The Weepies Perform Intimate Show with Joan Osborne

The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts presents

Joan Osborne/The Weepies

Tuesday, January 25, 2022, 8 p.m.
Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine University
24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA

GRAMMY-nominated singer-songwriter Joan Osborne and indie band the Weepies and join forces for an intimate evening of music at Pepperdine University in Malibu at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 at the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts.

Tickets, starting at $22.50 for adults and $10 for full-time Pepperdine students, are available now by calling (310) 506-4522 or visiting the event page. More information about Joan Osborne is available at joanosborne.com. More information about the Weepies is available at theweepies.com.

Joan Osborne has rightfully earned a reputation as one of the great voices of her generation—both a commanding, passionate performer and a frank, emotionally evocative songwriter. A multi-platinum selling recording artist and seven-time GRAMMY nominee, the soulful vocalist is a highly sought-after collaborator and guest performer who has performed alongside many notable artists, including Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Luciano Pavarotti, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal, and Mavis Staples, to name a few.

Counting such legendary artists as Etta James and Ray Charles as influences, Osborne has released several acclaimed albums and continues to tour extensively in various configurations—with her own band, as Joan Osborne's Soul Revue, and as an acoustic duo and trio. In 2003, Osborne joined forces with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead when they regrouped to tour as the Dead. In addition to her own solo shows and frequent guest appearances, Osborne currently also tours as a member of the rock/soul supergroup Trigger Hippy, founded by Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman and built from each musician’s shared love of R&B and soul. The band’s self-titled debut album arrived in 2014.

Osborne has showcased her far-ranging talent during three residencies in 2016 at the Cotton Club in Tokyo, Japan; the Blue Note in Honolulu, Hawaii; and Cafe Carlyle at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City. The latter, titled "Joan Osborne Sings the Songs of Bob Dylan," received critical acclaim from outlets such as the New York Times ("At every point in the evening, you had a sense of Ms. Osborne as an artist who knew exactly what she was doing") and the Huffington Post ("Her set was magic... the evening was a rediscovery of familiar Dylan, re-mined for new riches"). Osborne felt this would be a great chance to work out an idea she had of doing a "Songbook Series" of albums—the way Ella Fitzgerald did in recording the songs of Gershwin, Cole Porter, and others—but with the songs of more recent writers. Dylan was an obvious choice. As a result of the successful Cafe Carlyle residency, Osborne recorded Songs of Bob Dylan in 2017.

Osborne is widely known for her live performances in the GRAMMY Award-winning documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown. She has produced two albums for Americana stalwarts the Holmes Brothers, and co-produced her last two critically acclaimed solo records, Love and Hate and Bring It On Home, with talented producer/multi-instrumentalist Jack Petruzzelli. Bring It On Home, which found Osborne tackling vintage songs by Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, Al Green, Ike and Tina Turner, and Sonny Boy Williamson, among others, and treating them with respect while giving them some interesting twists in tempo, key, and feeling, garnered a Best Blues Album nomination at the 2013 GRAMMY Awards.

Osborne continues to enjoy a long and storied career that was jump started with the great success of her major-label debut album, Relish, which wove together strands of American roots music, poetic lyrics, and impassioned vocals, and produced the massive MTV and international radio smash, "One of Us." The song occupied the number one spot on the US singles chart for two weeks, Relish eventually racked up sales of over three million copies, and Osborne found a large and appreciative audience, particularly during touring as part of Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair tour.

Although the Kentucky native grew up with a passion for music, when she arrived in New York City in the late 1980s, it was to attend New York University’s prestigious film school. But she couldn't resist the pull of the city’s live music scene for long, and soon she was performing her own songs in downtown rock clubs and emerging as a popular presence in a vibrant scene of roots-based new acts that included such then-unknowns as Jeff Buckley, Chris Whitley, Blues Traveler and the Spin Doctors. In 1992, Osborne launched her own indie label, Womanly Hips, and released the live Soul Show: Live at Delta 88 and the studio EP Blue Million Miles. Becoming a regional success led her to the signing of a major label deal and the success of Relish. But Osborne quickly made it clear that she was more interested in musical integrity and creative longevity than transient pop success, and she made that point repeatedly with such subsequent albums as 2000’s Righteous Love, 2002’s How Sweet It Is, 2005’s Christmas Means Love, 2006’s Pretty Little Stranger, 2007’s Breakfast in Bed, and 2008’s Little Wild One up through her two latest releases, 2012’s Bring It On Home and 2014’s Love and Hate.

Singer-songwriters Deb Talan and Steve Tannen began writing together the night they met, and soon formed indie band the Weepies. On the strength of their simple yet insightful songwriting and distinctive harmonies, they quietly sold more than 1.5 million records with over 100 million streams on Spotify, 25 million views on YouTube, and over 110,000 social media followers. They married and had three children, rarely touring but continuing to release their music; seven records over 10 years. They remain independent.

Just before Christmas 2013, when their youngest son was 17 months old, Talan was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. She was in chemo by New Year’s Eve.

In 2014, Talan beat cancer, and the Weepies recorded the best album of their career the following year. Coming back from the edge sharpened their skills and focus. At 16 songs and almost an hour long, Sirens shows a band at the height of its powers.

The couple was unable to travel while Deb was in treatment, so they worked at home, inviting guest musicians to record remotely wherever each musician happened to be, resulting in an unlikely superstar backing band. Players from across the spectrum jumped in, including: Pete Thomas and Steve Nieve (Elvis Costello), Gerry Leonard (David Bowie), Rami Jaffee (Foo Fighters), Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel), Oliver Kraus (Sia) and Matt Chamberlain (Pearl Jam), as well as veteran Weepies compatriots Frank Lenz, Eli Thomson, Jon Flaugher, Meg Toohey, and Whynot Jansveld, plus a horn section from New Orleans.

Their original songs appear in more than 100 media placements including movies, TV shows, commercials, and educational programming for PBS Kids.

This performance is part of the Weepies' farewell tour, and will be one of the final shows the group performs.

The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University provides high-quality activities for over 50,000 people from over 800 zip codes annually through performances, rehearsals, museum exhibitions, and master classes. Located on Pepperdine’s breathtaking Malibu campus overlooking the Pacific, the center serves as a hub for the arts, uniquely linking professional guest artists with Pepperdine students as well as patrons from surrounding Southern California communities. Facilities include the 450-seat Smothers Theatre, the 118-seat Raitt Recital Hall, the “black box” Helen E. Lindhurst Theatre, and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.

An Important Update for Patrons
All visitors coming to Pepperdine's campus must purchase a ticket or make a reservation prior to arrival on the Malibu campus. Patrons should be prepared to show their ticket at the Public Safety gate to enter campus.

If you have any questions about purchasing or reserving tickets, or if you would like to make a reservation to visit the Box Office in person, contact the Box Office at cfabox@pepperdine.edu or by phone at 310.506.4522.

All patrons age 2 and older attending events in Smothers Theatre must provide proof that they:

• Are fully vaccinated, or
• Have received a negative COVID-19 test.

For more information about current health and safety policies at CFA, please visit here.

THE DETAILS:

WHAT: Joan Osborne/The Weepies
WHEN: Tuesday, January 25, 2022, 8 p.m.
WHERE: Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA
TICKETS: (310) 506-4522 or ticketing page
PRICES: $22.50–$50, $10 for Pepperdine students