Blues queen Shemekia Copeland talks cancer, COVID-19 and new project ahead of Memphis show

Last week blues singer Shemekia Copeland netted her fourth Grammy nomination, earning a nod in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category, for her latest, "Uncivil War." It was a happy note to what has been a difficult pandemic period for the 42-year-old Copeland.

“Well, 2020 was terrible, and 2021 has not been much better. For me it’s been a particularly crazy year,” says Copeland, who was planning to return to the stage this past summer, when she was diagnosed with chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, a rare type of kidney cancer.

“Just when they were starting to open up gigs in the summer, I found out I had kidney cancer. They had to remove a tumor from my kidney. So that wasn’t pleasant,” she says.

"But I eventually went to work, I did some gigs over the summer, some festivals. Then after that I was on a pretty good roll. I was about to go on a blues cruise (last month), but then I found out I had COVID — and I was triple vaccinated. I lost my taste and smell for a couple weeks but after that I was fine. Honestly, It’s been a very strange couple years. I'm ready to kick 2021 to the curb, just like I was ready to kick 2020 to the curb.”

Before she does that, however, Copeland will headline an event at First Congo Church on Sunday. The show is part of the Protect Our Aquifer series of benefit concerts. The lineup will also feature appearances by Copeland’s producer and guitarist Will Kimbrough, country singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale, folk artist Livingston Taylor and rapper Al Kapone.

It will mark Copeland’s first appearance in Memphis since the release of “Uncivil War,” which came out in the fall of 2020, and featured contributions by Americana star Jason Isbell, Stax Records legend Steve Cropper and Mississippi blues guitar prodigy Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, among others. The album marked her second collaboration with Nashville producer Kimbrough, following the release of 2018’s “America’s Child.”

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Shemekia Copeland's next project

Copeland is already at work on a new project, which will complete what she describes as a trilogy of albums focused on both the historical and current racial struggles in America.

"It’s always a challenge anytime you bring up issues people don’t want to talk about or want to sweep under the rug," says Copeland. "People have said these records are political. I’m not political at all. I’m just putting information out there that makes some people uncomfortable. Of course, some people love it. At the end of the day, it’s about telling stories, about telling your story, and how it affects your life.”

Copeland and Kimbrough have plans to get started on the new album after the holidays. “We’ve already had lots of conversations and usually do a lot of prep work so when we get into the studio we can get it done,” says Copeland. “I mean, we’re making blues records and not pop or rock records, so we don’t have the financial luxury to mess around. You have to be ready once you start recording. But we plan on finishing it in early 2022, and have it out in the fall.”

Although her performances have been somewhat limited by the pandemic and her personal health issues, Copeland recently played Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, opening a show for Jason Isbell, and she'd previously appeared at the venue with the late John Prine.

“The Ryman, I mean, it’s a vocalist’s dream to play a room like that. I was extremely honored to be there, and had a fantastic time with [Isbell]," says Copeland. "I pray to god that one day I’ll be able to fill that baby on my own. It’s a room that has a great tradition.”

Career, awards and living in the present

Copeland is no stranger to tradition. The daughter of Texas blues guitar great Johnny Copeland, she was saddled with considerable expectations when she launched her solo career as teen in the late-‘90s.

Over 20-plus years and 10 albums, she’s more than fulfilled her blues promise. Copeland has become one of the genre’s contemporary stars and a perennial Blues Music Awards winner. Earlier this year she claimed the BMA’s B.B. King Entertainer of the Year title — the ceremony’s top honor — as well as trophies for best contemporary blues female artist and contemporary blues album.

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“When I got started, one of the biggest things I said to myself was you can’t put the pressure of expectation on yourself. You have to do what you want to do,” says Copeland. “I remember [legendary blues singer] Koko Taylor once told me, ‘I love you and I appreciate that you’re not trying to be like me — you’re trying to carve your own thing and by doing that you’re keeping the tradition going.’ And that’s really what I’ve tried to do.”

Copeland is hopeful that 2022 will offer some kind of reprieve from the struggles of the past two years. “But if anything the last couple years have shown me it’s that you never know what’s going to happen… so you have to live in the present. For me, I just keep on going and praying and playing.”

Acoustic Sunday Live! presents The Concert to Protect Our Aquifer

Featuring, Shemekia Copeland, Will Kimbrough, Jim Lauderdale, Livingston Taylor and Al Kapone

Sunday, 7 p.m. at First Congo Church, 1000 Cooper

Tickets: $50. Go to www.protectouraquifer.org

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Blues queen Shemekia Copeland talks cancer, COVID, new project