“Nobody does it better”

Nowadays, when Shemekia Copeland opens her mouth, everybody pays attention. Her blast furnace delivery and bombastic performances have made her a hard act to follow in any genre. Her latest, Outskirts of Love (Alligator Records), confirms her status as diva supreme in a variety of musical settings.

Blasting away on the title cut, backed by producer Oliver Wood’s fiery guitar licks, Copeland delivers scathing descriptions of love-ravaged victims. Poignant lyrics —by Wood and Copeland’s manager/executive producer John Hahn— portray a gritty slice of life: a woman in a wedding dress waiting at a bus stop, holding a suitcase tied with string, all she has left since she pawned her wedding ring, living on the Outskirts of Love. […]

This is the best effort of her career. Copeland tops herself on cut after cut. This is how you do it, and nobody does it better than Shemekia Copeland.

By Grant Britt, for No Depression.

Read the full review on No Depression.