Shemekia Copeland – Uncivil War
Format: CD
Label: Alligator Records
Release: 2020
Release Date October 23, 2020
With ‘UNCIVIL WAR’, Shemekia’s passion-packed singing breathes fire into intense, gospel-drenched anthems, lowdown blues, crunching rockers and frisky New Orleans R&B
‘UNCIVIL WAR’- recorded in Nashville with award-winning producer and musician Will Kimbrough at the helm—is a career-defining album for Copeland. Soulful and uncompromising, ‘UNCIVIL WAR’ tackles the problems of contemporary American life head on with memorable songs performed with nuance, understanding, and a demand for change. It also brings Copeland’s fiercely independent, sultry R&B fire to songs more personal than political.
On captivating originals and invigorating new takes on songs by the Rolling Stones, Junior Parker and her father, famed bluesman Johnny Clyde Copeland, Shemekia commands listeners’ attention while exploring life’s daily struggles and triumphs. UNCIVIL WAR is far-reaching, soul-searching and timeless.
Guests on UNCIVIL WAR include Americana superstar Jason Isbell, legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, Grammy-nominated young guitar star Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, rocker Webb Wilder, rock icon Duane Eddy, mandolin wizard Sam Bush, dobro master Jerry Douglas, and The Orphan Brigade providing background vocals.
Click here to watch and share the video for Clotilda’s On Fire, the leadoff track from UNCIVIL WAR. It’s a true, torn-from-history song telling the story of the very last slave ship to arrive in America (in Mobile Bay, Alabama) in 1859, 50 years after the slave trade was banned. The song—featuring Alabama native Jason Isbell playing ferocious blues guitar—is a hair-raising look at living American history delivered with power, tenderness, and jaw-dropping intensity.
Tracks:
01. Clotilda’s On Fire
02. Walk Until I Ride
03. Uncivil War
04. Money Makes You Ugly
05. Dirty Saint
06. Under My Thumb
08. Give God The Blues
09. She Don’t Wear Pink
10. No Heart At All
11. In The Dark
12. Love Song