Ana Popovic is a guitar-playing demon with a hell of a backstory.
Born in Belgrade in 1976, she was forced to flee with her family to the Netherlands to escape war. Somehow she went from émigré to living in Memphis and sharing the stage with the world’s best bluesmen.
Popovic owes her chops, in no small part, to her dad’s massive vinyl collection. More often than not the young Popovic didn’t understand the lyrics, but the music spoke to her soul. “I was listening to blues in my home ever since I remember music,” Popovic reflects.
“I was maybe two or three years old, and on a daily basis he’d have on Stevie Ray Vaughan or Albert King, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf – all of them. Delta blues, Chicago blues, Texas blues – all of the different shapes of blues. I grew up with that reality. I was deep into the blues from a very early age. Then I’d hear him jam: he would have people around once a week and they would play instruments until very late and I would stay awake to hear them play. When I was about nine or ten, I would stay up and watch. It connected me with my music.”
That said, it wasn’t the blues per se that inspired Popovic to pick up an instrument. “Yeah, the only wish I had was that I could learn an instrument so that I could have fun with my friends in a jam session,” she says with a chuckle. “I never thought I’d end up doing this for a living. But I thought it would be cool to learn something so you could jam with your friends.”
From the moment Popovic picked up the guitar and started taking lessons, she went at it like a dervish. Popovic takes heed from the old adage that success is ten per cent inspiration and 90 per cent perspiration, and she’s not afraid to sweat. “I’m a perfectionist,” she says. “But it means that when people come and see us they say, ‘How is this possible? You were great last year and it’s even better this year.’ The idea is that when my audience buys a ticket to see my band and they’ve already seen ten shows, they have a reason to come back next time. I choose people to be in my band who really want to improve. There has to be constant improvement, because I don’t want to be the same band as we were last year or bring less excitement.”
Popovic takes the same exacting approach to recording, including during the sessions for her latest release, Trilogy, a three-album treasure trove of soul, funk and blues. “I record, then I listen back to it later and I don’t like half,” she admits. “It’s not a big problem, it just means that I have to do a little bit better next time. Especially with Trilogy, I wasn’t going to compromise. If I didn’t like a take, I decided that I’d do it all over again with someone else. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do this too often with Trilogy, but there were still songs that didn’t make the cut. These are 23 songs that are well chosen as the best of my best. I wasn’t afraid to take charge and say, ‘OK, that was close to what I had in my head, but not quite,’ so it didn’t make it.”
Trilogy displays Popovic’s versatility – there are hints of soul, funk and rockabilly thrown into the blues mix, which she says was deliberate. “The idea was to showcase as many different styles as possible. Volume one is really a funk and soul record. I really wanted a dance record. I didn’t want to be worried about shuffles. Then, volume two is blues, featuring heavier guitar and some rock, and volume three is jazz.
“On every record I do, I’m not a blues purist. I’ve done that ever since my first record came out. I wanted to make sure that nobody would expect me to be a blues purist, but on every record, the few songs that I do that are the blues, I go very deep and go deeper with every record. I like to take blues in different directions.”
Over the years, Popovic has played with just about all the greats, including Solomon Burke, Taj Mahal and B.B. King. She isn’t quite prepared to choose a favourite, but is happy to admit that Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy had one hell of an impact on her.
“I met him when I was just 15,” she says. “I saw his show when I was just a teenager and I was so amazed – he was out in the audience with a long lead playing guitar; the show was just incredible. Afterwards, I asked for his signature – he was the only person that I’ve ever asked for a signature. To be able to later share a stage with him in the States was a dream come true – first, when you’re coming from Eastern Europe and second when you are a female playing guitar – and that time there were hardly any female guitar players out there.”
Popovic is keen to hit Australia next month on tour, all part of a strategy to conquer new territory with her licks. “I’m looking forward to some sightseeing – hopefully I’ll have time, because it’s a very tight schedule. But really I’m looking forward to meeting people and seeing how they react to my music. For us, it’s necessary to open a new territory every year. We’ve played Japan, Indonesia and Dubai – Australia is our territory for this year.”
[Ana Popovic photo by Ruben Tomas]
Ana Popovic‘sTrilogy is out now through Artist Exclusive. Catch Ana at The Basement, Wednesday September 21.
