Shemekia Copeland: America's Child

Blues & Rock/Rythm & Blues
premiera polska: 2018-09-01,
Wydawnicto Audiofilskie
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: kartonowe etui
opis:
multikulti.com - ocena * * * * 1/2:
Shemekia Copeland, trzykrotnie nominowana do nagrody Grammy, okrzyknięta Królową Bluesa przygotowała nową porcję wyśmienitego bluesa. Produkcją zajął się legendarny Will Kimbrough, a wśród gości spotykamy dobrych znajomych, jak John Prine, Mary Gauthier, Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris, J.D. Wilkes, Steve Cropper.
Shemekia śpiewała u boku Erica Claptona, Carlosa Santany, Micka Jaggera, Keitha Richardsa, B. B. Kinga, czy Johna Mayera. Pochodząca z Nowego Jorku Copeland ma również w dorobku osiem laurów Blues Music Awards oraz tytuł Bluesowej Artystki Roku przyznany przez magazyn Living Blues.

Jej najnowszy album „America’s Child”, wydany w legendarnej wytwórni Alligator Records, to płyta wyjątkowa w dotychczasowej dyskografii córki Johnny'ego Clyde'a Copelanda, słynnego gitarzysty bluesowego. Amalgamat bluesa, americany, rocka, soulu i country wprowadza słuchacza w inny wymiar.
"Jej głos w tych piosenkach jest niczym magia” – zachwyca się krytyk Mary Gauthier.
Will Kimbrough twierdzi, że "America’s Child ma głębsze znaczenie w jej karierze niż dotychczasowe płyty, a poprzez jej śpiew, który można nazwać naszym narodowym skarbem, przenosi piosenki – czasem osobiste, innym razem duchowe, jeszcze innym polityczne czy po prostu hałaśliwe - w inne, nowe rejony."
autor: Marek Dębski
Copyright © 1996-2018 Multikulti Project. All rights reserved

Editor's info:
SHEMEKIA COPELAND TO RELEASE AMERICA’S CHILD ON AUGUST 3

Produced by Will Kimbrough with guests including John Prine, Mary Gauthier, Rhiannon Giddens, Emmylou Harris, J.D. Wilkes, Steve Cropper and others.

Award-winning vocalist Shemekia Copeland will release her potent new Alligator Records album, America’s Child, on Friday, August 3, 2018. Produced by Americana Instrumentalist Of The Year winner Will Kimbrough (who also plays guitar on the album) and recorded in Nashville, America’s Child is a courageous and fiery statement of purpose, a major step forward for the singer whose musical consciousness continues to expand as her star continues to rise.

America’s Child is by far Copeland’s most compelling work yet, with music swelling beyond blues and into spirited Americana, with elements of rock, soul, and country. Her instantly recognizable voice—capable of being sultry, assertive and roaring—delivers every song with unparalleled honesty and passion. The three-time Grammy nominee’s wide-open vision of contemporary Americana roots and soul music showcases the evolution of a passionate artist with an up-to-the-minute musical and lyrical approach. From America’s Child’s anthemic opening track, Ain’t Got Time For Hate, to the closing lullaby, the traditional Go To Sleepy Little Baby, Shemekia sings with passion and insight about the chaos and uncertainty in the world while still finding joy all around her.

With guests including John Prine, Rhiannon Giddens, Mary Gauthier, Emmylou Harris, Steve Cropper, J.D. Wilkes, Al Perkins and members of the Time Jumpers, America’s Child bursts with Copeland’s bravado and embraces with her tenderness. Gauthier and songwriter/executive producer John Hahn wrote two striking songs for the project. Smoked Ham And Peaches is a search for truth and tranquility in America, featuring Giddens on African banjo. Americans celebrates our collective diversity in all its forms and colors. American music legend Prine joins Shemekia for a stirring duet on his own Great Rain. Guitar great Cropper adds his scorching playing to the ballad Promised Myself, written by Shemekia’s father, the late bluesman Johnny Clyde Copeland. And her version of I’m Not Like Everybody Else transforms the Kinks song into a blues-fueled declaration of independence.

Upon the birth of her son Johnny Lee Copeland in 2017, Shemekia, with fresh eyes, began to take an even deeper look at the state of the world. Of the new album, she says, “After having a child, I started thinking about the world I brought him into, how it actually is and how I wished it was and all the things he will have to go through. And to live in this world today, you have to have a strong foundation like I did to make it through. So that’s what ‘America’s child’ means to me. I’m truly grateful to all the artists that joined me on this record – it wasn’t about the genre for anyone, it was about the music and mutual love and respect.”

When Shemekia broke on the scene at age 18 in 1998 with her groundbreaking Alligator Records debut CD, Turn The Heat Up, she instantly became a blues and R&B force to be reckoned with. News outlets from The New York Times to CNN praised Copeland’s talent, larger-than-life personality, and true star power. With each subsequent release, Copeland’s music has continued to grow. From her debut through 2005’s The Soul Truth, Shemekia earned eight Blues Music Awards, a host of Living Blues Awards (including the prestigious 2010 Blues Artist Of The Year) and more accolades from fans, critics and fellow musicians. 2000’s Wicked received a Grammy nomination. Two highly successful releases on Telarc (including 2012’s Grammy-nominated 33 1/3) cemented her reputation as a singer who, according to NPR’s All Things Considered, “embodies the blues with her powerful vocal chops and fearless look at social issues.”

Copeland returned to Alligator Records in 2015 with the Grammy-nominated Outskirts Of Love. She won the 2017 Living Blues Readers’ Award for Blues Artist Of The Year (Female), the same distinction she won the year before. She also took home the 2016 Blues Music Award (BMA) for Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year. Outskirts Of Love won the BMA for Best Blues Album Of The Year. MOJO said Copeland was “spectacular, stirring, sanctified and sassy.”

Shemekia Copeland has performed thousands of gigs at clubs, festivals and concert halls all over the world and has appeared on national television, NPR, and in newspapers, films and magazines. She’s sung with Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, Carlos Santana, James Cotton and many others. She opened for The Rolling Stones and entertained U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait. Jeff Beck calls her “amazing.” Santana says, “She’s incandescent…a diamond.” In 2012, she performed with B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Buddy Guy, Trombone Shorty, Gary Clark, Jr. and others at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama.

Now, with America’s Child, Shemekia Copeland is standing on the cusp of her greatest success. Her intensely empowering, American music is as insightful as it is fun. Upon release of the album, she’ll tour nationwide, including a showcase performance at the Americana Music Festival in Nashville in September.

NPR Music says, “She brings a perfect balance of authority and understatement to each song.” No Depression adds, “When Shemekia Copeland opens her mouth, everybody pays attention. She pierces your soul. This is how you do it, and nobody does it better than Shemekia Copeland.”

allmusic.com:
Titling an album America's Child in 2018 can't help but feel like a political move and, sure enough, Shemekia Copeland doesn't shy away from a statement on this, her eighth album. Copeland isn't interested in taking sides, per se. Instead, Copeland uses America's Child as a salute to how weird, wild, and wondrous America is at its best. Fittingly for an album whose aesthetic sees no borders, America's Child casts its net wide sonically, finding room for a number of rootsy sounds and a host of cameos. Working with producer Will Kimbrough, Copeland invites Rhiannon Giddens to play banjo on "Smoked Ham and Peaches," duets with John Prine on a new version of his old tune "Great Rain," sings harmony with Emmylou Harris, and is supported by a band that occasionally features guitarist Steve Cropper and members of the Time. Despite all of these stars, America's Child remains focused on Shemekia Copeland herself, who provides a powerful yet nuanced center for the album. It's not just that her singing is soulful and supple; it's how she views blues as a living, breathing art form, not a static sound. Chalk that up in part to the Americana twang that surfaces throughout the album, but America's Child also finds room for allusions to African music, swampy rock, the British Invasion, and sweaty soul. More importantly, Shemekia Copeland pushes empathy and understanding to the forefront of her record, all the while sounding defiant and strong. Consequently, America's Child doesn't simply address the tumult in 2018 America, it stands as a vital statement of purpose from a modern blues singer who is beginning to hit her stride.
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Shemekia Copeland is a powerhouse, a superstar…she can do no wrong.
–Rolling Stone

Shemekia Copeland is one of the great blues voices of our time. No one comes close to the sheer firepower that Copeland conjures at will.
–Chicago Tribune

America’s Child is a groundbreaking, genre-bending work of beauty. Shemekia is one of the great singers of our time. This record introduces listeners to another side of her, and I predict it will result in many new fans. Her voice on these songs is nothing short of magic.
–Mary Gauthier

Shemekia Copeland is the real deal. America’s Child goes deep and Shemekia‘s voice — a national treasure — carries the songs effortlessly, whether topical, personal, spiritual, political or just plain raucous fun. Shemekia rears back her head and what comes out is humanity made vocal.
–Will Kimbrough

utwory:
1. Ain’t Got Time for Hate (John Hahn & Will Kimbrough, Avarice and Greed Publ./Will Kimbrough Music, BMI)
2. Americans (Mary Gauthier & John Hahn, Mary Gauthier Songs, ASCAP/Avarice and Greed Publ., BMI)
3. Would You Take My Blood? (John Hahn & Will Kimbrough, Avarice and Greed Publ./Will Kimbrough Music, BMI)
4. Great Rain (John Prine & Michael Campbell, Weona Music/Downtown DMP Songs, BMI)
5. Smoked Ham And Peaches (Mary Gauthier & John Hahn, Mary Gauthier Songs, ASCAP/Avarice and Greed Publ., BMI)
6. The Wrong Idea (John Hahn, Willie Morrison, Truman Morrison, Kevin Nolan & Matt Nolan, Avarice and Greed Publ./ The Morrison Brothers Band Music, BMI)
7. Promised Myself (Johnny Clyde Copeland, JoClyde Music, BMI)
8. In The Blood Of The Blues (Terry Abrahamson & Derrick Procell, Rolling Fork Music/Saw Rite Music, BMI)
9. Such A Pretty Flame (John Hahn & Oliver Wood, Avarice and Greed Publ./Royal Kook Music, BMI)
10. One I Love (Kevin Gordon & Gwil Owen, Little Rain Music/Turgid Tunes, BMI)
11. I’m Not Like Everybody Else (Ray Davies, Abkco Music, Inc./Unichappell Music, Inc., BMI)
12. Go To Sleepy Little Baby (Traditional)

total time - 49:14
wydano: 2018-08-02
nagrano: Recorded at Butcher Shoppe, Nashville, TN

more info: www.alligator.com
more info2: www.shemekiacopeland.com