Shemekia is the blues diva who needs no introduction, and if she does, you probably don’t need to know anyway—daughter of storied Texas guitar slinger Johnny Copeland, she had the pipes at 18 to take the blues world by storm, though she tended to work the more soulful side of the genre. Until now, that is: Her (mostly) triumphant return to her old stomping ground at Alligator after a decade-long dry spell, Outskirts of Love is her most brazen attempt yet at courting the blues-rock mainstream, and while she makes the connection, it’s mostly through the undeniable power and sheer authority of that voice. Without Shemekia, these vignettes from the wrong side of romance wouldn’t be half so effective.
Most of the originals that lead off Outskirts, in fact, work the streets of some very familiar territory: broken promises, secret trysts, sketchy alliances, not to mention abject poverty and homelessness. The fact that they still sound fresh has something to do with the excellent production and backing by guitarist Oliver Wood of Americana heroes / blues revivalists the Wood Brothers, and a lot to do with Copeland’s commitment, which only gets braver and bolder when she takes on date rape in “Crossbone Beach” or murder in “Drivin’ Out of Nashville.”
But once that cautionary tale about music execs with small penises who feed on supposedly helpless female singers ends, the album takes a sharp right turn into soul-blues and gospel, led by Solomon Burke’s “I Feel a Sin Coming On,” Albert King’s “Wrapped Up in Love Again,” and a version of ZZ Top’s “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” replete with Billy Gibbons solos, that makes it sound like the Lord took a left instead and headed for Memphis’ Stax studios. Between Creedence’s “Long As I Can See the Light,” where Shemekia hits all those notes John Fogerty could only hint at, and a closing take on Jessie Mae Hemphill’s “Lord, Help the Poor and Needy,” the back nine of this comeback feels raw and real in a way that the originals don’t quite, suggesting that Copeland’s bus stops and motels and back rooms are merely musical tourist stops on her way back to the church. Let’s hope.
