I have just watched the episode of Austin City Limits, originally aired 10/23/04, featuring Michael McDonald, and 17 year-old Brit phenom Joss Stone. McDonald’s set was just his tired old stock fare (although his cover of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On still brought tears to my eyes). But Joss Stone has me absolutely spun! I had her pegged, from about her third stanza, as a young ‘Retha. And it appears I am not alone in that opinion:

The 17 year-old from Devon, whose voice has been called a mix between “a white” Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin, found herself stepping up on stage to receive an award that could have easily gone to last year’s debutante Natasha Bedingfield, R ‘n’ B singer Jamelia, London’s feisty singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse or the alternative rock singer PJ Harvey.

The American pop machine is a fickle thing. What can you say about something that turns marginal talents like Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears into superstars? But, if there is any justice in the world, “Joss Stone” will be a household word within two years.