Shemekia Copeland Keeps the Blues Alive

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Music Features

“She’s incandescent… a diamond”.-Carlos Santana

Just 43 years old, Shemekia Copeland has become the 21st century’s preeminent female blues singer, an honor she doesn’t take lightly. The daughter of legendary Texas blues guitarist Johnny Copeland talked about growing up in Harlem, her musical influences, and some notable career highlights in a recent interview. 

Of course, my father’s blues influenced me to a certain point, but not any more than the gospel, African, and soul music I loved,” Copeland said. “The one thing he preached to me was originality, and I don’t think he’d be happy if I was just like him". The Grammy-nominated vocalist, on tour in support of her 12th album, “Done Come Too Far,” will appear March 17 at The Back Room at Colectivo Coffee.

How does it feel to be mentioned in the same sentence with performers like Etta James, Koko Taylor, and Aretha Franklin?

I don’t have the words. I love those ladies and what they did was incredible. I think I’ve been smart enough to leave their stuff alone, you know? There’s no point in trying to recreate what they did. 

There’s the quest for originality you mentioned earlier.

Exactly! I want people to know me as a musical force for my generation. I want to matter to my audiences the same way they did to theirs. I want my son to someday be able to say, ‘My mom was a singer, she was bold, and she was cool!’

You’re not taking the easy road to your goal.

Definitely not, and I’m not the same person I was when I released Turn the Heat Up in 1998. At this point in my life, it’s important to me that all of us use our voices in the best possible way. More so now than ever before. I try to convey that through my shows and recordings. We gotta put “united” back in the United States.

You can sing without amplification when you want to. Where did that vocal power originate?

All gifts come from God. My dad had a powerful singing voice, but I think I got a lot of my ability from my mom. She never sang professionally but she had a beautiful voice.

One of the stories I love is you singing at the Cotton Club at the age of nine.(laughs) The last thing I wanted was to go onstage, but my father called me out of the audience. I sang a slightly risqué song called “Stingy.” At first, I was scared to death but then I loosened up and felt a lot better. (laughs) I still had a long way to go at that point. 

What kind of things did you experience growing up in Harlem?

I was 12 at the beginning of the ‘90s, and everyone was into hip hop. But I loved the blues and other music, and I stuck with that. The Apollo theater had the big shows, and I was exposed to a wide variety of performers there. I got a job at a dry cleaner’s, which was great because the owner knew I was starting to sing, and he gave me time off whenever I needed to perform.

The love of gospel music is evident in the way you sing. Was that reinforced in the church?

Yes, but not like you’re asking. My father went to all the churches because it wasn’t important to him where he prayed. I experienced black churches, white churches, Catholic, and Baptist. I heard lots of good music in all those places. But yes, gospel was a huge influence on me as I grew up.

Can you talk about your involvement in the documentary film Lightning in a Bottle (2004)?

I was so lucky to be chosen for that show [at New York’s Radio City Music Hall]. I mean, I sang in the house band led by Dr. John and Robert Cray! Many great performers on that bill are no longer with us. It was such a wonderful experience for me. I felt the same way when I performed for the Obamas at the White House.

The Obama event was a celebration of the blues for Black History Month if I recall correctly.

It was in February 2012, and I sang “Miss You” with Mick Jagger. I also did a song with Susan Tedeschi and a few others.  Lots of great people were there.

Your cover of ZZ Top’s “Jesus Just Left Chicago” is one of my favorites.

That’s nice of you to say that. Thank you. My father and Billy Gibbons knew each other from their early days in Texas. I met Billy at the Apollo in Harlem when we were doing a tribute to [Howling Wolf guitarist] Hubert Sumlin. Later when I wanted to cover his song, Billy graciously agreed to play on the track with us.

The Stones’ song “Under My Thumb” is more controversial now than when it was released, yet you chose to cover that one as well. Why?

I’m a huge Stones fan, but hearing them say the stuff they do in “Under My Thumb” is like, what the hell? (laughs) I loved turning that song around and singing it from a female point of view. I like it better that way. (laughs). Etta James flipped some songs from male to female during her career. It’s fun to do that.

What’s on the horizon for you when you finish the current tour?

Honestly, I have no idea right now. The business I’m in, I don’t even know what to say about it. If someone had told me when I was a kid that you wouldn’t be able to buy records in a store, I’d have said they were crazy! (laughs) Nobody could have convinced me that music would be distributed as digital downloads and that people would be streaming art over the Internet. I think what’s best for me is to keep doing what I’m doing and I’ll end up where I’m supposed to be. I need to continue to find my way. That’s it.