Album: Shemekia Copeland, Never Going Back (Telarc)

She’s not exactly channelling Ann Peebles |– her voice is nowhere near as good as that – but the vibe is similarly dark, astringent, brittle.

And she’s given herself a leg |up by assembling a decent band, occasionally featuring John Medeski and Marc Ribot. Tasty. Even the not-bad cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Black Crow”.

Download this: ‘Never Going Back to Memphis’: for fans of The Wire