For those who worship the ground that Jewel, Ani Difranco or any other independent female artist walks on, you have been paying homage to the wrong diva.

Tina, of Tina and the B-Side Movement, appeared at the M-Shop for the first time last Saturday evening in all of her solo glory.

Dressed in a Johnny Cash-like get-up of black leather pants and a black button down shirt, she rocked the sold-out crowd for nearly two hours with an intimacy that just isn’t found from those “big-name” women artists.

Fans from around the Midwest drove into Ames to see the Minneapolis native perform. Cameras constantly flashed in the dimmed venue, with each click aspiring to forever capture the moment her fans had driven great distances to experience.

A cheering section of sorts from her hometown vivaciously contributed to the night’s ambiance. They were almost as entertaining as Tina when they sang the back-up melody to many a song and danced around the rest of the seated crowd.

“Once the drugs and alcohol kick in, I’ll be fine,” Tina said before getting underway with her second song, which was “so depressing” she never finished writing it.

The song was depressing indeed, but in a beautiful way. Her sensual voice shined through the dark ballad and continued to do so throughout the rest of the set.

Her vocals never once floundered as she alternated between loud and soft and high and low pitch.

Most of the material in Tina’s set was originally written and performed while she was with the B-Sides. One in particular had a harmonious, yet simple chorus that found die-hard fans and first-time listeners singing, “It’s funny how the years roll by,” by the time Tina repeated it in the outro.

After a few more slow ballads, some more rocking tunes, and a Janis Joplin cover and a Prince tune, it was clear that the three “plugged-in,” acoustic-electric guitars on, which she traded off, got a work out.

The personal and often humorous stage presence that went hand-in-hand with her songs proved that her new solo effort has been and will continue to be a success.

The glad-to-be-there spirit of the crowd shined through Tina’s lengthy set. In the end, audience members thanked Tina profusely, and the grateful crowd gave her numerous standing ovations. Tina seemed grateful, too.

After finishing her encore, which included Janis Joplin’s “Bobby McGee,” she willingly shook the hands of the many fans that surrounded her.