After 50 years in music, Irma Thomas still sounds great

Last night I went to Harbourfront to see Soul Queen Of New Orleans Irma Thomas perform on the Sirius Stage as part of the Hot & Spicy Food Festival. And thanks to Louisiana Tourism, it was FREE. You can't beat that. Irma Thomas is probably more popular today than she ever was when she was in her prime in the 60s. She should have been a much bigger star but something always seemed to happen. If it wasn't Minit Records closing or The Rolling Stones scoring with Time Is On My Side, it was Irma's ill fated stint with Chess Records in the mid-60s. After years of obscurity, Irma was rescued by Scott Billington of Rounder Records in 1986 and the strong quality of her recordings has allowed Irma to build a significant fanbase. To celebrate her years there, Rounder has released a comp called 50th Anniversary Celebration that is highly recommended to newcomers. The big problem with many of today's singers is they believe that vocal gymnastics are necessary to sell a song. That shows a lack of confidence in the material. Great singers like Irma Thomas don't need vocal gymnastics. She has confidence in every song she sings and lets the song tell the story. She starts out with a couple of songs from the new CD including the Joe Bracato song Let It Be Me. Then she says she'll take requests and talks about this huge binder she brings with her that has every song she has ever performed in it. But she really didn't use it much. She starts singing some of her classics including It's Raining, Breakaway and Ruler Of My Heart. But when someone asks her to sing Summertime, Irma says it's not a song she normally sings. It doesn't matter as she delivers a stirring performance and her seven piece band doesn't even blink. That's what the whole show was like. The only false note was at the end of the show. As you may be aware, Irma's home in New Orleans was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. She used the 80s Tina Turner hit Simply The Best to thank everyone for their support. But the song doesn't suit Irma's voice and it hasn't aged very well either. Appreciate the sentiment. Use a different song. Irma's encore featured a great performance of the King Floyd soul classic Groove Me and Proud Mary. Irma Thomas sounds great at age 68 and it doesn't look like she's planning to slow down anytime soon. Irma and her band delivered a great show. It was very enjoyable. The pic is from last night's show. I got it from Flickr.