Shemekia Copeland, the Harlem-born and Teaneck-raised blues dynamo, is all about keeping it real – on and off-stage.
Whether it’s talking about loving her man in the tune “Love Scene” from her 2001 Grammy-nominated album “Wicked” (“I won’t be fakin’/I’ll treat you good/ Better than those girls In Hollywood,”) or speaking her mind in her recent interview with the Jersey City Reporter, Copeland holds nothing back.
“I’ve traveled around the world and been through a lot of s—t,” Copeland said recently. “I like to keep everything real and tell it like it is.”
Fans of the songstress, who will be performing two days after her 31st birthday, will see her in all her earthy glory as the featured act in the final segment of the Loew’s Down Blues concert series at the Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Jersey City on April 16 at 8 p.m. The concert is presented by Provident Bank and Jersey City Magazine.
“I’ve traveled around the world and been through a lot.” – Shemekia Copeland
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And what will the audience see? Someone who has a direct connection to the raw and gritty Texas blues of her late dad, guitarist great Johnny Copeland, who brought his little girl on the road as his opening act in the mid-1990s before he passed away in 1997.
“I always look back with fondness on performing with my father, because he always wanted me to be a singer,” Copeland said.
Still old school in the modern day
Copeland is not one to rave about the latest Beyonce or John Mayer song – not when you have performed with the likes of Buddy Guy, Ruth Brown and Koko Taylor, or when you talk about having an “affinity” for R&B crooners of yesteryear like Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke.
“What I loved from older singers is, they all have their own unique sound and style,” Copeland said. “Nowadays, you can’t tell one [singer] from the other.”
And don’t get her started on music festivals that are currently in vogue, like Bonnaroo or Coachella. She resists them, calling them “guitar god” festivals.
“Don’t get me wrong; I love guitar players,” Copeland said. “But for every eight performers, seven are all playing guitars.”
Copeland should know her guitar players, and not only as the daughter of one. She is married to Orlando Wright, bass guitarist in Buddy Guy’s band.
Yet Copeland is not afraid to try something new or musically different, as evident in her 2009 release “Never Going Back,” which was produced by Oliver Wood, brother of Chris Wood from the critically acclaimed jazz trio Medeski, Martin and Wood. In this new album, you hear blunt lyrics suited to Copeland’s no-holds-barred vocalizing, as in the song, “Rise Up” that speaks to female empowerment: “Come hell or high water, she’s gonna start a brand new life/ So, sit back and watch that girl. Rise up. Rise up.”
But there is a more acoustic, folksy feel in the accompaniment.
“I have a tendency to “attack” songs,” said Copeland of her tendency to be forceful in her singing. “I was trying to go about it differently.”
Greet the performer
There will be a pre-show “Meet & Greet” Buffet with Shemekia Copeland from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., presented in cooperation with nearby Hudson County Community College at the college’s Culinary Conference Center’s 1st Floor Banquet Room, 161 Newkirk St. In addition to meeting Copeland, the $15 ticket also covers the buffet.
Tickets for the show are available in advance (Preferred Seats $27.50; General Admission $22.50) and at the door (Preferred Seats $35; General Admission $30). Advance tickets can be purchased at the Loew’s Box Office, 54 Journal Square, on Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m., and at the Journal Square Operations Office, 4 PATH Plaza, Mondays through Fridays from 11 a.m. till 3 p.m. Tickets are also available online at www.thenewjournalsquare.com and www.loewsjersey.org and by calling (800) 440-7654.
The cost of parking for ticket holders will be reduced for the event to just $5 at Square Ramp Parking, located directly behind the theatre.
For more information about the concert series, call the Journal Square Restoration Corporation at (201) 795-1854 or visit thenewjournalsquare.com. For more information on the Loew’s Jersey Theatre call (201) 798-6055 or visit loewsjersey.org.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.