Lady Strings The Blues: Ana Popovic

Seeing Ana Popovic live in concert is a real treat. Hearing her recordings is also a delight. However, attending a show allows for those “other” things that just listening to a CD simply keeps in the corners of your imagination.

Hearing an emcee/festival director announce the young Yugoslavian guitarist by saying “Jimi Hendrix is a woman” is great, because of what you DON’T see once she lightly prances onto the stage in her jeans, heels and oddly-fashioned halter top (must be a European design). You don’t see over-the-head/behind-the-back/on-the-knees/between-the-legs string-biting guitar acrobatics that Jimi often exhibited. You hear pure talent without and flash or pretense. Jazz, rock, blues – any style, you name it, she can play it and go from one style to the next with such ease that it’s stunning. Only Bonnie Raitt makes it look any easier. Ana’s cream-colored Strat sings, stings, screams, dances, slices and dices (maybe even cooks breakfast, I dunno) in her talented hands – and on one finger she wears a slide which looks to heavy (brass it seems) for an electric. But, she makes it work – nimble, quick, swooping, attack or more of a subtle vibrato. She can do it all.

Ana, not much past 30 at this time, has made quite a name for herself in Europe, having gotten noticed at the age of 15 or 16 before fleeing her strife-torn country to eventually settle in the Netherlands. Her love for blues music, inspired by her father’s record collection, stayed with her no matter what she played or where she lived. Her recordings: “Hush,” “Comfort to the Soul,” and “Still Making History” (the latter her most recent) and a self-titled CD (and a DVD) are all testaments to her skill. Her influences – among them Ronnie Earl, Stevie Ray Vaughn and the late Jaco Pastorius – continue to inspire her as her ability matures. Her singing voice, which is competent, perhaps in some ways suffers due to her heavy accent – nothing wrong with her accent, it’s endearing actually. But it does not lend itself to the blues. Jazz tunes, ok… but blues, not quite. Musically, Ana Popovic lets her guitar do most of the talking.

And while Ana has apparently eared super-star status in Europe, meeting her is much like meeting your new next door neighbor for the first time, and realizing you’ve hit the jackpot. Ana is one of the most personable and down-to-earth people on the planet. The aforementioned performance description, which took place in Wheeling, West Virginia, at that city’s Heritage Blues Festival in 2005, was my first live exposure to this amazing artist. It was 94 degrees. Her 90-minute set was blistering (in more ways than one), and when she was finished (just like all the performers did), she went to the table to talk, sign and sell CDs and stayed til the last person was gone. This was not a superstar. This was a real person who just happened to have superstar talent. That may have been her first, if not one of the first, forays she made into the US. (She has grown to love the US, and America to love her.)

My second encounter was at Jim Porter’s a couple of years ago. I had corresponded with Ana (and even spoke to her on the phone) during my ill-fated book attempt. I had contacted her and management about some venues where I felt she would fit in well, and JP’s was one of those. I have no idea if that had anything to do with it or not, but sure enough, she eventually wound up at Jim P’s one rainy night and played to a paltry crowd of maybe 50 or 60 – but those were ardent fans, apparently, (or new converts) because intermission lasted forever and I doubt there was a single person there who didn’t at least talk to her or buy some merchandise. Ana’s father, Milutin (Anglicized for our benefit as Milton) was in the states for his first time ever and HE was manning the merch table with the boxes of shirts and stacks of CDs. Ana was so proud of this; however, the poor guy was inundated with folks wanting stuff and he became slightly overwhelmed. He handled it with grace and style, even when – in the “heat of the moment” – I found myself in a loud and an (accidently) affected accent requesting a “meedeeyoom” t-shirt, while poor “Milton” crawled on his hands and knees under the table to find the “meedeeyoom” t-shirts… He found one, which I got autographed (I should have had HIM sign it, too, poor guy) and still have. Ana was again so sweet and personable, and wowed the audience with her amazing skills well into the night.

I hope all of you get to attend one of her shows soon, somewhere. Ana is simply an amazing being.