Kelly Clarkson Pay Etta James Tribute - Without 'At Last'

It's one thing when an artist honors another by remaking a recognizable hit marking something among that honoree artist's finest hours. Everyone's probably heard enough takes on "Imagine" by this point to have that concept drilled home.

It's another entirely when an artist, instead of lazily snagging that low-hanging fruit, chooses a deep cut that really says something about what that honored influence means personally to the one paying the tribute.

Take Kelly Clarkson, for instance. She took a moment during a weekend Radio City Music Hall performance in New York to give the recently departed Etta James a tip of her cap. James on Jan. 20 lost a lengthy battle with leukemia at age 73 after being hospitalized with breathing difficulties. A legend of early R&B, James was easily best known for her signature ballad "At Last," which was most recently made historic both for Beyonce serenading Barack and Michelle Obama's first dance at the President's 2009 inaugural ball and for James herself threatening to kick the black off Beyonce's ass if the Grammy-winning diva performed it.

Clarkson apparently knows when she everything's been said about something that can be said, and politely skirted the beaten tribute path.

"This isn't 'At Last' because everybody really covers that, and so I wanted to do my favorite actually," she told the packed house. "My favorite song is 'I'd Rather Go Blind.' So this is for Etta!"

"I'd Rather Go Blind" might actually be James' next most-remembered tune, even if it probably doesn't have quite the "Word Association" affixation to James that "At Last" does. Co-writtend by Ellington, credited to Billy Foster and recorded originally by James in 1968, it hit #10 on Billboard's R&B charts and #23 on its pop charts. It's also been covered through the years by great artists including Koko Taylor, B.B. King, Rod Stewart and when she portrayed James in the film version of "Cadillac Records," Beyonce.

Along with royally pissing off fans when she threw her public support behind Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, Clarkson also recently was announced as an upcoming guest mentor on the next season of NBC's "The Voice" alongside returning main mentors Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine and Cee Lo Green.