Living Her Blues Legacy

The deaths in recent years of Luther Allison, Junior Wells, Albert King, Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland have not only saddened blues fans, but also forced them to consider how much longer they’ll be able to enjoy such elder statesmen as B.B. King and John Lee Hooker.

On the other hand, it’s all the more reason to focus attention on a new generation of blues players who are helping keep the music alive and well.

Shemekia Copeland, the 19-year-old daughter of Texas blues man Johnny Copeland, is one of those who’s spearheading the charge.

Her debut album, “Turn the Heat Up,” which mixes soul, R&B; and blues and displays her fiery, gut-wrenching vocals, has elicited enthusiastic reviews in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Post, Village Voice, Boston Globe, Blues Revue and other publications.

She’s also found an admirer in veteran singer and label mate Koko Taylor (“Wang Dang Doodle”), who recently told Copeland: “I’m counting on you.”

How is this teen handling the attention?

“I just don’t think about it,” she said by phone from a tour stop in Reno, Nev. “It’s great that some think I can fill shoes that big, but really, I just want to sing the blues and travel the world because I love it. As long as I’m doing that, I’ll be all right.”

Copeland, whose Southland swing started Thursday in Los Angeles and includes stops tonight in Long Beach and Saturday in San Juan Capistrano, would like nothing better than to take the blues straight to her peers.

“A lot of people my age just assume the blues is boring or depressing,” said Copeland. “Heck, now why would I want to sing about something that’s dull or will bring me down? There’s so much life to the blues . . . it’s not programmed or sampled--it’s real. I haven’t met a young person yet that didn’t like it once they gave it a chance.

“It’s just that kids are gonna go buy what they see and hear on MTV and the radio, and right now, that’s hip-hop and overproduced R&B;,” she said. “That’s what’s making all the money. I don’t want to put the blame anywhere, but it sure would be nice if the media paid more attention to timeless music like the blues.”

She’s well aware of what a 19-year-old blues singer can--and can’t--get away with.

“I can’t sing about the same stuff as John Lee Hooker or Gatemouth Brown because I haven’t lived it, you know what I mean?” she says. “But the feelings behind songs like ‘Has Anyone Seen My Man?’ or ‘Salt in My Wounds’ . . . . Honey, they ain’t some piece of fiction. I can only sing what I know to be true.”

Johnny Clyde Copeland always encouraged his daughter, whom he nicknamed “Bootsy,” to sing. He even brought her onstage at Harlem’s famed Cotton Club when she was just 8. But for years, Shemekia was reluctant to perform, preferring in her words to be “just a kid.”

That changed for good, though, about four years ago when Johnny developed serious heart problems. Despite a gloomy prognosis, he kept performing and persuaded Shemekia to tour with him. She helped shoulder some of the load by opening his sets with several solo numbers.

But Shemekia realized she was the one getting the helping hand.

“He used to thank me for helping him out . . . for letting him preserve his energy,” she said. “But I know that he was really doing it for me. He got me out there in front of people . . . giving me exposure and helping me gain confidence in myself.”

Following a failed heart transplant, Johnny Copeland died in 1997 at age 60. In coping with the loss of her father, Shemekia found strength in her faith, family and music.

“My niece was a like a savior to the family, surely a gift from God,” said Copeland, who lives in Teaneck, N.J., with her mother, older brother, sister-in-law and that niece, Lashon, who’s now 2. “She was born right before my dad passed away and was such a bright light when there was so much darkness and pain all around.”

In a sense, Shemekia feels her father never left her side. “I never do a gig without him, you know?” she said. “His spirit is what keeps me going . . . whether I’m in the studio or onstage, I’ve got two fathers up there looking down on me.”

One message from him that she continues to heed is to find her own voice.

“My daddy would reach down and slap me up the side of the head if I was trying to copy his style . . . . I mean, he held originality in such high regard. I’ve listened to the greats . . . Koko, Aretha [Franklin], Etta [James], Katie Webster, Trudy Lynn. God bless ‘em all, but I gotta sound like ‘Mekia’, and no one else. I wanna make my daddy proud.”

* Shemekia Copeland performs tonight at the Blue Cafe, 210 Promenade, Long Beach. 9:30 p.m. $10. (562) 983-7111. Also 8 p.m. Saturday at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. $8-$10. (949) 496-8930.