Shemekia Copeland
Shemekia Copeland Website >>
At a young age, Shemekia Copeland is already a force to be reckoned with in the blues. While still in her 20s, she’s opened for the Rolling Stones, headlined at the Chicago Blues Festival and numerous festivals around the world, scored critics choice awards on both sides of the Atlantic (The New York Times and The Times of London) and shared the stage with such luminaries as Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Taj Mahal and John Mayer. Heir to the rich tradition of soul-drenched divas like Ruth Brown, Etta James and Koko Taylor, Copeland’s shot at the eventual title of Queen of the Blues is pretty clear. By some standards, she is already there.
Copeland’s passion for singing, matched with her huge, blast-furnace voice, gives her music a timeless power and a heart-pounding urgency. Her music comes from deep within her soul and from the streets where she grew up, surrounded by the everyday sounds of the city – street performers, gospel singers, blasting radios, bands in local parks and so much more.
Born in Harlem, New York, in 1979, Copeland actually came to her singing career slowly. Her father, the late Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Clyde Copeland, recognized his daughter’s talent early on. He always encouraged her to sing at home, and even brought her on stage to sing at Harlem’s famed Cotton Club when she was just eight. At the time, Shemekia’s embarrassment outweighed her desire to sing. But when she was fifteen and her father’s health began to fail, her outlook changed. “It was like a switch went off in my head, and I wanted to sing,” she says. “It became a want and a need. I had to do it.”
At only 19, Shemekia stepped out of her father’s shadow with the Alligator release of 1998 debut recording, Turn the Heat Up!, and the critics raved. The Village Voice called her “nothing short of uncanny,” while the Boston Globe proclaimed that “she roars with a sizzling hot intensity.” A year later, she appeared in the Motion Picture Three To Tango, while her song I Always Get My Man, was featured in the film Broken Hearts Club.
Her second album, Wicked, released in 2000, scored three Handy Awards (Song of the Year, Blues Album of the Year, Contemporary Female Artist of the Year) and a GRAMMY nomination. Two years later, New Orleans R&B legend Dr. John stepped in to produce her third recording, Talking To Strangers (2002), which Vibe called “a masterful blend of ballsy rockers and cheeky ballads.”
Copeland released The Soul Truth in 2005. The album was produced by legendary Stax guitarist Steve Cropper (who also played on the CD), and featured generous doses of blues, funk and Memphis-flavored soul.
She joined Telarc International for the February 2009 release of Never Going Back. This new chapter in the Shemekia Copeland story represents a crossroads on her ongoing artistic journey – a place where numerous new avenues are open to her. While she 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.
“I’ve had success in my career, and I’m happy with that,” she says. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to continue to grow. In order for an artist to grow – and for a genre to grow – you have to do new things. I’m extremely proud to say I’m a blues singer, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only thing I’m capable of singing, or that’s the only style of music I’m capable of making.”
She adds: “I want to keep growing. My main goal when I started this was that I was going to do something different with this music, so that this music could evolve and grow. I got that idea from my father. He didn’t do the typical one-four-five blues. He went to Africa and worked with musicians there. He was one of the first blues artists to do that. I want to be the same way. I want to be innovative with the blues.”
- 2010 – Blues Blast Music Awards: Best Female Blues Artist
- 2010 – Living Blues Reader Award: Female Blues Artist of the Year
- 2009 – 57th Annual “DownBeat” Critics Poll: Shemekia named “Rising Star – Blues Artist”
- 2007 Blues Music Award Nominations: (formerly the W.C. Handy Blues Awards): Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year
Lucky Peterson
Lucky Peterson on MySpace >>
Blues legend Lucky Peterson plays contemporary blues, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. Peterson was a child prodigy on the keyboards, discovered by legendary blues musician Willie Dixon when he was three. Two years later, Peterson had recorded his first album, which included the single “1-2-3-4.” That song landed him on the Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Now a true blues veteran Lucky has played to audiences all over the world, dazzling both fans and critics with his multi-instrumental talents (he plays keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and trumpet), and his soulful vocal style and his youthful approach to the blues.
Chicago’s Reader raved, “His musicianship is unassailable…a combination of sleek-handed dexterity and imagination…a happy marriage of blues authenticity and foot-pleasing danceability. This is a young musician of unlimited enthusiasm and nearly unlimited potential having the time of his life and excelling at every stop along the way.”
Lucky honed his instrumental skills by learning from and jamming with some of the best blues players in the world. When Little Milton’s band came up short an organ player one night, Milton asked the then 17-year-old Lucky to sit in. One gig was all it took for Milton to fall in love with Lucky’s playing. He asked Lucky to join the band permanently. After seven months, Lucky had become Milton’s bandleader, Lucky’s three-year stint with Milton led to an equally long gig with Bobby “Blue” Bland as Bobby’s featured soloist.
His funky keyboards sparked Kenny Neal’s Big New from Baton Rouge!, Rufus Thomas’ That Woman Is Poison! and Lazy Lester’s Harp And Soul, which were all released by Alligator Records. In 1989, Alligator released Lucky’s third solo outing, Lucky Strikes! Lucky co-wrote three songs for the album and played all of the keyboard parts and all but one of the guitar solos.
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Kenny Neal
Kenny Neal Website >>
Kenny Neal was born in 1957 in New Orleans and raised in Baton Rouge. He began playing music at a young age. Learning the basics from his father, singer and blues harmonica master, Raful Neal. Kenny is known as a modern swamp-blues master and multi-instrumentalist, drawing musically from the sizzling sounds of his native Louisiana. Family friends like Lazy Lester, Buddy Guy and Slim Harpo also contributed to Kenny’s early musical education. In fact, it was Harpo who gave the crying three-year-old a harmonica to pacify him. Kenny stopped crying that day, and eventually learned to play the harmonica. Along the way, he also mastered the bass, trumpet, piano and guitar. At 13, he joined his father’s band and began paying his musical dues. Four years later, he was recruited and toured extensively as Buddy Guy’s bass player.
Following Buddy’s advice to concentrate on his guitar playing, Kenny relocated to Toronto, and along with his brothers Raful, Jr., Noel, Larry and Ronnie – formed the Neal Brothers Band, honing his chops backing up visiting blues stars. Through the years, he has shared the stage or worked with a who’s-who list of blues and R&B greats at one time or another, including B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Muddy Waters, Aaron Neville, Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker. Later, he fronted Canada’s Downchild Blues Band, before returning to Baton Rouge to begin his solo career.
Kenny Neal is an acclaimed multi-instrumentalist. His recent release, Hooked On Your Love, follows the triumph of his multi-award winning 2008 comeback album, Let Life Flow. An outstanding success, the CD raked in the accolades: three prestigious Album Of The Year awards, two Song of The Year awards for the title track, and Kenny himself garnered two Artist of the Year honors.
Signing with Alligator Records in 1988, Kenny began releasing a series of consistently lauded albums featuring his laid-back, Baton Rouge blues, with a modern spin on the Louisiana sound he grew up with. Throughout this period, Kenny distinguished himself as one of the brightest prospects of the contemporary blues scene, receiving great critical acclaim in the process. The Chicago Tribune pegged Kenny as “one of a mere handful of truly inventive young contemporary guitarists, Neal has something fresh to say and the chops with which to say it,” while AllMusic said his “gruff-before-their-time vocals retain their swamp sensibility, while assuming a bright contemporary feel that tabs him as a leading contender for blues stardom.” Blues Revue agreed, calling Kenny “one of the brightest stars on the blues horizon, and a gifted artist.”
Some of Kenny Neal’s awards and nominations:
- 2011 Inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
- 2011 Jus’ Blues Music Foundation Contemporary/Traditional Blues Song Of The Year-Hooked on Your Love
- 2011 Critic’s Poll Living Blues Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album of the Year
- 2009 Monterey Bay Blues (M.O.B.B.A.Y.) Artist of the Year Award
Henri Smith & New Orleans Friends & Flavours
Henri Smith New Orleans Friends & Flavours Website >>
Henri Smith was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, the birthplace of jazz; there he polished his sophisticated and dramatic vocal delivery. Then he took it on the road and thrilled audiences with his New Orleans jazz, blues, Creole and Cajun flavored music while touring the United States and Europe. For over 14 years Henri was a radio personality on the New Orleans jazz station WWOZ 90.7 FM. He frequently performed and served as the emcee at “The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival”, (the largest Jazz Fest in the world).
Henri Smith’s debut CD titled “Henri Smith New Orleans Friends & Flavours” was produced in New Orleans with an All-Star band of famous musicians.
Hurricane Katrina wiped out his home in New Orleans and he ended up moving north, to the seacoast of Cape Ann, where he now lives and shares his Creole and Cajun heritage with the kind people of New England. It is yet another stark reminder that from a city below sea level, that has seen so much tragedy and suffering since Hurricane Katrina, that the spirit of New Orleans will always prevail through the superb performance of Henri Smith, a true ambassador of the city of New Orleans!
Henri now tours at up-scale clubs, restaurants, lounges, theaters, hotels, and festivals all over New England and in New Orleans with his All-Star Jazz, Blues, Creole and Cajun Band called “Henri Smith New Orleans Friends & Flavours” (it’s named after his album).
While touring New England Henri Smith has shared the stage with the James Montgomery Blues Band, Roomful of Blues, Charles Neville (of the Neville Brothers), The Chris Fitz Band, the Hurricane Horns with Craig Rawring, Lisa Marie and All Shook, Grace Kelly, Stanton Davis Jr. and the Ghetto Mysticism Revival, River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs, the Davis and Deleault Quartet, the Tony Gallo Band and others.
Henri’s back-up band is an ever-changing lineup of professional musician friends who appear as special guest performers, both live and on his recordings. They include: Amadee Castenell, Jr (saxophone & flute), Charles Neville (of the Neville Brothers, saxophone), Andrew Clark (saxophone, clarinet & flute), Christian Contreras (saxophone), Kermit Ruffins (vocals & trumpet), Stanton Davis, Jr. (trumpet & composer), Jerry Sabatini (trumpet), Patriq Moody (trumpet), Wendell Brunious (fluegel horn), Danny Heath (trombone & vocals), Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen (tuba), Frank Wilkins (piano), Thaddeus Richard (piano), Jason Marsalis (vibraphone), Herman Hampton (Berklee Associate Professor, bass), Dr. Nicholas White (bass), Roland Guerin (bass), Kevin Morris (bass), Rick Maida (bass), Tucker Linquist (blues harp & guitar), Tom Yates (guitar), Stanley C. Swann III (drums), David Hurst (drums), John Loud (drums), Jerry Anderson (drums), Andrew Jones (drums), Bill Summers (dongas), and many others who are very well versed in Henri’s unique style of music.
Henri also uses his powerful baritone voice to sing the national anthem for the Boston Celtics basketball team.
Henri Smith’s repertoire encompasses the cultural heritage of New Orleans flavored with jazz, blues, Creole, Cajun, funk, rhythm & blues, Calypso, Caribbean, Latin, and swing. Performing songs popularized by Louis Armstrong, Dr. John, Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, Paul Barbarin, Earl King, and Big Chief Donald Harrison.
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Eddie Shaw & the Wolf Gang
Eddie Shaw & the Wolf Gang Website >>
Blues saxophonist extraordinaire Eddie Shaw was born on a Stringtown plantation in 1937. He learned music at school in Greenville and performed in various local bands before moving to Chicago to join the Muddy Waters band. Shaw served as bandleader for Howlin’ Wolf for several years and launched his own busy touring career after Wolf’s death in 1976. His hard-hitting horn work won him Instrumentalist of the Year honors in the 2006 and 2007 Blues Music Awards. Eddie Shaw earned international acclaim as one of the few saxophonists to ever build an enduring career leading a blues band.
Shaw more or less divided the tenor saxophone duties with A.C. Reed. In 1972 he joined Howlin’ Wolf, leading his band, the Wolf Gang, and writing half the songs on The Back Door Wolf (1973). After the singer’s death in 1976 he took over the band and its residency at the 1815 Club; renamed Eddie’s Place. Shaw led the gang on Living Chicago Blues Vol. 1 and Have Blues – Will Travel (1980), and recorded albums in different company for Isabel Records, Rooster Blues, and Wolf Records.
By the late 1970s, Shaw’s own recording career started, with an appearance on Alligator Records’ Living Chicago Blues anthologies (1978), his own LPs for Evidence and Rooster Blues, and more recent discs for Rooster Blues (In the Land of the Crossroads) and Wolf (Home Alone).
Shaw’s many contributions to the blues include arranging tracks for the London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions (which featured Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman, Ringo Starr and others) and performing with a list of blues notables that included Hound Dog Taylor, Freddie King, Otis Rush and Magic Sam (on his Black Magic album).
MORE >>Dikki Du & the Zydeco Krewe
Dikki Du & the Zydeco Krewe website >>
Dikki Du (Troy Carrier) was born in 1969 in Church Point, Louisiana and discovered his love for zydeco music at the tender age of nine. After school he would get together with his brother Chubby, sister Elaine and father Roy to play zydeco music. At the age of twelve Troy moved to a little town called “Lawtell”, where his father had owned the Offshore Lounge for over fifteen years.
Troy played the washboard for Roy Carrier, his father, on local gigs; he then joined forces with the great C.J. Chenier for two years. Troy’s brother Chubby Carrier then started a family band and offered Troy a job playing the drums. Troy toured with his brother from the late 80′s until the 90′s, when he returned home to pick up the accordion.
It has now been eight years that Dikki Du and the Zydeco Krewe have been on the scene. Dikki Du has incorporated his musical heritage with unique experience to create one of the most innovative zydeco groups around. His original funky and hypnotic zydeco style announces that he has arrived, occupying a spot on par with the best. “Personally the triple row is the sound that I like the best”. says Dikki Du. He takes songs from classic zydeco and turns the inside out with fresh and funky renditions driving it to the next level. The Krewe’s innovations revitalize zydeco charging it for years to come.
What a sound!!! Dikki and the Krewe stretch out songs and it is great to dance to, as well as to listen to. Hard driving and relentless is the theme all night. It’s just funky as can be with nice polyrhythmic grooves going around the stage, and out onto the dance floor.
Intense and fascinating accordion action coupled to melodic vocals means Dikki Du is guaranteed to entertain. You will enjoy their hard driving funky zydeco, and love the dance steps performed by the band as they entertain on stage.
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