Shemekia Copeland – Never Going Back

Never Going Back / Shemekia Copeland

For more than a decade, Shemekia Copeland has been paving a road that
will inevitably lead to her reign as Queen of the Blues. By some
standards – numerous blues awards in the U.S. and elsewhere, a GRAMMY
nomination, a resume that includes work with musical titans like Dr.
John and Steve Cropper and film giants like Martin Scorsese and Wim
Wenders – she may already be there. For as appealing and regal as it
may sound, though, and for as much as she respects the rich legacy of
artists like Bessie Smith, Etta James or Koko Taylor, Copeland insists
that there’s more to who she is and what she does than a 12-bar ballad
or a Chicago shuffle could ever covey. Never Going Back, her Telarc
debut, captures Copeland at a crossroads on that artistic path, –a
place where numerous new avenues are open to her. While Copeland will
always remain loyal to her blues roots, Never Going Back takes a more
forward view of the blues, and in so doing points her music and her
career in a new direction.