Still on the road for last year’s Dance To The Rhythm, her tenth studio album, the Serbia-born, America-based, Bruce Springsteen-approved singer, guitarist and songwriter Ana Popovic sets the scene for a one-off UK date at the Jazz Café in London’s Camden.
There are several versions of your live band. Which are you bringing to London for the Jazz Café?
It’s going to be a seven-piece. If the stage isn’t big enough we’ll have to send the horns out into the crowd [laughs]. Sometimes I play as a four-piece, which I love, and there’s also an eleven-piece, with multiple horns, drummers and background singers. My last two records have a lot of gospel sounds, and I love that big band line-up, but not every show can accommodate it.
How did it feel to have Bruce Springsteen acclaim you as “one hell of a guitarist”?
Coming from him, that was an incredible honour. I love what Bruce stands for and I love his music as well. He’s an inspiration.
A Martian comes down to Earth and wants to know about the blues. How do you explain it to them?
The blues is a feeling. From four years old I grew up listening to Delta blues and Chicago blues. Listening to Elmore James and Robert Johnson, I get this great feeling. Blues music connects American history – African American history – with the present. I’m a contemporary artist, I embrace rock, soul, gospel and funk, but the blues is at the heart of it all.
Is it necessary to have suffered to play the blues? You had a health scare in 2022 and as a consequence almost gave up music.
I don’t think you need to suffer. I had a very happy childhood in Serbia, listening to blues all day long and very loud. What happened to me in 2020 [when Popovic was diagnosed with breast cancer] just made the whole thing more intense. I needed to be more truthful. We are not here on this planet for long, you’d better leave something behind.
Is there a message in what you do?
I’m all about positivity. There’s so much craziness around, I would like to see this world united. I don’t want borders over religion and geography. Open your mind. Wear what you want, sing what you want to sing, be what you want to be. Be happy. You only have one life.
You ramped up the soul and R&B elements on last year’s album Dance To The Rhythm, reducing the focus on fiery guitar playing. Was there any push-back against that?
Not at all. There will always be enough guitar, but it’s for the service of the song. The album is perhaps a bit of a departure but the fans are loving it. My music comes from the heart, and I refuse to serve up the same thing over and over again.
Its reworking of Paul Simon’s 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover fits you like a velvet glove.
Thank you. I do that live and people just love it. It’s the only cover we did for the album.
The Jazz Café is a one-off British date. When is your next tour here?
We are planning a full-blown UK tour for the autumn. I’m hoping it will be a fairly long run of shows.
Ana Popovic's European tour is now underway. She plays the Jazz Café in London on March 30. Tickets are on sale now.
