The Voice is back for Season 15 and the number of adorable and talented young singers continues to rise. During the season premiere, judges Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson will listen to the blind auditions of 13-year-old Kennedy Holmes and 15-year-old Sarah Grace from Houston, Texas. It’s difficult to believe that Sarah Grace is just 15 when she sings the blues song “Ball and Chain.” It’s not an easy song to sing — but Sarah Grace, who Adam calls a “4’11” pint sized wonder” nails it and makes it her own.
Big Mama Thornton wrote and recorded the song in the early 1960s but it was Janis Joplin who made it a hit when she sang it live at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and recorded it soon afterwards. The song is on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of the “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.” Etta James (another one of Sarah Grace’s idols) sang “Ball and Chain” for the 2011 Janis Joplin tribute album All Blues’d Up. (See crazy awesome Etta James/Janis Joplin link above.) The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8pm on NBC.
