Amazon.com With the proliferation of earthy rock chicks such as Vanessa Carlton and Michelle Branch, it might seem like an opportune time for Joan Osborne, who gathered Grammy nominations for her triple-platinum 1995 debut Relish and its breakthrough single "One of Us," to revive her flowing blues-and-folk roots. Rather than take the anticipated path, however, he New York singer offers a twist. Taking a page from Ally McBeal's resident torch singer Vonda Shepard, Osborne turns in an album of stylish covers of contemporary R&B classics. She wraps her husky voice around a supper-club version of Otis Redding's "These Arms of Mine," underscores the message behind Edwin Starr's "War" at a funeral pace, and gives James Taylor a shudder with her lush, Eastern-tinged take on Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is." Most unexpected. --Aidin Vaziri