November-December 2005 Newsletter

• Blues in the Schools •
• On the Waterfront 2005 •
• Berghoff Blues •
• Jason Ricci review •
• Candye Kane review •
• Shemekia Copeland review •
• Ana Popvic review •
• Sista Monica review •
• Walter Trout review •

The Soul Truth

Shemekia Copeland

Alligator Records

 www.alligator.com

12 tracks/47:42

Alligator pulled out all of the stops on this recording. They brought in the legendary Steve Cropper to produce the sessions and add some of his soulful guitar licks. Other notable participants include Felix Cavaliere (The Rascals) on organ, Chuck Leavell on keyboards, Jim Horn on saxophone and the Muscle Shoal Horns. Copeland is not at all intimidated by this auspicious gathering of talent. Her vocals cover the gamut from a whisper to full shout with ease. On every track she sings with confidence and emotional depth. As the producer, Cropper surrounds her efforts with a musical backdrop that steers the singer into a more soulful vein and pushes Copeland to demonstrate the complete extent of her vocal talent.

The disc opens with the driving “Breaking Out” with Shemekia proclaiming her independence from her no-good man re-enforced by blasts from the Memphis Horns. The next track is “Who Stole My Radio”, the type of tune that you used to hear over the airwaves all summer long. In fact the lyrics are a lament about the wealth of great artists that once filled radio before the corporate programmers took over. After these tracks, the disc starts to lose some of its power. The majority of the songs were co-written by John Hahn, Copeland’s manager. He must have composed most of the lyrics as the songs typically feature a series of simple phrases strung together that fail to tell a story on anything but the most basic level. When Copeland gets material of more lyrical depth, she delivers outstanding performances as on the soul ballad “Strong Enough”. Listen to her dig into “Something Heavy” from the pen of the late Eddie Hinton accompanied only by Cropper’s guitar. Another highlight is her duet with Dobie Gray on “Used”, a reflection on life’s impact on relationships.

This could have been a standout classic. Copeland sings her heart out on every cut. Cropper and the other musicians inject something special into each musical arrangement. If all of the material had been up to the standards of the other aspects of this recording, we’d be talking about this one well into the New Year.