One of the definitions of art is that it’s an imitation of life. For Shemekia Copeland, blues is an art, but her art is no imitation. “Blues is about life, your story, and what’s happening with you. That’s what it is,” she explains.
Her new album, Blame It on Eve, is a survival guide for a world at war with itself. Better than that, it’s a sound track for sanity at a time when we’re at a loss to find music we can – or even want – to dance to.
“I’m always so optimistic,” she says. “I’m always hoping and praying that things will get better. Right now, I’m having a very up moment, and that’s what this album is reflecting, my life.”
And what a life it’s been. She grew up in Harlem, the daughter of Johnny Clyde Copeland, an electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter who died in 1997 when Shemekia was 18. She recorded her first album a year later for Alligator Records and has been on the label ever since. She sang for President Obama. Dr. John produced her Talking to Strangers album. She’s opened for the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine calls her “a powerhouse, a superstar… She can do no wrong.”
Blame It on Eve is a step forward. “I wanted to make a different album than the last albums. So, I was very cautious about what I was singing on this record because I wanted to be lighter. I think I was just constantly trying to make sure that we kept it a little bit lighter and we did. but we were always pretty much on the same page. That’s what happens when you know somebody for 38 years.”
She’s talking about John Hahn who’s known her since she was eight years old and stepped in as her second father and manager when her biological dad died. “He stepped into the role for me. Our relationship is constantly evolving. I mean we talk every day several times a day. He knows everything that’s going on with me and how I feel in my thoughts. So, it all really happens organically for us.”
John has been and is the writer of many of her songs since her first album. A former Madison Avenue advertising exec, he knows Shemekia almost better than she knows herself.
“I’m so fortunate, Don. I’ve known John Hahn since I was (8 years old). I’ve been with Alligator my entire career. I’ve had the same booking agent for 25 years or more. I’ve had the same musicians for the most part. So, I am pretty blessed.”
I asked her if John presented the title song “Blame It on Eve” to her fully blown or if they talked back and forth about it as John was co-writing it with Will Kimbrough. “We’ve been talking about it since the moment it (The Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe vs. Wade) happened and the anger one feels about something like that, having to fight for something you already fought for. It was just a conversation.
“The next step was what are we going to say? What are we going to do? How are we going to present this since he (Adam) slapped her (Eve) in the face. I felt like we’re going through all of this stuff because of her. It’s always been a conversation.
“I feel like women are going through what women have to go through physically more so than anything. It just kind of took a different turn: menopause, all that stuff, hormones, the pain of childbirth, all that stuff. It wasn’t supposed to happen. She (Eve) was supposed to behave herself, and none of that would have happened. You know what I mean?”
Eve was the one who took the bite out of the apple, wasn’t she?
“Exactly. That’s what I’m saying. There are conversations that have always been had.”
The production on the album is exquisite. The list of musicians who sat in is a who’s who of talented headliners in their own right: Americana superstar Alejandro Escovedo, guitarists Luther Dickinson and Charlie Hunter, lap steel master Jerry Douglas, and young sacred steel wizard DaShawn.
“I worked with Jerry Douglas before on a previous record. I’ve known Kevin Gordon forever. We’ve never worked together. We’ve just played at festivals and stuff like that, doing North Mississippi Allstars stuff. I had never met DaShawn (Hickman) who’s amazing. Alejando I’ve known a very long time, and a fan of his but have never worked together before either. We’ve been talking about it for a long time.
“I love them all. They’re all so different. None of them seem the same. Of course, Alejandro, forget it. You know! ‘Is There Anybody Up There’ is such a rocking song, and his voice on that is such. I very rarely sample people. So, to be able to do that with him I thought was so cool.”
This album sustains a level high enough to which other contemporary blues albums struggle to reach. Standout cuts and Shemekia’s takes on them include:
“Tough Mother”
This is basically my life. It’s about where I grew up and how I had to grow up. My mother was a badass who I lost. Just mothers in general, but definitely about my life and all the things I’ve had to go through.
“Only Miss You All The Time”
I mean, it’s a love song. Every blues record needs one.
“Down on Bended Knee” by her dad
I just love the song. I saw him sing it many times. I just love my daddy’s songs. At some point I’d like to do a whole record, but that’s just the one I chose for this one.
“Belle Sorciere”
I’ve always wanted to sing in a different language, and French is so singable. John and I have been talking for years about doing a song like that, and it’s the saddest song I’ve ever heard. I was so excited to do it.
“Heaven Help Us All” by Ronald N. Miller
Oh, my God! The first time I heard that song about maybe two years ago, I put it in my notes and I said, one day I’m gonna do this song. Ray Charles sang it, of course. It was a big song. Is there anybody up there to help, and heaven help us because we need more help.
At age 45, Shemekia knows who she is. In 2009 she turned down an effort by Blues Queen Koko Taylor’s daughter to crown her the new queen of the blues at the Chicago Blues Festival after Koko died. “I will always continue to honor Koko, but I would not run around with a (crown) on my head calling myself the Queen of the Blues. You know what I’m saying?
“I don’t even listen to what I record today,” she admits. “I just keep moving forward. I don’t pay so much attention to what happened in the past as much as I keep trying to move forward, to stay relevant and evolve the music in some sort of way.
She is the gold standard against which others are measured.
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