Blues music thrives on live interaction between performer and audience, but for nearly a year and a half, that’s been in short supply. Clubs are caught between “waiting to reopen” and “slowly coming back,” and Millennium Park has been largely quiet—for two Junes running, the city has canceled the Chicago Blues Festival. Our blues artists […]
Tag: Shemekia Copeland
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Ravinia announces its 2019 season
This summer’s Highland Park highlights include Queen Latifah, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Michael McDonald and Chaka Khan, Kesha, T.I., Buddy Guy, Jennifer Hudson, and Lyle Lovett.
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Shemekia Copeland takes on a wealth of social issues on the hard-driving America’s Child
When 19-year-old Shemekia Copeland exploded onto the blues scene in 1998 with Turn the Heat Up (Alligator), the reaction was immediate: adjectives like “sizzling,” “storming,” and “incendiary” began following her around like starstruck groupies; some reviewers even dragged relics like the dreaded “red-hot blues mama” out of storage to describe her. Overheated as some of […]
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The weekend’s best blues beyond the fest
Millennium Park hardly has a monopoly on the blues this weekend—outside the fest you can see Shemekia Copeland, John Primer, Selwyn Birchwood, and many more.
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The Reader’s guide to the 2016 Chicago Blues Festival
This year’s Chicago Blues Festival bustles with a diversity of traditions and talents—including Irma Thomas, Lazy Lester, Wee Willie Walker, John Primer, and tributes to Otis Rush and Otis Clay.
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The Reader’s guide to the 32nd annual Chicago Blues Festival
More people turn out for Blues Fest than for Pitchfork and Lollapalooza combined—and here are a couple dozen reasons why, including Syl Johnson, Shemekia Copeland, Clarence Carter, Chick Rodgers, and Buddy Guy.
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Best shows to see: Robert Glasper, Nipsey Hussle, Shemekia Copeland, Sleeping Bag
Best shows to see on Thu 1/16 through Sun 1/19.
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Blues singer Shemekia Copeland lays waste to the competition, including her own band
Shemekia Copeland deserves material worth her monumental talent, but she doesn’t get it on her latest album.
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Chicago Folk & Roots Festival
The Old Town School of Folk Music throws its annual blowout, with performances by the Budos Band, Etran Finatawa, Red Baraat, Shemekia Copeland, and others.
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Folk & Roots Lineup Announced
The Old Town School announces the lineup for this year’s Folk & Roots festival, and it’s much improved over last year, with Etran Finatawa, the Budos Band, Samba Mapangala and the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, Shemekia Copeland, Red Baraat, and more.
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A pair of big voices on Friday
Young English soul singer Alice Russell and New Jersey blues belter Shemekia Copeland are both playing concerts in Chicago on Friday night, Russell at Schubas and Copeland at the Old Town School.