In 1985, three guys gathered in my studio for a photo shoot for the album “Showdown” (Alligator Records). They included two legendary blues guitarists- Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins. I had worked with Albert before, but was meeting Johnny for the first time (The third guy was an unknown guitarist named Robert Cray, who sat in the corner quietly picking a song on his guitar while the other two got ready.
While Johnny was getting ready, he was telling me about his daughter, who was starting to sing the blues. He told me the story of how he knew she was going to be a singer- she screamed so loud in the nursery in the hospital that they had to move her to her mother’s room so she wouldn’t keep the other kids awake. 33 years later, she has become one of the great blues singers touring today. I was hanging with her last night after her set opening for Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang, and the story about her dad brought a smile to her face. Looks like her dad was right- she has definitely become a blues singer.
