Joan Osborne. Dylanology Live. The Cabot, MA, 7 June 2025.
Reviewed by Britt Eisnor
Thirty years after the release of her debut studio album Relish, Joan Osborne is on the road paying homage to one of her earliest influences: Bob Dylan. This tour, affectionately titled Dylanology Live, is in support of a new live album by the same name from Osborne’s 2018 Dylanology tour. That tour followed her successful 2017 album of Dylan tunes Songs of Bob Dylan. While Dylanology Live is the result of this sequence of events, it’s far from the beginning of Osborne’s relationship with Dylan’s music and with the man himself.
As she told us from the stage where I saw her in Beverly, Massachusetts on June 7th, 2025, Oh Mercy was the first full Dylan album that Osborne had owned and loved. She honored her devotion to the 1989 album with a cover of “Man in the Long Black Coat,” which sat alongside her inescapable hit single “One of Us” on Relish. That cover, she believes, is what caught the attention of Bob Dylan himself. A couple years after its release, Dylan’s team contacted Osborne and asked her to accompany the songwriter on a new studio recording of “Chimes of Freedom.” The track was intended for use in a now relatively forgotten and less-than-favorably reviewed miniseries called The 60’s – which is described as “an epic blend of music, drama and real live events that bring the decade’s most explosive events to life.” (One chapter on the DVD is titled “Dylan.”) Dylan and Osborne’s duet of “Chimes of Freedom” was the only new recording featured in the series.
Osborne began her career, like Dylan, as a live performer. She started playing open mics in the East Village in the early 90s, eventually leaving her established position in the New York City music scene for regional tours. In fact, Relish was preceded by a live album recorded at Delta 88 Nightclub in New York City. Osborne is often referred to not just as a singer/songwriter, but also as an interpreter of music. This seems to be in reference to the fact that she not only performs her original music, but has spent a great deal of time flexing her musical chops in a variety of genres and styles. With projects throughout her career focusing on Motown classics, Dylan, The Grateful Dead, and more, she has always displayed a knack for understanding and digesting different areas of music and turning them back out with her own emotion and character. This moniker of “interpreter” is one that would also do well applied to Dylan, and his constant musical exploration. The way in which the spirit of Dylan’s approach to live music resonates with Osborne was very apparent in the show I saw this year.
The run of shows Osborne performed with this concept in 2018, as well as the newly released Dylanology Live album, also share that spirit. With unique interpretation given to each song, and a kinetic energy among the team of musicians she had assembled seven years ago, it’s easy to see why she pulled this show out of her archive for release. And although she could not assemble the same lineup that is featured on the album (among others, Amy Helm, Jackie Greene, and Robert Randolph), the group at present is, as she said enthusiastically in Beverly, “just as good!”
Just as good indeed, from veterans like the incredible Cindy Cashdollar (who has her own history working directly with Dylan) and the remarkable Gail Anne Dorsey (most well known for her tenure in David Bowie’s live band from the years of 1995-2004), to relative unknowns Will Bryant and Lee Falco, the band strikes up a hell of a show.
At a time when we’re still blessed with the opportunity to see Bob Dylan in concert, there is no replacement for seeing him live. The spirit of reinvention still lives with him, and nobody covering his material is going to top that. However, it is still powerful to see an artist carrying on Dylan’s legacy of collaboration with other talented artists while lending new meaning to his songs. In a 2018 interview following the release of her cover album Songs of Bob Dylan, Osborne told the Dylan Review:
When covering any song, it’s the same regardless of the songwriter. The song lives through you. It takes possession of you. It lives in a way it never has. Each version is a different incarnation allowing the songs to live in a new way for another day.[1]
Admittedly, I am not one who tends to turn to other artists’ interpretations of Bob’s music very often. I prefer hearing how he has developed the songs over the years, with different arrangements, vocal approaches, and backing bands. It’s hard for me to step outside of Dylan’s own reinterpretations. Osborne’s words on helping these songs “live in a new way for another day” rightfully chastise me for that position. Her show rightfully chastised me for it as well.
Not only was I impressed by the masterful reimagining that Osborne gives many of the songs (something that is a highlight of Dylan’s live approach as well), but I was also satisfied by the equal degree of respect that Osborne bestowed on different periods of Dylan’s career. I remarked afterwards that I had, in the past, seen many Dylan cover shows – but had never before seen one feature “Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum.”
The show spotlighted material across Dylan’s catalog, including, of course, Osborne’s foundational inspiration, Oh Mercy. After opening with a fairly standard “Love Minus Zero” and “Highway 61 Revisited” came “Shooting Star,” one of my personal favorite Dylan songs. Having heard it performed four times on last summer’s Outlaw Festival Tour (and many more times on YouTube, from shows throughout the years) I am no stranger to live interpretation of this deeply emotional tune. Osborne’s delivery stood up to my expectations; it was clear that she was not messing around about her love for Oh Mercy. Her performances of songs off the 1989 album were among the night’s most compelling. Osborne’s voice displayed a deep, dusty passion on “Shooting Star” and the delightful following tune “Everything is Broken,” with Osborne quipping mid-song, “know what I’m saying?”
While Joan Osborne is the obvious leader, the assembly of artists she brought along on this journey offered equally enticing performances. The first of those was a theatrical rendition of “Shelter from the Storm” from the delightfully melodic and sweet voice of piano player Will Bryant, brilliantly dressed in a Dylanesque cosplay of a black western shirt and wide-brimmed black hat, all while he perched behind a red keyboard reminiscent of Dylan’s own. In duet with Gail Anne Dorsey, Bryant’s voice was complimented through a delightful contrast of playfulness (Bryant) and soul (Dorsey). One verse was delivered by Bryant as spoken word poetry. It was as unique a version as I’ve heard, and the spoken word element was nothing short of mesmerizing.
In fact, the variety of interpretation and style throughout the show was consistently refreshing and exciting. Unlike some Dylan shows that lean heavily on a specific era, or genre, this one was happy to flit between both eras and approach.
Osborne regained the mic for a sultry “When I Paint My Masterpiece” and a unique “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.” The latter is a consistent crowd pleaser at any Dylan-related show, and this one was no exception. Its arrangement was almost threatening, presented in a sexy minor tone. This style is where Osborne shines the most.
Guitarist and singer Anders Osborne [no relation] was billed as “special guest” for the evening. This means that he was not present for the entire performance, like the rest of the band, but instead joined in occasionally. He first came out swinging with a passionate rendition of “The Man In Me,” and afterwards the band broke into the first rocker of the evening, “Maggie’s Farm.”
On “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven,” Joan Osborne’s sultry voice provided a great deal of emotional depth. A heartbreakingly beautiful slide guitar performance from Cindy Cashdollar carried that voice along. Cashdollar played the slide part on “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven,” on the actual album version from Dylan’s 1997 Time Out of Mind: a fact that Osborne was delighted to share.
After this emotional interlude, the first set of the evening closed with a jaunty version of “Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat.” It brought the show into a jazzy, doowop, swinging zone, supported by backup harmonies that wouldn’t be out of place in the 1950s. I had never heard a Dylan song done that way. It made me giggle, and then it made me want to dance!
When the band took to the stage after a brief intermission, I nearly jumped out of my chair at the opening lick to “Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum.” This was an intensely cool performance of one of my favorite songs. Osborne made it as smoky and sly as it deserves, leaning into the song’s bluesy elements. An equally smoky “Man in the Long Black Coat” followed, the song that connected Osborne to Dylan all those years ago.
The highlight of the show, for me, was a beautiful and emotional “Lay Lady Lay,” sung by bassist and vocalist Gail Anne Dorsey. With the pronouns of the song thoughtfully shifted not entirely in reverse, but rather to suit the gender of the singer and leave the subject well alone (stay lady, stay, stay with your woman a while…), I couldn’t help but think of the song that Dylan contributed in 2018 to Universal Love – Wedding Songs Reimagined. That album took beloved romantic anthems and related them to the relationship experiences of same sex couples. Hearing “Lay Lady Lay” get the same treatment was both moving and revelatory. Whether through Dorsey’s strong yet tender vocal or through the inherently changed narrative of an entreating plea from one woman to another, the song took on new life and new meaning in her hands:
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love
When she’s standing in front of you?
It moved me to tears.
While “Love and Theft” is the most contemporary well that the setlist drew from, the group still managed to travel a long way across Dylan’s discography. The earliest song performed was about as far back as one can go. The band cleared out, and drummer Lee Falco walked to center stage where he lifted an acoustic guitar and delivered a heartfelt rendition of “Song to Woody.” It was touching, authentic, and helped along by the figure he cuts on stage, his curly hair ducked down in front of the microphone. This was also one of the few times in the show that we were given a rest from the clumsy, distracting lights that persisted at the back of the stage through most of the evening.
Anders Osborne returned to the stage to accompany Osborne on “Buckets of Rain.” His presence brought an edge to the whole proceeding. It became a rock show, reminiscent of the kinetic and collaborative energy of the Rolling Thunder Revue. Fittingly, the band then hit us with a double blast of “Mozambique” and “Isis.” In “Isis,” distortion on the guitar was epic, the sound searing and grungy; when it started, I remarked to the stranger beside me, “Is he going to play a Neil Young song?” It felt wrong to be sitting politely in a theater gently bobbing my head.
Many aspects of this show, in fact, contained a distinct Rolling Thunder Revue feeling. The Dylanology Revue would’ve been an apt title for the whole endeavor. I had been following Osborne’s Instagram posts in the weeks leading up to the show, and I thoroughly enjoyed the organic, ragtag vibe of the tour. Pictures of band members stuffed together in a van, headed out on the road, called to mind pictures of Dylan and Co. from 1975. With Osborne as the adept band leader – standing in the middle of the stage, introducing her musical compatriots, handing off solos and trading duets – Allen Ginsberg’s words from Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story came to mind: “It is like Dylan is … presenting us. I mean, that’s his conception. I mean, it hasn’t been made overt. His idea is to show how beautiful he is by showing how beautiful we are by showing how beautiful the ensemble is.”
That isn’t to say Joan Osborne radiated ego that Saturday night in Beverly. Quite the opposite: she was so proud and enthusiastic to be sharing the stage with these talented people. Every single time Cindy Cashdollar hit a stunning riff, Osborne beamed and praised her name.
When “Every Grain of Sand” began, I automatically assumed we’d reached the end of the show. After all, Dylan himself has ended every recent performance on his Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour with this stunning number from 1981’s Shot of Love. For Osborne, however, this wasn’t the grand finale – they followed with “Tangled Up in Blue.” A couple of verses in, Osborne tripped over the lyrics and lost her place. She dealt with the flub in a charming way, though, acknowledging her mistake with a laugh and getting right back into the groove. Afterward, she and the band left the stage to enthusiastic applause before returning with a perfect encore: “I Shall Be Released.” The song has lent itself to beautiful show closing performances many times over the years, most notably at The Last Waltz. Here, it played a similar role in drawing together the artists that we have seen throughout the evening for one last soaring performance.
It was abundantly clear throughout the show that Osborne’s aim wasn’t to sing over Dylan’s songs – rather, she puts herself in conversation with his original versions. This seems to be a theme, in terms of her approach to other artists’ material. In her 2018 interview with the Dylan Review, she said of her decisions on which songs to feature that “we asked ourselves, do we have a way to play/arrange the songs in a fresh way, a way to bring something unique to them, make them blossom, open up in a different way?” For the Dylanology tour, she has clearly asked herself that same question again. This wasn’t a hits show and it wasn’t a revival. It was a continuation of the life that these songs have already lived.
[1] “Interview with Joan Osborne Following the Release of Her Album” (2019), The Dylan Review https://thedylanreview.org/2019/06/12/interview-with-joan-osborne-following-the-release-of-her-album/
