Joan Osborne, Mavericks: Their Music Is Entertaining

Robert Hilburn needs to learn an important distinction about popular music: Some performers are artists, some are entertainers and a select few are both. In his reviews of two recent concerts, he took the Mavericks (“A Little Bit Country, a Little Bit Oldies Revue,” June 3) and Joan Osborne (“The Comfort Zone: Joan Osborne Echoes the Greats but Doesn’t Make Her Own Statement,” June 8), two decidedly retro acts, to task for not being groundbreaking enough. This is akin to wondering why Wynton Marsalis doesn’t do a rap record. Neither act has ever indicated that they fancy themselves particularly revolutionary. They just write and perform joyous, smart and thoughtful music. They are entertainers, plain and simple.

Hilburn implied that the Mavericks’ artistic miscalculation was in cajoling and pleasing their audience at the Greek Theatre rather than drudging up unpleasant emotional episodes in revealing storyteller mode. Their sin: zero angst. God forbid.

For Hilburn, Osborne’s prime offense was in being “just one of us.” That’s her whole appeal; she’s a performer to whom the audience can relate. As a person, Osborne stands with her audience. Then she blows them away with that voice.

None of this hollow pseudo intellectual criticism is new: Hilburn has made it clear that he is under the thrall of guilt rockers like Trent Reznor and Courtney Love, and that anything more carefree than such dark commodities is of little value artistically. In his murky perspective, if it don’t bleed, it ain’t worth your time. The rest of us will just continue to listen to entertaining (and consequently, irrelevant) music by upbeat performers, never knowing the misery--and great art--we are missing.

JONATHAN PALMER

Burbank

I must take exception to Robert Hilburn’s review of the June 6 Joan Osborne concert. I saw her show the following night, and couldn’t disagree more with his lukewarm assessment of her performance.

Admittedly, because Osborne doesn’t yet have a lot of original material, she had to pad her set, and I thought that a couple of songs she chose didn’t suit her well. But to equate Joan Osborne with the no-talent Sheryl Crow is absurd.

The six people in my party were wowed by Joan Osborne, and we know generic Hootie pop when we see it. Joan Osborne, “uninspiring”? Hardly.

MADELEINE YOUMANS, PhD

Long Beach