Joan Osborne Unearths Previously Unheard Demos, Live Performances on ‘Radio Waves’

Joan Osborne is releasing a collection of unheard demos and live in-studio radio recordings titled Radio Waves (Womanly Hips Records), out Feb. 22, 2022.

The singer and songwriter unearthed the long-lost recordings after canceling her tour due to the pandemic, following the release of her 12th album Trouble and Strife. The 13 tracks of Radio Waves are a collection of songs hand-picked by Osborne, who sifted through her archive of more than 100 radio station performances, each serving as a time capsule of her 25-year career.

“Most of my life’s work has disappeared without a trace,” says Osborne. “I’ve made 10-plus studio albums, but the vast majority of the songs I’ve sung hundreds and thousands of times over decades of touring across the globe has never been recorded.”

Radio Waves covers a wide range of Osborne’s musical styles and features a 1995 single “Saint Teresa,” pulled from a KCRW session in 1995, and ends on her rendition of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everybody is a Star,” performed at KROQ in 2002.

Additional tracks include covers of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love,” Stevie Wonder’s “Love’s in Need of Love Today,” and deeper cuts like Bill Withers’ “Same Love That Made Me Laugh” and Toshi Reagon’s “Real Love.”

Radio Waves track list:

1. “Saint Teresa”(KCRW, 1995)

2. “My Love Is Alive”(KPRI, 2000)

3. “Dream A Little Dream”(demo, 2005)

4. “How Sweet It Is”(RadioBremen, Germany,2003)

5. “Shake Your Hips”(WXPK, 2012)

6. “One Of Us”(DutchRadio, 2001)

7. “Real Love”(demo, 2006)

8. “Little Wild One”(KBCO, 2008)

9. “Same Love That Made Me Laugh”(The Loft, SiriusXM, 2012)

10. “Make You Feel My Love” (Radio Bremen, Germany, 2002)

11. “Only You Know and I Know” (The Loft – Sirius XM, 2012)

12. “Love’s In Need of Love Today” (Radio Bremen, Germany, 2002)

13. “Everybody Is A Star” (KROQ, 2002)

Photo: Jess Fasano / All Eyes Media