News

“I’m just doing a couple songs off of my latest record and having a really good time warming up the crowd for Marc Cohn and The Blind Boys of Alabama and Robert Cray. We’re having a blast,” Copeland said. “They’re all fantastic. Great to work with, you know. It’s a nice vibe being out with these guys. They’re such gentlemen and they’re so warm and welcoming, so that’s what’s made it great.”

Copeland released her latest album, “America’s Child,” in August 2018 after inspiration from the birth of her son, Johnny Lee Copeland. The album comes from taking a closer look at the world and knowing that her son will have a strong foundation from which to take it on.

“I’m always evolving and growing and changing and one of the biggest things to happen in my life so far is having my little guy and the second you have a child you start thinking about the type of world you brought the child into and the things that they will have to endure,” Copeland said. “You know, you’re scared, but you’re also hopeful that things will be better for them than they were for you or certainly not worse.”…

By Sam Palian. Read the full interview and story in The Charlotte Post before Shemekia’s performance at Old Town Amphitheater in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on June 21. Shemekia will be opening for Robert Cray and Marc Cohn and The Blind Boys of Alabama. 

Photo Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune

Now that her son is 2-½ years old, Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland decided she’s ready to hit the road again in a major way.

So she’s now in the midst of touring with Robert Cray while hopscotching around the country playing other shows, including Friday night’s performance at the Ravinia Festival, where she’ll open for Buddy Guy. (…)

“Since Johnny was born, I haven’t done a whole lot of touring,” adds Copeland, referring to toddler Johnny Lee Copeland-Schultz.

“I’m already missing him. But Johnny is pretty set. He’s in school. He’s got his little routine, and I think he already has a pretty good understanding of what mama does (…).

“Now I’m excited about getting out on the road and touring this record, seeing how people feel about it.”

She refers to “America’s Child” (Alligator Records), an album she released last summer that bristles with pointed social commentary. New songs such as “Ain’t Got Time for Hate” (by John Hahn, her manager, and Will Kimbrough), “Americans” (by Mary Gauthier and Hahn) and “Would You Take My Blood?” (by Hahn and Kimbrough) confront the ugly racial and socioeconomic pandering peddled by some politicians these days.

Copeland’s efforts won her two honors from the Blues Foundation Blues Music Awards, for album of the year and contemporary blues album, as well as nominations for instrumental vocals, contemporary blues female artist and song of the year (for “Ain’t Got Time for Hate”). (…)

But Copeland apparently is just getting warmed up; she’s planning her next album. (…)

At the moment, Copeland also finds herself saddened by the recent death of Dr. John, who produced her 2002 album “Talking to Strangers,” his funky, New Orleans sensibility bringing forth the deepest blue shadings of her art. He also duetted with her on his 2014 album, “Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch.”

“I’m heartbroken,” says Copeland. “He was so amazing to me throughout my whole career, and just being supportive and loving.” (…)

“He’s just a national treasure. I think New Orleans should shut down for a month to celebrate Dr. John.” (…)

By Howard Reich, before Shemekia’s performance this Friday evening at Ravinia Festival. Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.

Living Blues magazine has announced the nominees for the 2019 Living Blues Readers’ Awards. Shemekia Copeland received four nominations:

• Blues Artist Of The Year (Female)
• Most Outstanding Blues Singer
• Best Live Performer
• Best Blues Album Of 2018 (New Recordings) – America’s Child

The public, Living Blues subscribers and non-subscribers alike, can vote at www.livingblues.com by July 15, 2019. Winners will be announced in August. 

…No track commands more attention, however, than “The Wine Talkin’,” in which veteran Cash Box Kings singer Wilson duets with the greatest female blues vocalist working today, Chicagoan Shemekia Copeland.

“We’ve gotten to know her through the years on the festival circuit,” says Nosek, in explaining the band’s good fortune to have recorded with her.

“Over the course of a five- or six-year period, if we were on the same bill, she’d come by and say hi, and her manager (and songwriter), John Hahn, would do the same. I think they really respected the fact that we’re trying to carry on this more traditional sound.”

As does Copeland herself, while similarly updating facets of it to reflect contemporary times and themes. When Hahn offered the Kings a chance to work on a song of his with Copeland, they leaped at the chance, Nosek and Wilson collaborating with Hahn to fine-tune “The Wine Talkin’.”

Copeland’s throaty tones are instantly recognizable, and there’s no mistaking the wit and humor of her collaboration with singer Wilson.

“It was like, boom, they totally hit it off, it was immediate chemistry for the two of them,” says Nosek, who plays harmonica and sings on the album.

Recording with Copeland stands as “a real compliment,” Nosek adds.

“I was a huge fan of her father,” Texas bluesman Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, “long before I knew about her. When he passed away, she came on the scene and got signed by Alligator – and I was blown away, like most people.

“They call her the new queen of the blues, and it’s a real honor, and a really amazing opportunity to record with her, hang out with her.”…

By Howard Reich about the Cash Box Sings’ new album, “Hail to the Kings!” to be released on May 17 by Alligator Records on which special guest Shemekia Copeland turns the heat up as she joins her friend Oscar Wilson for the mischievous duet, The Wine Talkin’.

Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.

Learn more about “Hail to the Kings.”

Copeland says what she wants, and she rarely apoligizes for it. She’s as known for her social stances as she is for her deep, mature, outstanding blues voice…

Her father pushed her hard and saturated her life with the blues, but Copeland soaked it in, and even today, never questions her path or her life as a blues artist. Her dad was a social activist, though it didn’t mark his career the way it did hers. He wrote a song, “Ghetto Child,” in the 1950s about children in a poor Texas neighborhood that she record and still snarls on stage as a crowd favorite, though it makes her sad to sing it.

By Dan England, before Shemekia’s performance at the Greeley Blues Jam, in Greeley, Colorado, on June 8. Read the full story in Bandwagon (pages 14 and 15).