VARESE, July 8, 2024 -On Friday, August 30, 2024, Alligator Records will release BLAME IT ON EVE, the sublime and powerful new album from award-winning blues, R&B and Americana vocalist Shemekia Copeland. Copeland possesses one of the most instantly recognizable and deeply soulful roots music voices of our time. BLAME IT ON EVE will be available on CD, gold vinyl LP, and at all digital services.
On BLAME IT ON EVE, the 12 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). The songs tackle subjects as important as a woman’s right to choose and climate change, but also leave space for Copeland to have fun and unwind. From the autobiographical, rocking blues boogie Tough Mother (featuring Luther Dickinson), to the anthemic Blame It On Eve’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. 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her late father, the great bluesman Johnny Copeland—sets up the thought-provoking closer Heaven Help Us All, a song originally made famous first by Stevie Wonder and later by Ray Charles.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.
