In writing songs for her new album 'Little Wild One' (September 9th; Womanly Hips / Plum / Saguaro Road / Music Allies) Joan Osborne 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 albums 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."