"Ball 'n' Chain" is a song by Big Mama Thornton

Big Mama Thornton

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...

. The song, best known as a cover by Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin

Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...

, was featured in Big Brother and the Holding Company

Big Brother and the Holding Company

Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their...

's Cheap Thrills album; this was their last album with Janis Joplin as primary lead vocalist. Janis' 1967 rendition of "Ball 'n' Chain" at the Monterey Pop Festival

Monterey Pop Festival

The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...

 is widely considered to be one of her best performances. The song also became one of her more popular pieces to sing in concert. She sang the song twice at Woodstock after fans cheered for an encore.