Shemekia Copeland Receives Grammy Award Nomination

Blues/soul/roots singing sensation Shemekia Copeland's new CD, Outskirts Of Love,received a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Blues Album category from the Recording Academy on Monday, December 7. Winners will be announced in Los Angeles on February 15, 2016. This is Copeland's third Grammy nomination. Copeland, the reigning "Queen Of The Blues," also appears on Muddy Waters 100, a various artists tribute album also nominated for Best Blues Album.

The outstanding Shemekia Copeland news does not end with the Grammy Award nomination. The prestigious United Kingdom publication The Blues named Outskirts Of Love its 2015 Album Of The Year. In the magazine's review of the record, writer Rev. Keith Gordon says, "Shemekia Copeland is one of the best singers performing today. A rich blend of blues, soul and roots-rock that will astound the casual listener while rewarding Copeland's longtime fans. Pure joy." Editor Ed Mitchell calls it "a mature masterpiece of modern blues."

Copeland’s return to Alligator Records with Outskirts Of Love (she recorded four albums for the label from 1998 through 2006) finds her at her most charismatic. She mixes freshly written material with thrilling reinventions of songs originally recorded by Solomon Burke, ZZ Top, Jesse Winchester, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jesse Mae Hemphill and her father, the late Johnny Clyde Copeland. MOJO magazine says, "It is Copeland’s thrilling voice, part Koko Taylor, part Mavis Staples and capable of incredible expression, that makes Outskirts Of Love so super-special. Spectacular, stirring, sanctified and sassy…at the crossroads where funk meets blues rock. Her band, led by producer Oliver Wood, and featuring guests Billy F Gibbons, Robert Randolph, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Will Kimbrough, is faultless throughout."