Shemekia Copeland and Dawn Tyler Watson Show Calgary Audiences What the Blues is All About
The most important part of the moniker "Black History Month" has to be the word "story". And there is nothing more reflective of the power of story telling than the musical art form known as "the blues". In preparation for BHM 2024, I got the chance to talk with two phenomenal blues singers.
Shemekia Copeland and Dawn Tyler Watson have the enduring, resilient stories of Africans in America imprinted on their voices, rhythms and songs. Both are powerhouse, award winning performers who proudly carry on the torch of the blues musical tradition - to which country music, rock n roll, R&B, soul music and even hip hop owe a debt. And, much to Calgarians' good fortune, these Queens of the Blues will be performing this February 9 in the Jack Singer Concert Hall at Arts Commons.
Multiple GRAMMY nominated artist Shemekia Copeland has a quiet, grounded and contemplative energy that complements her dynamic onstage persona and vocal virtuosity. In joyously defiant songs like “Will You Take My Blood?” the blues artist challenges racial prejudice - in the honest, raw and direct way that only the blues can. She has been nominated for several GRAMMY awards, including a nod for an album, Mom's Blues, containing a song “Pink Turns Red” that powerfully addresses school shootings.
The depth of her songs is reflective of the multi-award winner's introspection, thoughtfulness and passion for change. That thoughtfulness took on a whole new dimension when she became a mother.
"I wanted to, in some small way, make the world a better place. Reminding people we are all the same. That might sound silly, very 'Mother Theresa'", she jokes self-effacingly, "but that's why I did 'Will You Take My Blood?'"
Along the same profound lines, JUNO Award winner Dawn Tyler Watson takes us on journeys of love and life, loss and gratitude with her songs. The hits on her Juno Award winning album Mad Love can be at once brooding and playful, mournful and galvanizing. Like Copeland, Watson has an electric stage presence. It's one that transcends the current "twerk-heavy" reliance on hypnotic roteness that infuses a lot of current musical fare. Her emotional commitment to the story in her music reveals a journey that is being played out in front of your very eyes. No high-tech special effects needed.
The singer credits some of her dynamism to the acting training she received at Concordia University. And, sure, it's clear that she was "born with it". But it seems like a lot of her skill at reaching people in their souls might have been developed during her days as a busker. "I challenged myself each day to see if I could put a smile on someone's face. No matter if it was a nun, or a business man who would walk by, I thought, 'I'm going to make you smile'". (This anecdote has led me to believe that The Fundamentals of Busking should be a part of every music conservatory curriculum.)
Copeland and Tyler Watson redefine Diva-hood. Don't get it twisted, it's not that both these singers want for glamour and overall fabulousness. They both manage to exude beauty and dynamism while holding a space for the roots of blues - the "field hollers" on plantations, the gospel songs in the black church, the chain gang songs of black men disproportionately imprisoned under Jim Crow. But rather than being mere traditionalists, both ladies have managed to innovate within the form. It's as if they hold the past, present and future in their powerful, resonant lungs.
Their work takes the form of a calling, rather than a career.
Watson was born in Britain and raised in London, Ontario - as about as far away from the Mississippi Delta as a person can get. While musical, her childhood was spent within the sedate strains of a Catholic church choir. As a teenager, Watson found herself on a tumultuous path.
"I partied a lot. A lot. Dangerously a lot. It was a friend who saw the road I was on and got me to join in her Montreal and audition for the Concordia Mature Entry Program."
After she graduated from Concordia, the singer experimented with various genres of rock, pop and soul. At one life changing performance, her rendition of a blues song took the audience by storm. Their response was like nothing she'd ever seen before. She'd found her groove. The blues, Tyler Watson claims, "chose me".
Speaking of being born with it, it might seem that blues music was engraved on Shemekia Copeland's soul. She is the daughter of blues legend Johnny Copeland. Like Watson, however, her embrace of the genre was not inevitable or even, for Copeland, expected. She was asked to sing onstage at the tender age of ten at, of all places, the legendary Cotton Club in Harlem, where she grew up. The Club's mythos didn't phase her.
"I didn't like it. Why am I here with all these old people is what I thought." The singer laughs at the term "old". "In reality, they were all ten years younger than I am now. But I was ten." As Copeland grew into her own, her stirring vocals could have landed her in the hype and hoopla of mainstream soul/R&B/pop/rock. But by the time Shemekia was in her twenties, she knew she wasn't about to conform.
The chanteuse states, "It takes all kinds of music to make the world go round. But I don't have a need to perform like anyone else but me. My mom always told me, 'Know who you are. Stand in your truth.' For me, I feel wonderful. I feel so good, knowing my value, knowing my worth. And moving forward from there. There's a difference between popularity and legendary."
Ain't that the truth.
With the sound of a million mics dropping, I hope this Black History Month finds everyone focusing on the legendary, the enduring, and their own true worth.
See both of these powerhouse blues ladies on Friday, February 9 in the Jack Singer Concert Hall at Arts Commons. Click to learn more and get your tickets today!
