Geared-up Copeland concert proves Mainers love the blues

Something other than singing the blues was never really in the cards for Shemekia Copeland. She had a vague sense that she might like to go to school, be a psychiatrist, branch out into a profession unmarked by music. But being the daughter of the late bluesman Johnny Clyde Copeland, she got caught early on by the blues.

It’s still early on – Shemekia Copeland recently turned 23 – and not only was she nominated this year for a Grammy, but she was nominated for three W.C. Handy Blues Awards (the blues equivalent of the Grammy) and her up-tempo “It’s 2 A.M.” took home the W.C. Song of the Year Award. Clearly in the know about this woman’s considerable talent, a geared-up crowd packed the hall Saturday for a righteously get-down-and-groove-to-it concert at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono.

Copeland’s sound is intergenerational: steeped in a tradition she picked up in Harlem, and shot through with embellishments from her own era of pop, funk and rock. The effect isn’t gritty or smoky or edgy. It does get to the heart of the matter, but does it with a youthful spunk, and if Copeland can pull in the audience for some choral backup, all the better.

The lure is easy with Maine audiences, which have developed a long-term relationship with Copeland’s music and on Saturday appreciated hearing cuts from her debut release, “Turn the Heat Up,” as well as last year’s “Wicked.” With “Wild, Wild Woman,” “Not Tonight,” “The Other Woman” and “Has Anybody Seen My Man?” she bonded with the cheering-on women in the audience.

But Copeland loves those baritonally hooting men, too, and she reminded them in “Love Scene” that money can’t buy her affection though it sure gets her attention. Her jam-band backers, after all, are all male, and she works them into an antic onstage teasing to accentuate the playfully acerbic you-done-me-wrong or be-my-baby stories of the music. Arthur Neilson on lead guitar, Barry Harrison on drums, Jason Langley on bass, and the extraordinary Jason LaDanye on keyboards were only too happy to accommodate their hip-switching star.

From an older repertoire, Copeland reached back to her family spirit for “Bring It Home” and “Ghetto Child,” which she dedicated to her father. She movingly performed “Beat Up Old Guitar” while Neilson accompanied her with some serious slide guitar.

But for the backdrop light show and stage equipment, they could have been on any back porch in America.

Their duet stole the oxygen from the room with its richness and fullness.

Three encores, three standing ovations proved what Copeland has learned in 10 years of coming to Maine: She’s hot here.

“People up here love the blues,” she said breathlessly after the show as she prepared to greet fans in the lobby. “When people sit out there, you know they are listening to the music. If I had to play to a crowd like this every single night, I’d be happy.”

Copeland’s third recording, which is still untitled, will be released in the fall. It is produced by and will feature her old friend Doctor John.