Long after her 1995 album 'Relish' made Joan Osborne a household name with the No. 1 hit 'One of Us,' the singer roamed far and wide, releasing an album of soul and R&B covers, and even touring as a member of the Dead. This month, Osborne returns to record stores (and, um, virtual record bins) with an album that harkens back to the kinds of songs she sang on 'Relish.' Osborne tells Spinner that "there was no conscious effort" to make the new disc, 'Little Wild One,' a throwback to her pop glory days. If anything, she says, it was the natural result of collaborating with some of the same songwriters and musicians from that era.

Even though she's now toured with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead -- whose tours have been compared to a traveling rock 'n' roll circus -- Osborne claims that "the touring environment was not noticeably more or less wild than it is with my band. Most of us have kids now and have made concessions to that," she says, "but the road still has the atmosphere of a big rolling party a lot of the time."

The big rolling party with the little wild one will hit theaters across the country beginning September 25, following a supporting run with John Hiatt that begins later this week.