On the night of March 4, a crowd of people saw the talents of Karen Irwin, the powerhouse vocalist singing for the Janis Joplin cover band, “Janis, Me and Bobby McGee”.  A sort of intimate show,  Irwin carried her audience through song, story and a dash of social commentary.  A true queen of the stage, Irwin gave her audience all she had to give, and gave some more.

She started off the show speaking about her life growing up, and never quite being able to sing “pretty”. It wasn’t until she first heard Janis’s version of “Me and Bobby Mcgee” on the radio at the ripe age of 14 that she heard another girl singing, but not quite “pretty”, yet it was beautiful.

Following a performance of “Bobby McGee”, Irwin equated her awkward childhood and adolescence to Joplin’s, telling the audience the sort of struggle Joplin went through being a teenage girl who didn’t fit the norm.  Being in a rural area of Texas, it was common in Joplin’s time and town to discriminate black people, a tradition [Joplin] failed to keep.  Doing so effectively ostracized Joplin from the rest of the community, but gave her the influence of the Black music that she so splendidly emulated through her own.

Having decided that she did in fact want to sing,  Irwin asked her parents for vocals lessons.  Being supportive as they were, they didn’t hesitate to sign her up. With a vocal teacher to help her, she found the outlet she needed.

Irwin spoke of her very first performance, one that would undoubtedly live in infamy in the minds of any budding musician. Having been encouraged and coached by her vocal teacher to perform at her church, a young Irwin was mortified to find that the pastor had collapsed and died in the parking lot. With the audience erupting in laughter, one could sort of identify with her through her unfortunate anecdotes.

She went on to speak of the many musicians who influenced Joplin: Big Mama Thornton, Odetta, Leadbelly, and prominently Bessie Smith.  In fact, shortly prior to her tragic overdose, Joplin had paid for a tombstone to be placed on the unmarked grave of Bessie Smith.

After performing a song by Bessie herself, Irwin spoke about the women in blues.  Her segway began with speaking of the central themes these women sang of; and in her words, it sounded like this:

 “What the hell’d you go and leave me for?  I’d do anything for you, I don’t mind crying or washing your dirty clothes, I don’t mind putting up with your nonsense, just stay!”

Irwin said that the blues was about need, yearning, longing, wanting and missing something so much that it’s alive in your mind and spirit and want.

Dancing, gyrating and all around letting herself move to the music, Irwin was as exciting as a stage presence as she was a singer. Giving everything she could give, her explosive voice had the beautiful strain of one’s full force. Jokingly, she mentioned that she assumed the real reason people came on stage was to watch her collapse.  By watching, you could almost feel the cathartic exhaustion on stage and it felt every bit as intense as the last leg in a long jog; it was a thrill.

The accompanying band was on point for the night,  with a tactful rhythm section that certainly layed down the atmosphere.  The guitarist was versatile and made his instrument sing with gentle rhythmic hums along with plenty of that psychedelic twang. The keyboard player had a wonderful piano accompaniment along with some organ work that really injected that 60’s mood into your brain.

Finishing her performance with an amazing cover of the classic “Piece of My Heart”, one felt such a release to finally hear the classic hit the entire show may have just been worth it for that one song.

Irwin’s performance was a wonderful way to end the evening, with good storytelling and even better music.  Truly, Joplin would be happy to see her music played as well as “Janis, Me and Bobby McGee” had performed.