(updated 03/07/08)

Joan has assembled a stellar band and crew for her touring family, and we thought you'd like to know a little bit about the talented group of people who contribute so much to the success of the tour.

THE BAND

• ERIK DELLA PENNA (guitar and lap steel)
Erik Della Penna is a native New Yorker and studied classical music at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He has performed with alternative-country band The Health and Happiness Show, as well as with Tiny Tim, Irish fiddler Eileen Ivers, and the Chieftains. Erik wrote, recorded and toured with Joan Osborne for many years, and for the past five years he has been a member of Natalie Merchant's band. Recently Erik has written two musicals based on early twentieth-century popular music for the Walden Family Playhouse. His own band, Kill Henry Sugar, will release its next CD in September.

• DEAN SHARENOW (drums, percussion, vocals)
Dean Sharenow works in New York City as both a drummer and a recording engineer. His studio work includes discs by David Sanborn, Aaron Neville, and Jonatha Brooke, and he received a 2007 Grammy nomination for engineering. He has arranged and played drums for two Tony-nominated Broadway musicals and is producing a new solo CD for theatre composer David Yasbek. He and Erik Della Penna also recently composed the theme for a new History Channel series, and their drum/dobro duo Kill Henry Sugar will release a new album, Swing Back and Down, in September 2007. Dean just turned twelve.

• MICHAEL DUCLOS (bass)
Michael DuClos was born and raised in Albany, New York's famed Ninth Ward (the north end). Upon arrival in New York City, he began working with the likes of Pete Townshend, Eszter Balint, Cyndi Lauper, Shivaree, Cracker, Martha Wainwright, Parlor James and Kill Henry Sugar, among others. In 2002 DuClos released his first recording Lustro (on Your Lips Are Moving, But I... Records), an audio verite collection of his poems and music featuring Kristin Hersh, Deborah Harry, Vito Acconci, Elizabeth Ashley, JG Thirlwell, Joan Osborne and guitar legend Robert Quine. Michael can be heard on new and upcoming releases by Walter Salas-Humara-Jonathan Leatham (I'm Not Jim), Marcellus Hall, Duke McVinnie (Leave The Snakes Alone), Eszter Balint, David Yasbek (Evil Monkey Man), Shivaree, and the soundtrack to the film Bad Meat.

THE CREW

• CROOK STEWART (tour manager)
Crook Stewart III was born and raised in Panama City, Florida. After graduating from high school Crook took to the road for ten years as a drummer, lead vocalist and band leader for several regional bands. When he decided to quit performing in 1985 he started Crook Stewart PROduction, building sound and lighting systems. During this time he also mixed sound for many national acts in the Southeast, and was head rigger and crew chief for a local stagehand crew in Atlanta from 1986-89, and worked a variety of events including the 1988 Democratic Convention. In addition to serving as Joan's tour manager since 1989, he has also done the same for Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Indigo Girls, Michael McDermott, The Bacon Brothers, Dan Baird, Kyuss, and Sinéad Lohan. He was also production manager for the Coca-Cola Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta for the 1991 and 1992 seasons. He continues to be involved in the production of corporate and industrial shows. Crook currently makes his home in Florida, and is an avowed computer junkie. As for life on the road, he says he enjoys having his office in a different city every day, and when the inside of hotels, concert halls and tour buses gets to be too much, he laces up a pair of inline skates and hits the streets, wherever they may be!

• JASON RABOIN (sound engineer)
Jason turns the knobs and makes everything sound really good!

• JIM STEWART (merchandise sales)
Jim Stewart was born in Circleville, Ohio and graduated from Ohio State University, where he participated in the ROTC program to help finance his education. After graduating with a B.A. in journalism, he found himself in the Army for 3 years serving a tour in Vietnam and coming home as a Captain. Returning to civilian life, he pursued his military training in physical distribution and joined Sears, Roebuck & Co., where he remained for a dozen years before moving on to The Limited, Inc., where he worked his way up to Director of Distribution with The Bath & Body Works Division before retiring at age 50. He then made his dream move to Arizona where he fell in love with the Grand Canyon, and locally enjoys hiking the mountains near his home. As a longtime music lover, Jim established friendships with artists such as Gisele MacKenzie, the McGuire Sisters and Joan. Jim has handled Joan's merchandising on the road for quite a few years - something he considers to be the dream job of any artist's fan!

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