{"id":7958,"date":"2012-11-11T14:46:13","date_gmt":"2012-11-11T21:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=7958"},"modified":"2012-11-11T14:46:13","modified_gmt":"2012-11-11T21:46:13","slug":"shemekia-copeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2012\/11\/shemekia-copeland\/","title":{"rendered":"SHEMEKIA COPELAND"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

SHEMEKIA COPELAND<\/strong><\/h1>\n
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Belief in the power of song drives this vocalist\u2019s musical mission<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Shemekia Copeland sits in her hotel room in Harlem, counting down the minutes until she begins a spate of interviews to discuss her new album, 33 1\/3<\/em>. Her husky voice betrays a bit of anxiety knowing that the public is about to hear her latest. \u201cI\u2019m sitting here thinking \u2018Wow! My album is out today.\u2019 And I\u2019m in Harlem, my old stomping ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since she was a young girl, singing at Harlem\u2019s famed Cotton Club with her father, blues guitar legend Johnny Clyde Copeland, Shemekia\u2019s been on a musical mission. That only intensified when she was 15 and her dad\u2019s health wavered. If anything, his illness and death intensified her desire to carry on his legacy. \u201cI\u2019m not aspiring to become rich, to become a millionaire,\u201d says Copeland, 33, whose high-profile performances have included singing at the White House. \u201cI\u2019m aspiring to become a legend. That is more important to me than flashy success. I am here for the long haul. You don\u2019t get into this genre to become a big, rich millionaire. You get into it for the love of music. I\u2019ve always felt that way since I was a baby. And\u00a0these songs are my babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Copeland writes, she doesn\u2019t consider herself a songwriter. But she takes pride selecting the best songs. The lead track on 33 1\/3<\/em>, \u201cLemon Pie,\u201d in which Copeland\u2019s vocals drip with sorrow over the plight of the working poor, was written by her long-time manager John Hahn and producer\/guitarist Oliver Wood of the famed Wood Brothers. It strikes such a personal chord in Copeland that she recorded her vocals in one take. \u201cI\u2019ve known John Hahn since I was 8,\u201d she says. \u201cWe talk every day\u2014about how musicians are one gig away from poverty, people in regular jobs are one paycheck away from poverty. It\u2019s so sad that our ancestors built this country on their backs for the American dream and now we\u2019re on a downward spiral.\u201d<\/p>\n

What sets Copeland\u2019s music apart is that the 11 songs on the album detail her views on elitism, poverty, abuse, violence and religion. \u201cThere are so many artists who say \u2018I\u2019ve got to have a radio song. I\u2019ve got to win this award,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cI never think about songs that way. I am trying to give a message about faith and hard work and values. I\u2019m trying to do that with the music I love. I want to make music that might change somebody\u2019s life. I want to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Nancy Dunham<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHEMEKIA COPELAND Belief in the power of song drives this vocalist\u2019s musical mission Shemekia Copeland sits in her hotel room in Harlem, counting down the minutes until she begins a spate of interviews to discuss her new album, 33 1\/3. Her husky voice betrays a bit of anxiety knowing that the public is about to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[5321,5322,5320,5323,5324,5077,5319],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7960,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7958\/revisions\/7960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}