Janis: Little Girl Blue (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

This soundtrack to the 2015 documentary Janis: Little Girl Blue maps out Joplin’s transformation from coffeehouse folkie to iconic howler. Along the journey, listeners are treated to a wealth of revealing performances. Recorded in the mid-’60s, “Careless Love” reflects her roots in Southern acoustic blues. Fast-forward just a few years and the trailblazer can be heard inventing crushing proto-metal on “Tell Mama,” captured mere months before her death in 1970. The title track closes the album, revealing Joplin at her most intimate and showing why documentarian Amy Berg tapped it for a title.