Ingrid Michaelson performs at Borders on Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor on Wednesday afternoon, October 28th. The in-store set coincides with Michaelson's sold-out shows at The Ark on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

More than 300 people packed the upper level of the downtown Borders store at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday to watch folk-pop juggernaut Ingrid Michaelson, backed by her five-piece band, perform. (Shortly before the singer/songwriter picked up her guitar, she answered questions for an interview that will be available online as part of the Live at Borders 01 series, but the crowd generally couldn’t hear this exchange.)

Sandwiched between her two sold-out concerts at the Ark, Michaelson’s in-store performance and CD signing drew an enthusiastic crowd of college students, parents with very young kids in tow, and folks ranging in age from 20- to 50-somethings.

Those dedicated enough to come early sat in chairs, but most attendees stood or sat on the floor as local radio personality Martin Bandyke introduced Michaelson as “the most important artist of the last three years” — a description which Michaelson said made her “cry a little bit.”

Ingrid Michaelson performs at Borders on Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor on Wednesday afternoon, October 28th.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Wearing a black t-shirt with a rust-colored corset vest, dark-colored jeans and light brown boots, Michaelson kicked off her short set with “Soldier,” from her new album, “Everybody.” Then, before launching into her new single “Maybe,” Michaelson explained how the song wasn’t originally supposed to be on the record. She wrote it quickly, at the last minute, and then played it for her keyboard player — who reluctantly admitted that the song was so good that they had to get it on the album.

Her second single from the new album, “Everybody,” came next (with a tailored tweak that had Michaelson and her backup singers harmonizing the phrase “Everybody in Borders”); and after briefly talking about food personality Paula Deen’s obsession with butter (“Bless her heart, because I love butter”), Michaelson instructed the crowd on how to supply some backing vocals for the uptempo song, “Mountain and the Sea.”

Two hits from Michaelson’s previous album, “Be OK,” concluded the set: the title song, followed by the monster hit, “The Way I Am,” which Michaelson said was about “loving the person you’re with, despite their crow’s feet and jowls” — Michaelson added, “I wish this kind of love for all of you.”

Plymouth’s Kim Oberski brought her four year old daughter, Hannah, to the store performance, and had considered pulling her six year old daughter Reese out of school so she could come along, too. “They know the words to all of the songs,” Oberski said of her young daughters. “We all love her. We’re all like, ‘It’s Ingrid, oh, my God!’”

What’s Michaelson’s appeal for Oberski? “The words are very honest, and the songs are catchy, and she’s so fun and quirky. I just love her.”

Meanwhile, kitchen designer Amanda Sava, who made the trip from Port Huron, had asked her friend, Birmingham resident and marketing consultant John Conroy, whether he’d like to come see Michaelson perform.

“It was funny, because we were texting our friends (during Michaelson’s set), and I have a friend in Philadelphia who was watching it online through Borders.com,” said Conyers, while Sava noted that she had friends watching in Phoenix and San Francisco as well.

“I love her voice,” said Sava. “I heard her (music) first on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ … I heard her and thought, ‘She’s really good.’”

And while Sava is the bigger fan, Conroy said of Michaelson’s music, “It’s pleasant — very easy to listen to.”

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.