs. She credits this with the release of the 2024 movie A Great Unknown, based on Dylan’s life and st