On Saturday night, Hawaiian singing sensation Kim Char Meredith rocked the crowd at Borders, 1200 South Duff Ave., with her mixture of Melissa Etheridge-style music with her own flavor of enthusiastic, toe-tapping performance.

“There are a lot of other places you can be tonight, but I thank you for being here,” Meredith says, obviously excited to be playing in front of the quiet Ames crowd.

Meredith, a native of Hawaii, has been touring the United States this summer with her two sons. An award-winning artist in Hawaii, Meredith has been nominated three times for Hawaii’s Na Hoku Hano Hano, the Hawaiian equivalent to a Grammy, and has also won Favorite Pop Artist in Hawaii.

Before the evening’s concert began, Meredith took a chance to talk to some members in the audience, asking them where they came from and why they wanted to see her.

“I’m always curious about the audience that I get, because it seems to range from state to state,” Meredith says.

A little after 8 p.m., Meredith asked the crowd if they were ready to hear some music.

“Aloha!” Meredith says, screaming into the mic. She then began singing the title song of her first released album, “You Want In.”

Meredith played for two hours at Borders. She played songs from her new album “Give and Take” and also sang songs from her previous albums.

Throughout the night, she stopped to tell the audience what her songs were about and why she decided to pursue a music career.

“This is such a great turnout for her,” says Sara Laaser, Inventory Manager and Events Coordinator for the Ames Borders bookstore.

Laaser says it’s always hard to know how many people will attend an event.

Roxanne Yadao, Meredith’s manager, says Meredith had previously toured in the area and wanted to follow up in Ames.

“She’s an adult contemporary artist who writes her own songs,” Yadao said. “They are about her own experiences from being an abused spouse to losing family members.”

Yadao thinks Meredith’s latest release has the potential to reach some of the top 40 charts in the United States.

“Meredith is on an independent record company — it’s a little bit harder for independent artists to get their albums out,” she says.

Yadao says Meredith’s album was released on April 27 and is doing well in Hawaii.

“Hawaii is a little less into the contemporary music, but she has a great following there,” she says.

Yadao says Meredith wanted to tour the inland United States to not only promote her music, but to talk to others about her experiences as well.

“Music is just another way for Meredith to heal and has become a way of life,” Yadao says.