Shemekia Copeland

“Shemekia Copeland has established herself as one of the leading blues artists of our time. Profound and truly powerful…inviting you to think and to party.” –NPR Music



“Shemekia Copeland gets her message across loud and clear. She transcends with a mix of styles including gospel, rock, blues, soul, and Americana, proudly representing her generation with style and grace in a voice too strong to be ignored.” –No Depression

Shemekia Copeland possesses one of the most instantly recognizable and deeply soulful roots music voices of our time. The multi-GRAMMY nominee is beloved and honored worldwide for the fearlessness, honesty and humor of her revelatory songs, as well as for her winning, engaging personality. The Chicago Tribune says, “Copeland is the greatest female blues vocalist working today. There’s no mistaking the majesty of her instrument, nor the ferocity of her delivery.”


On Copeland’s new album, Blame It On Eve, the songs all hit hard, with jaw-dropping performances that instantly take hold and command repeated listening. “There’s serious business on the new album,” Copeland says, “but there are a lot of smiles here too, a lot of joyous moments. It’s my blues for sure but it’s the brighter side. Issues are always important to me, but so is rocking, dancing and just having fun. And that’s something we all can all agree on.”


Blame It On Eve was recorded in Nashville and produced by instrumentalist/songwriter Will Kimbrough (who also produced her previous three albums). It features 12 new songs that tackle subjects as important as a woman’s right to choose and climate change, but also leaves space for Copeland to have fun and unwind. From the autobiographical, rocking blues boogie “Tough Mother” to the anthemic title track’s good-humored but serious focus on reproductive self-determination to the happy hour of “Wine O’Clock,” Copeland is inspired throughout.


Famed multi-instrumentalist Jerry Douglas adds his dobro to the fascinating, true story of “Tee Tot Payne,” the obscure early 20th century Alabama musician who taught Hank Williams the blues, and sacred steel player DaShawn Hickman brings his magic to the feisty and uplifting “Tell The Devil.” Shemekia’s friend, roots-rocker Alejandro Escovedo, joins in on the anguished, celestial query “Is There Anybody Up There?.” On the sad lover’s tale “Belle Sorciere,” Copeland sings the chorus in French, with the haunting melody composed by Pascal Danae of the Paris-based band Delgres (who were recently featured on the cover of Rolling Stone France). Copeland’s blistering, deep blues delivery of “Down On Bended Knee”—by her late father, the great bluesman Johnny Copeland—sets up the thought-provoking closer “Heaven Help Us All,” a song originally made famous first by Stevie Wonder and later by Ray Charles. Taken as a whole, the passionate, charismatic, joyous and at times confrontational Blame It On Eve is bound to become among the most celebrated releases of Copeland’s impressive, still-unfolding career.

Born and raised in Harlem in 1979, Shemekia Copeland first stepped on stage with her famous father at New York’s Cotton Club when she was eight. Upon release of her Alligator Records debut Turn The Heat Up in 1998 when she was only 18, Copeland instantly became a blues and R&B force to be reckoned with. The New York Times and CNN, among many others, praised her talent, larger-than-life personality, dynamic, authoritative voice and true star power. With each subsequent release, Copeland’s music continued to evolve. From her debut through 2005’s The Soul Truth, Shemekia earned eight Blues Music Awards and a host of Living Blues Awards. 2000’s Wicked received the first of her five GRAMMY nominations. After two successful releases on Telarc (including 2012’s GRAMMY-nominated 33 1/3), Copeland returned to Alligator Records in 2015 with the GRAMMY-nominated, Blues Music Award-winning Outskirts Of Love, melding blues with more rootsy, Americana sounds.

With 2018’s America’s Child, Copeland brought out the first of her celebrated trilogy of albums concerning the state of the world, sung from her perspective as a young, Black woman and new mother. MOJO magazine named America’s Child the #1 blues release of 2018. It won both the Blues Music Award and the Living Blues Award for Album Of The Year. In addition to earning a GRAMMY Award nomination, Copeland’s groundbreaking 2020 follow-up, Uncivil War, was named the 2020 Blues Album Of The Year by DownBeat, MOJO and Living Blues magazines. “Shemekia Copeland is a powerhouse,” said Rolling Stone. “She can do no wrong.” She received her fifth GRAMMY nomination for Done Come Too Far, which closed the trilogy with a searing set of truth-to-power, rock and Hill Country blues-fueled songs. “Shemekia Copeland is an antidote to artifice,” said The Philadelphia Inquirer. “She is a commanding presence, a powerhouse vocalist delivering the truth.” 


Copeland has performed thousands of gigs at clubs, festivals and concert halls all over the world, and has appeared in films, on national television, NPR, and has been the subject of major feature stories in hundreds of magazines, newspapers and internet publications. She’s sung with Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, Carlos Santana, Dr. John, James Cotton and many others, and has shared a bill with The Rolling Stones. She entertained U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait in 2008, a trip she says, “that opened my eyes to the larger world around me and my place in it.” In 2012, she performed with B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Buddy Guy, Trombone Shorty, Gary Clark, Jr. and others at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama. She has showcased on PBS’s Austin City Limits, was featured in a six-minute story on the PBS News Hour and was the subject of a major Washington Post Sunday magazine piece. In April 2022, she performed at the United Nations General Assembly Hall to a worldwide audience of millions as part of International Jazz Day celebrations. In 2023, Copeland guested on the GRAMMY Award-winning compilation album, Basie Swings The Blues, on the Candid label. She continues to receive regular radio airplay on stations all over the globe. Additionally, Copeland hosts her own popular daily blues radio show on SiriusXM’s Bluesville. 


Forbes declared, “Shemekia is fearless, honest and hopeful…she holds back nothing as she delivers hard-hitting musical truths.” The late John Prine paid her a huge compliment when he said, “She simply doesn’t sound like anybody else.” And none other than Copeland’s friend, the legendary Mavis Staples, announced, “I am so happy Shemekia is delivering these songs that the world needs to hear. Her voice is strong and soulful, and her message comes from her heart.”

With Blame It On Eve, Copeland embarks on what she calls “a vacation from all the heaviness.” Blame It On Eve contains plenty of Copeland’s trademark bold and courageous songs, but here Copeland is also looking to unplug from the weight of world. “My last three records have dealt with breaking news,” she says. “This record is for people like me who want a break from the news.”

Sam Hooper is a captivating American musician from Cleveland. His alluring blend of blues, rock, jazz and funk has thrilled audiences in China, Switzerland, Finland, Japan and the USA. His soulful vocals have been compared to Otis Redding, while critics have likened his blistering guitar playing to Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana.

WINNER of the 2018 Northeast Ohio Blues Association, (NEOBA) BLUES CHALLENGE, Sam Hooper Group were Semifinalists in the The International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis, TN, January, 2019.

Hooper’s love for the blues came through hearing the blues/rock that was popular in his high school years. His first listen to “Red House” on Jimi Hendrix’s Smash Hits album was a turning point. It peaked his interest to dig deeper. He discovered the music’s rich history through records by Lightnin’ Hopkins, Lead Belly, Son House, John Lee Hooker and others that he borrowed from the library. He would slow them down to catch the phrasing. He’d also take empty liquor bottles to the hardware store and have the necks cut off so he could use them to play slide guitar.

A graduate of Florida’s University of Miami School of Music and an alumni of Berklee College of Music’s Songwriting Program in Boston, Hooper is also an experienced educator. Most recently, he joined Roots of American Music (ROAM) in Cleveland as a Teaching Artist. In this position, he lead classes of high school students in writing and performing songs together about diversity and intolerance. He has taught guitar privately for over 10 years in Cleveland, Boston, Los Angeles and Shanghai to students from five years old to adults. He also teaches beginning ukulele, piano and vocal lessons. In Beijing, China, he and his bandmates each conducted master classes at the contemporary music college, Beijing Midi School. Hooper served as a music teacher and staff assistant for the Shaker Heights Youth Center’s summer program for elementary students in 2009. There, he taught the class songs that they sang together. In 2012, Hooper was a music counselor at New York’s Camp Jam, guiding youth 11-17 years old in writing, recording, and performing their own songs.

Hooper has also performed internationally for Princess and P&O Cruise Lines.

With five CDs released on the FBJoy Records label, Hooper’s songs have been heard by millions on the hot daytime TV Dramas All My Children and The Young and the Restless.

Hooper’s newest CD, Sam Hooper and Mike Null – HOODOO BLUES, was the WINNER for 2015 BEST SELF-PRODUCED CD in the Cleveland Blues Society’s annual International Blues Challenge competition. On the recording, Hooper and Null give fresh life to treasures by Junior Wells, Albert Collins, ZZ Top, and John Lee Hooker and introduce a new Sam Hooper original. Ted Drozdowski of Nashville Scene said of the CD, “Without eschewing the gritty soul of traditional blues, guitarists Hooper and Null break stereotypes by sidestepping standard shuffles and stomps for fresh takes on classic tunes that buoy their sweet molasses vocal performances with jazz informed chord changes, rhythms and melodies. And Hooper’s original, “Itching To Be Your Man” has the hip, sophisticated vibe of a lost Mose Allison gem.”

Hooper and Null met in China in 2010 when Hooper was a special guest and Null led the house band celebrating the Fifteenth Anniversary of Shanghai’s legendary House of Blues and Jazz. A perennial crowd favorite, Sam Hooper Group has performed over 300 shows at the venue.

Sam Hooper Group has opened for American blues greats Shemekia Copeland, Coco Montoya, Ronnie Earl, Curtis Salgado, Samantha Fish, Matthew Curry, Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson, John Nemeth, Walter Trout and also for England’s Number One Blues Guitarist, Matt Schofield.

The group has showcased at New York City’s Soul of the Blues Festival and Alabama’s W.C. Handy Music Festival. Sam Hooper Group was a finalist in Boston’s “Battle of the Blues Bands.” Hooper has toured as a featured performer in Chinese recording artist Zhu Ming Ying’s “Dream of an Artist” tour, playing in front of over 84,000 people in 14 cities in China. In 2009, Hooper won the “King of the Blues” competition hosted by Guitar Center’s Cerritos, CA store. A documentary of Hooper’s musical journey was produced by a Boston area Cable TV provider and can now be enjoyed on youtube.com.

After years in Boston and Los Angeles, Hooper returned to his hometown roots in Cleveland seven years ago. He and his new bandmates have been winning over new fans with performances at popular locations including Nighttown, Beachland Ballroom and Tavern, House of Blues, Bop Stop, Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern, Hard Rock Rocksino, JACK Thistledown Racino, Music Box Supper Club, The Winchester Music Tavern, internationally renowned Tri-C JazzFest, and on TV’s FOX 8 Morning Show.

“a soulful singer …fiery, virtuoso guitar” – Joel Simches, The Noise