05 September 2010

Belgrade Blues: Ana Popovic Performing "Navaho Moon"


Young women who are on the path to becoming true blues masters are out there, but they are few and far between. Even rarer is a woman blues guitar player from eastern Europe who plays a masterful electric blues slide guitar (think Bonnie Raitt). I've been hoping to feature a young woman blues player for a while and found one on my cable radio yesterday. Ana Popovic, hailing from what was once Yugoslavia (Belgrade, Serbia now), performed a slow burn slide blues solo that made me sit up and listen. It was a track from her 2007 album Still Making History entitled How'd You Learn to Shake it Like That?

I learned from Wikipedia that she had relocated to the Netherlands and on France's Daily Motion i found another gem of a cut: Ana performing Navaho Moon. This cut reminded me immediately of Stevie Ray Vaughan's cover of Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing. But Ana builds on the foundation Stevie Ray and Jimi laid.

Sippie Wallace, Bonnie Raitt and Lou Ann Barton, you've got some younger company.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ana is seriously badass. It is a pleasure to make her acquaintance. Thanks for that one...
drc

whiteray said...

Sippie, Bonnie and Lou Ann indeed. I'll see you those three and raise you Mamie Smith and Margaret Johnson. But this lady (like the others mentioned) has better chops than lots of folks with a Y chromosome, too. Great find. Thanks!

Paco Malo said...

Thank drc and whiteray for your comments.

Anyone reading this should know that both drc and whiteray really know their stuff when it comes to spotting talent; you don't have to trust me, just trust them. Ana is the real deal.

Paullinator said...

Hey Paco - Ana seems to be coming much more from the jazz side than the blues side to me. Sound great, but I'd probably refer to her music as jazz crossing over into blues. Just the opposite of Vaughn.

Paco Malo said...

Paullinator, thanks for your comment.

I realized the jazz element when I re-listened to "Navaho Moon" today and, depending on what time you checked out the post, you may want to reread the revised post. I added the jazz category label as well.

Still sounds like the foundation she's building on is SRV's "Little Wing" to me. Her dad played her blues records her entire life.