It’s a gorgeous Wednesday, August 16, 2023 evening at Kennedy Plaza on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City as music lovers ready themselves for a summery 2023 Mardi Gras AC night of blues performed by singer Shemekia Copeland.
Copeland, 44, was born in New York City, the daughter of blues singer and guitarist, Johnny Copeland. As a child, Shemekia made her first public performance at The Cotton Club, and at the age of 16, started touring with her father as his opening act.
Shemekia released her first album, Turn the Heat Up!, in 1998. Since then, she’s recorded a number of critically acclaimed albums including Talking to Strangers, produced by Dr. John, and The Soul Truth, produced by Steve Cropper.
In 2011, at the Chicago Blues Festival, Copeland was awarded the honor, “Queen of the Blues,” and presented with Koko Taylor’s crown. Nominated for five Grammy awards, Copeland was voted “Blues Artist of the Year” in the 2022 Downbeat Critics Poll. The same year, she released her latest recording, Done Come Too Far.
Before tonight’s show, Mardi Gras AC concert producer Carmen Marotta talks about Copeland, recalling, “I’ve known Shemekia since she was a gangly little girl and watched her become the best blues singer in the country. She’s beautiful, alluring, and magnetic, and although she’s become a diverse world-class artist, when she sings the blues, she shows her true musical genius.”
Backstage, Shemekia reveals, “I was born and raised in Manhattan, but I went to high school in Teaneck, NJ, where the Jersey Shore was a little hidden gem.” Adding, “I’ve been looking forward to coming back to Jersey for the food and everything,” Copeland acknowledges, “I love performing. I live for music, and I missed touring — it’s therapeutic — although I am missing my 6-year-old son who started school today!”
On the boardwalk, Marotta welcomes tonight’s audience, thanking the show’s sponsors and reminding the crowd about upcoming events in the 2023 Mardi Gras AC concert series. Explaining, “In the summer of 1965, the group, Levon and the Hawks, left Tony Mart’s, my father’s club at the Shore, to work with Bob Dylan as The Band. They were the greatest group I can remember, and next week, we’ll pay tribute to Robbie Robertson and The Band with a concert by The Weight Band. Tonight, however, we have the #1 blues singer on Planet Earth. Welcome Shemekia Copeland and her band!”
Guitarists Arthur Neilson and Ken “Willie” Scandlyn, bassist Kevin Jenkins, and drummer Robin Gould take the stage and open tonight’s show with a short set of tunes including “Blow, Wind, Blow” by celebrated blues artist Muddy Waters. Following Waters’ “I’m Ready,” Neilson announces, “And, now, the reason you really came here tonight — I’ve been with her for 25 1/2 years; she’s an amazing person and a great mom — Miss Shemekia Copeland!”
Greeting the crowd, Copeland exclaims, “It’s so good to be here!” before performing “Walk Around Heaven,” where she sings in her bluesy voice, “Now they tell me the streets of heaven/Are paved with diamonds and gold/I may not get there but if I do/I believe I’ll take off my shoes/Gonna walk around heaven.” Accompanied by Scandlyn on slide guitar, Copeland steps to the music as the band simmers on this appealing blues number.
The crowd cheers, and Copeland says, “Thank you for coming out tonight!” before sailing into “Clotilda’s On Fire.” Singing with passion and expression, Copeland’s distinctive voice cries out on this story song about a notorious slave ship and its human cargo.
Acknowledging, “I started making records to bring people together after I had my son,” Copeland sings “Ain’t Got Time For Hate.” Heads bop to Kevin Jenkins’ funky bass line and Scandlyn’s slide guitar as Copeland preaches her timely message with her voice.
The crowd responds with cheers and applause, and Copeland responds, “It’s all about love here, and this next song is about love. Are you ready for some blues?” Here, Copeland and the band slow things down on “It’s My Own Tears.” As Neilson plays an arpeggiated tremolo guitar part, Copeland passionately belts out the blues. On his solo, Neilson’s guitar cries as he bends his strings and elicits cheers from the crowd.
Joking, “I am the Susan Lucci of the Grammys” — because she’s been nominated five times without a win — Copeland explains that her latest album, Done Come Too Far, was released the day her mother died, asking the crowd, “Can you help me pay tribute to my mom?” Here, Copeland gets concertgoers waving back and forth and echo-singing with her on the bluesy “Nobody But You.”
She follows up with the inspirational country swing tune, “Walk Until I Ride” where Scandlyn solos with a wah-wah pedal before playing slide guitar. After asking, “Should we go to church a little bit?” Copeland shakes her tambourine and the arrangement shifts into an upbeat gospel number where music lovers stand and one even bows to Copeland who announces, “She’s been coming to see me since I was 19, and now I’m 44,” joking, “She’s a ‘repeat offender’ who just keeps coming back!”
Performing a song she recorded with one of her favorite artists, John Prine, Copeland sizzles on “Great Rain,” a blues number where Scandlyn plays a slide guitar solo, Neilson picks out a rock solo, and Jenkins fills in with his tasty bass licks.
Crying guitars start off “Too Far to be Gone,” a tune which features Copeland demonstrating her vocal range on this number with a down and dirty driving rock beat.
After revealing, “I’m a bit of a rebel — I’m unapologetically myself,” Copeland performs the humorous, “Fell in Love with a Honky” — a song about which Copeland explains, “My son got in trouble last year in kindergarten for singing this song and I had to explain to the teacher that by day, I’m Mommy, but by night, I’m a singer of inappropriate songs!”
Dedicating her next number, “Has Anybody Seen My Man,” to Koko Taylor, Copeland shimmies to the rhythm as her strong vocal shines on this bluesy two-step. Neilsen and Scandlyn duel downstage bending strings and slicing their guitars in the air as they play.
Copeland sings “Gullah Gullah Geechee/From across the sea/Gullah Gullah Geechee/Still trying to be free” on “Gullah Geechee,” a raw and powerful tune with a spiritual feel. After exclaiming, “I want to take you all to Grandma Jessie’s church!” Copeland performs “Stand Up and Testify.”
Three part harmonies ring out before she and the group march into the extended gospel ending where Copeland cries, “Oh, yeah, are you with me Atlantic City? If you’re with me I want you to stand up and testify!” and the audience stands, sings, and dances to the heavenly vibe coming from the stage.
Concertgoers whistle and cheer, and Copeland announces, “My dad wrote this song 60 years ago, but it’s still relevant today.” Shifting into the slow and bluesy “Ghetto Child,” Copeland cries out on her vocal, “Somebody, somebody somewhere/Somebody, please, won’t you give a dime?” Neilson plays arpeggios while Scandlyn solos, and then Scandlyn strums while Neilson shreds a solo. In a stunning change of pace, Copeland sings off mic as she comes downstage to be as close as possible to her audience.
Her full voice both carries and connects with the crowd and inspires music lovers to call out comments like “Talk to us!” and “Sing it, baby!” before Shemekia returns to the mic to finish the song, performing with her entire body.
The crowd explodes with hoots, hollers, cheers, and applause as Copeland takes leave of the stage declaring, “Thank you so much. We love you all!” prior to returning for an encore where she and the band play the upbeat rocker, “It’s 2 A.M,” to the standing, adoring crowd.
To learn more about Shemekia Copeland, please go to shemekiacopeland.com. For information on future free Mardi Gras AC concerts on the Atlantic City Boardwalk at Kennedy Plaza — including The Weight Band on August 23, LaBamba’s Big Band with Billy Walton on August 30, and Cyril Neville with Omari Neville and The Fuel along with The Ocean Avenue Stompers on September 6 — please click on tonymart.com.
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