With an album just released a few weeks ago, blues singer Shemekia Copeland can’t wait to play some of those songs live as part of the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival.
“We’ve been doing lots of songs from the record,” Copeland said Wednesday in a call from California. “I’m very excited about it. So it’s been great.”
Copeland will be one of the featured artists at the festival, which runs from Sept. 19-22, with two all-day shows on Sept. 21 and 22 near the August Wilson African American Cultural Center in Pittsburgh. Pianist Robert Glasper is the headliner on Sept. 21, with Cuban funk star Cimafunk and Copeland, among others, setting the stage. The Sept. 22 lineup features English singer Marsha Ambrosius, trumpeter Sean Jones, Brazilian singer Luedji Luna and the Scottish funk/R&B veterans Average White Band.
Copeland’s album, “Blame It On Eve,” dropped Aug. 30 via Alligator Records, features touches of folk and Americana. And it’s got a different approach than her past three albums — “America’s Child,” “Uncivil War” and “Done Come Too Far.”
”This album’s a little bit lighter though,” she said. “I think my last records have been pretty heavy, and this record has been a little bit lighter. And it’s just a little bit more fun.”
Songs such as “Wine O’Clock” are more carefree, and Copeland found it funny that people have been asking about her favorite wines because of that song.
“I don’t really do a whole lot of drinking,” she said with a laugh.
The album’s first single, “Tough Mother,” is highly personal for the five-time Grammy nominee.
“These records are all about my life, and that kind of takes you through, very quickly, how and where I grew up, my father and his artistry and losing my mom, battling cancer, now raising my son,” she said. “So that song is just kind of a little biography of my life.”
On the album’s title track, Copeland focuses on the poor treatment women get, something not often tackled in blues music.
She said there were no doubts about doing that.
“No, never. I mean, that’s what I do,” she said. “If there’s an issue, you can be pretty sure you’re gonna hear me talking about it because that’s what I do and what I’ve chosen to do.”
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Copeland pays tribute to her father, famed Texas blues guitarist Johnny Copeland, with a cover of his song “Down on Bended Knee.” She’s made it a tradition to cover one of his songs on each album, as growing up with that heritage heavily steered her toward this career.
”Absolutely it did, eventually. At first, my dad, I thought, man, I don’t know how he does this, this is crazy,” she said with a laugh. “But then I feel like when I was a teenager, I kind of got my calling, and I realized, oh my god, this is what I’m gonna be doing for the rest of my life. It’s pretty amazing how that happened.”
Often called the “Queen of the Blues,” Copeland is a 15-time winner at the Blues Music Awards, but she doesn’t think about titles like that.
“I mean, it’s an honor but for me Koko Taylor will always be the Queen of the Blues,” she said. “And I don’t think about stuff like that. I don’t put those types of pressures on myself.
“I just do what I do,” she added with a laugh.
Besides singing, Copeland also serves as a host on SiriusXM’s Bluesville channel.
“I really love it because it keeps me connected with the world, and I started it a year before covid happened, which really helped keep me sane when everything was shut down,” she said. “I felt a real good connection with people. It’s amazing how I’m sitting there by myself, but I feel like I’m connected with all these people. It’s really nice doing it.”
