LISTEN UP

A- Shemekia Copeland America’s Child Alligator

“When the whole world seems fake, give me something real,” Shemekia Copeland pleads on “Smoked Ham and Peaches.” You can say the daughter of the late bluesman Johnny Copeland is an antidote to artifice herself. Since her 1998 debut, she has been a commanding presence, a powerhouse vocalist delivering the truth in the tradition of the great blues and soul singers while forging her own musical path.

So it goes with America’s Child. The album was recorded in Nashville, Tenn., with producer-guitarist Will Kimbrough and other Americana stalwarts and includes songwriting and vocal contributions from John Prine and Mary Gauthier.

Copeland is obviously looking to make some big statements here, and she comes out swinging with “Ain’t Got Time for Hate,” a snarling, blues-inflected rocker. That segues into “Americans,” whose message of inclusiveness is saved from preachiness by a light lyrical and musical touch. Then comes the provocative “Would You Take My Blood?,” which poses a question that confronts the limits of racial prejudice: “… or would you rather die than share your life with mine?”

On the roadhouse-rocking “The Wrong Idea,” Copeland is all defiant bravado as she brushes off a would-be suitor. In the next moment, on her father’s “Promised Myself,” she’s baring all her hurt, and, with Steve Cropper on lead guitar, making the ballad sound like a long-lost soul classic. Finally, for all the focus on the state of America and American musical styles, Copeland also delivers a message about her own stature with a song by a Brit — Ray Davies’ “I’m Not Like Everybody Else.” Hot tracks: “Would You Take My Blood?,” “Ain’t Got Time for Hate,” “I’m Not Like Everybody Else”

— NICK CRISTIANO The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

A- Boz Scaggs Out of the Blues Concord

Sometimes with more gloss, at times with more grit, but always with great feeling, Boz Scaggs has kept some form of the blues close to the surface during most of his career, which has already sailed past the 50-year milestone.

On Out of the Blues, the last of an informal trilogy also including Memphis and

A Fool to Care revisiting his roots and influences, Scaggs covers some superior blues tunes from decades past, along with a Neil Young song and originals by longtime collaborator Jack Walroth.

Unlike its two predecessors, Out of the Blues was produced by Scaggs instead of Steve Jordan, but some of the musicians from the earlier releases are back, including bassist Willie Weeks and guitarist Ray Parker Jr., topped up with additions including Jim Keltner (drums), Jim Cox (keys) and a lefty-righty combo of Texas six-stringers, Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton.

Walroth’s “Rock and Stick” has shades of soul and Andy Summers’ echoing guitar, with Scaggs’ falsetto emphasizing the emotions, while “I’ve Just Got to Forget You” — associated with Bland — is pure regret and heartbreak. Jimmy McCracklin’s “I’ve Just Got to Know,” based here on the magnetic Magic Sam version — deals with a step earlier in the relationship, even if the writing’s on the wall.

“Little Miss Night and Day,” a hardboiled rocker with solos from Cox, Bramhall and Sexton, is Scaggs’ only songwriting credit, shared with Walroth, whose grooves fit right in with the rest of the repertoire.

Scaggs sounds aptly fatigued on Young’s “On the Beach,” which features great guitar work by Bramhall and a disillusionment with fame that sometimes even an everyman can emphasize with: “Though my problems are meaningless/That don’t make them go away.”

Hot tracks: “Rock and Stick,” “I’ve Just got to Forget You,” “On the Beach”

— PABLO GORONDI The Associated Press

B Ben Vaughn Imitation Wood Grain and Other Folk Songs

Many Moods Records

The title signals that Imitation Wood Grain and Other Folk Songs is something a little different for Ben Vaughn. Over his long career, the California-based music maven has displayed an omnivorous taste for vintage rock and pop as well as roots styles, from his own albums to his production work and his instrumental soundtracks for TV’s That ’70s Show and Third Rock From the Sun. He has never really played the strumming troubadour, but here it’s just him, his acoustic guitar, and his voice (and dig that mouth harp).

These aren’t so much folk songs as Ben Vaughn songs. His wry humor surfaces in numbers such as “Look What the Cat Dragged In,” and “Apropos of Nothing,” while “Echo Chamber Blues” is a fun vocal exercise. The bleak themes of “People It’s Bad” and “Rock Bottom” jar a bit with the bright arrangements, giving them an ironic cast. But the stripped-down, intimate approach does enhance the best songs here, which deal with affairs of the heart, from the upbeat “When Love Returns” to the wistful “Imitation Wood Grain” and the somber “Somebody Don’t Love Somebody.”

Hot tracks: “Look What the Cat Dragged In,” “People It’s Bad,” “Somebody Don’t Love Somebody”