THE MAKING OF PEARL

JANIS JOPLIN IN 1970: A NEW B AND AND THE MAKING OF HER CLASSIC ALBUM, PEARL.

- GILLIAN G. GAAR

On July 10, 1970, Janis Joplin was back in Austin, Texas. She’d taken advantage of a tour break to fly in for the birthday party of one of her earliest supporters, Ken Threadgill, owner of the legendary club Threadgill’s, where Janis had got her start as a performer before leaving for San Francisco and rock stardom. Her appearance at Ken’s party was meant to be a surprise, so she spent most of the day at her hotel. While passing the time in the hotel bar with her road manager, John Cooke, and some friends, the lounge’s guitarist began to play “Me and Bobby McGee.”

Janis was familiar with the song, which was written by Kris Kristofferson; her friend Bobby Neuwirth had introduced it to her the previous year, and she’d first performed it at a concert on December 16, 1969, in Nashville.

At the time, the song was best known from Roger Miller’s version. But Janis was anxious to put her own stamp on it. “That guy can’t do that song worth a damn,” she declared after the lounge guitarist finished the number. “Wait until you hear me. I can do that song.”

She performed the song that night, along with Kristofferson’s “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” telling the audience how much she admired his work: “He sure does write some nice tunes.” Just over two months later, she was in the studio recording her own version of the song with her new group, the Full Tilt Boogie Band. It was regarded as one of the highlights of the album that would be called Pearl, and eventually became her signature song.