Shemekia Copeland's 'Simmering' (NY Times) Film Noir Thriller 'Never Going Back To Memphis' Is Album Highlight

New York, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) - While critics agree there's plenty to love about "powerhouse blues singer" (New Yorker, 3.9.09) Shemekia Copeland and her latest album 'Never Going Back' (out now from Telarc), the "simmering stomp" (New York Times, 2.22.09) with "noirish atmospherics" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 2.22.09) "Never Going Back to Memphis" has left many - including David Letterman - particularly impressed.

Watch Copeland's performance of the song on Letterman here: https://tinyurl.com/ShemekiaLetterman

Here's what people are saying about the cinematic thrill of "Never Going Back to Memphis":

"...it's on the noirish epic "Never Going Back to Memphis" where Copeland digs the deepest. Spiked with an unhinged solo from frequent Tom Waits guitarist Marc Ribot, Copeland's voice curls around richly murderous details like 'he kept a .45 in a Crown Royal bag.'" - Chris Barton, LA Times, 2.23.09

"Best of all is Oliver Wood and John Hahn's 'Never Going Back to Memphis,' a six-minute film-noir thriller put to music. When a man wipes his fingerprints off a gun and hands the singer the rag, the tension in Copeland's reined-in voice and Marc Ribot's spooky guitar proves infectious." - Geoffrey Himes, Washington Post (DC), 2.13.09

"The noirish story is punctuated by the acid-jazz guitar of Marc Ribot...It seems that Copeland has been possessed by the spirit of Tom Waits for six minutes..." - Jeff Johnson, Chicago Sun-Times (IL), 2.22.09

"[The album] fits that groove of smart and daring adult music in which old forms of roots music are gently modernized in a haunting atmospheric manner. Look no further than 'Never Going Back to Memphis,' with Tyler Greenwood's echoed drums and the great Mark Ribot's slinking and darting guitar." - Andrew Dansby, Houston Chronicle (TX), 2.27.09

"deliciously dark and moody." - Roger Gatchet, Living Blues, February 2009

"...the spooky-sounding minor-key groove of 'Never Going Back to Memphis'...is one of the album's more engaging lyrical moments, a murderous tale about love and leaving." - Jim Abbott, Orlando Sentinel (FL), 2.27.09