When people talk about living music legends, they often refer to artists that have established themselves through the course of several decades, managing somehow to stay in people's minds, in many cases, because of a couple of more inspired, highly selling records that made their fortune throughout their careers.
Somebody that was destined to be one of said living music legends, since the very beginning of her glorious career to date, is the prodigious American singer Shemekia Copeland, unanimously considered already, at the age of 45 and by some of the most illustrious names in the music business, as one of the greatest Americana singers of the last half a century.
Copeland's rise to success was written in the stars since Copeland's getgo in the music world; daughter of celebrated Texas Blues singer and guitarist Johnny Copeland, young Shemekia made her mark already at 18 years of age, by releasing a debut album called Turn The Heat Up, which catapulted Copeland to the top of the Blues charts of half the world, thanks to her impressive vocal strength, power and singing versatility.
Rewind the clock to 2024, where Shemekia Copeland, with already something like 11 hugely appreciated by fans and music press studio albums on her belt, several Grammy nominees and countless Blues Awards won over the years, has now chiseled another soon-to-be released masterpiece, ready to be unleashed to the world by the end of August '24 via Alligator Records and called Blame It On Eve.
The American singer and performer's brand new album reinstates, if ever was necessary, Copeland's amazing capability to glide into the whole American Songbook with extraordinarily effortless facility, as greatly displayed into the 12 brand new tracks part of Blame It On Eve.
From the album's title-track, which opens the record, right to the closing moments of it through the soulful Heaven Helps Us All, Copeland takes the listener into a journey into her personal life, her growth as an individual and the way Copeland perceives the world surrounding her in 2024 with such passion, charisma, swagger and emotional intensity, never wasting a single note sang in each of Copeland's new songs.
Written at four hands in almost its entirety by Copeland's long time collaborators, Executive Producer John Hahn and Producer and Multi-Instrumentalist Will Kimbrough, Blame It On Eve, together with celebrating the class and talent of Shemekia Copeland as one of the best singers around on a worldwide scale, it also displays hugely inspired songwriting and strong arrangements on each of the album's songs.
Through a breathtaking sequence of Blues, Gospel, Rock, Folk, Country and Soul tunes, Shemekia Copeland's Blame It On Eve is a true celebration of love, no matter whether lost or found, women's right, family values and the importance of letting loose in life when needed, the whole delivered with Copeland's vastly recognisable trademark singing style.
To choose highlights from an album like Blame It On Eve would be as impossible as to choose which is the shiniest stone in a priceless diamond ring. Throughout the whole of her career, Shemekia Copeland has amply demonstrated why she is seen (undoubtedly, in our website's opinion) as a living legend in her own right and this album is no exception.
If anything, Blame It On Eve is, as time will tell too, the icing on the cake of Copeland's career to date and her breathtaking artistic talent.
Blame It On Eve is out on 30th August 2024 and can pre-ordered via Alligator Records