Although Jimi Hendrix passed away in 1970, the reach of his music spanned years and geography. That included Belgrade, Serbia where a young Ana Popovic lived. Although she was born six years after his death, thanks to her dad’s nightly jam sessions, she grew up to a steady diet of the legend’s music and American blues and soul.
At 15 she started playing the guitar, and a few years later started her first band. After a stop to study jazz, she began a solo career that now includes eight albums including last year’s Can You Stand the Heat, that feature her fiery mix of blues, soul, funk and jazz.
Among her recordings are covers of two obscure Hendrix tunes — “Belly Button Window” for the 2000 tribute album, Blue Haze: Songs of Jimi Hendrix and “Can You See Me,” which she plans to include on her next release.
Now, she’s among a revolving lineup of guitarists as part of the eighth edition of the Experience Hendrix Tour. The shows celebrate his legacy by showcasing several generations of musicians such as: Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Bootsy Collins, Dweezil Zappa, Cesar Rosas and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, Eric Johnson, Doyle Bramhall II, Zakk Wilde, Eric Gales, Mato Nanji of Indigenous and Malina Moye along with a rhythm section that includes bassist Billy Cox who played with Hendrix and drummer Chris Layton (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble).
In 2012 Popovic moved to Memphis where she leads her four-piece group and enlists the local talent in her other musical project, the power blues and funk act Mo’ Better Love.
When we had our conversation, she was home, where she prepped for her nine dates with Experience Hendrix by watching YouTube videos of live Hendrix performances.
JPG: You mentioned you’re home in Memphis right now before joining the tour. I’m curious, what led you to settle there?
AP: I’ve been to Memphis off and on for the last 10 years, recording stuff; my very first stuff when I came to America was recorded here. I never thought it was going to be my home and I changed a few cities. I lived in New Orleans for some time and Los Angeles for some time but we formed a nine-piece band (Mo’ Better Love) that was based out of Memphis and did a lot of recording here for the last record.
What I did with the previous recordings as well, I like to move to a place, rent a house, and enjoy the place versus just running into the hotel and putting the record together in a week. I like to take time. So I did the same with New Orleans. I spent there about half a year and then I did the same with Los Angeles in the past but, however, this time it was a larger project.
We liked it. My kids were ready for school. We found them a school and after a year we started to get a house here and settle down. We really enjoy it. It’s kind of Southern. That was one of our things. That was one of the deals. Also, it’s essential to traveling for me. I love to be able to get back home after some of the shows. That’s not possible when you live as far as New Orleans or Los Angeles.
The studios are beautiful and very affordable. They are amazing. And the musicians play great. There’s a lot of musical history here. So, there are a lot of reasons to actually stay here. So, we are here. I don’t know for how long. I don’t know if it’s forever. We still have our house in Amsterdam. So, we’ve got a place here and there, and we’ll choose eventually. But, for now it’s really great.
JPG: So, the move to Memphis kickstarted Mo’ Better Love?
AP: That’s where the whole recording happened with Tony Coleman who was a longtime drummer with B.B. King drummer (and produced her 2013 album Can You Stand the Heat) and worked on this project together. He ended up coming and playing in my bands fulltime, the five-piece and then the nine-piece Mo’ Better Love. Our idea was really to take some Memphis musicians on the road and show people how they play…they’re really stuck around here for some reason. They don’t go out much from Tennessee unfortunately, but they play really nice and you can use that Stax Sound. How much they want to escape that, they can’t. It’s so deep in their history and their roots, that soulful Stax, funk, blues sound that it’s beautiful.
I used to hang out on Beale Street obviously because that’s where all the terrific stuff is but when you really you find some juke joints here and go in, you wouldn’t believe what you hear. This is literally where all the Stax people play. Nobody else plays like that ever anywhere in the States anymore or Europe. So, it’s quite a unique sound, what you can get playing with those people. It was our thing to try to bring it out on this record but we got stuck to it. So, we still have a nine-piece band and I’ve got a five-piece band as well with two drummers, Hammond organ, bass and me. So, both are very interesting projects.
JPG: The Experience Hendrix Tour features a number of guitarists doing one, two or three numbers with or without other guitarists joining. How would you say that you fit into the mix?
AP: The unique thing about this show is there are such a variety of styles. We had Zakk Wylde as well as Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang, the blues guys. There is no other event where these people would come together. It’s just proof of how huge Hendrix was. He was equally inspirational for heavy metal guitar players, jazz guitar players, blues, rock…
This is the only guitarist that I can think of that unites all these styles in one room, and it was incredible to see that.
Eric Johnson comes out and plays a few Hendrix cuts, his fusion thing, and then Jonny Lang would play the blues. Kenny Wayne Shepherd would as well. Then, Zakk Wylde would do his thing. Then, I’d do my two songs – “Can You See Me” and “House Burning Down.” Then, there is a jam at the end where the guitar players all play together. It sounds incredible.
This was on my To Do list for some years now because I’ve been playing Hendrix from time-to-time for a decade. I don’t do a lot of covers in my set. When I do, I choose ones that really mean a lot to me and not just fill up the setlist. So, Hendrix was something I was playing for the blues audience for a long time and I finally get to do it for a Hendrix audience.
I like to choose not-so-known songs. I am kind of a b-side person. I like to put out songs that are not very known to younger people. My very first cut I recorded from Hendrix before my first record came out in America was my version of a “Belly Button Window,” which strike a lot of people would tell me, “I’ve never heard of that song. I didn’t even know it existed.”
I thought it was really a jewel of a song. The lyrics are incredible. The production is incredible, the guitar playing is amazing.
Then, I did “House Burning Down” for some time. And I did “Can You See Me.” Finally, I get to play alongside other people that were influenced by Hendrix. It’s an amazing show.
JPG: You answered one of my questions which had to with the Hendrix songs that you cover are some of the more obscure numbers.
AP: I would think so. It’s wonderful to hear “Hey Joe” and I mean those are such hits that I think are already worked out to its maximum by Hendrix. I’m much more inspired to show people the beauty of some songs that are really almost not known than to play the hits. But, it’s all worked out great in the set.
JPG: I heard a studio version of you doing “Can You See Me.” Was that recorded for your next album or another Hendrix tribute album?
AP: It’s going to be probably a part of the next record and since I’m doing this Hendrix tour, I thought it would be nice to record something officially and to put it out. We’ve also done a music video. I always wanted to do a Hendrix song on one of my records. I never did it except for that one a long time ago, “Belly Button Window,” for the compilation.
I thought “Can You See Me,” is as great track. I tried to keep the energy that Hendrix had alive and going but I still wanted to change something. I did a slide version. It’s a very powerful song, rocking out. So, it’s still different. I didn’t want to copy Hendrix or copy anything. However, I wanted to do him justice by keeping that energy going that he had. So, it’s a different little twist on that song.
JPG: “Can You See Me,” is that part of another album that you’ve recorded on one that you’re working on for release later this year or next?
AP: Yes. Yeah we are looking at doing a DVD before the summer. There is a big possibility it’s gonna be recorded in Brazil because we are doing a show in Brazil for the first time. And then, we’re looking at a new studio recording. I’m already working on it. There’s almost half recorded. I’m hoping to finish that before summer. That would be wonderful. Bring out a new record.
JPG: Are there plans to record Mo’ Better Love or just do live dates whenever you can?
AP: I think the DVD will be with Mo’ Better Love band. Then the European tour is also pretty much booked for the Mo’ Better Love band in the summertime. We just came back from the [Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise], which was also a nine-piece band. So, we got a few off and on shows with the big band and then the next DVD is gonna be the live thing with the big band.
JPG: Back to “Belly Button Window,” it sounded like he was playing it on electric guitar and you did it on acoustic.
AP: I did a few passes on electric slide and acoustic slide but I did it as kind of a jazzy version. I had the double bass going. It was a jazzy approach to it. That was a long time ago. I was a student of a jazz conservatory at that time when I was doing that song.
JPG: Do you now look at that song and view it as, “Oh, that’s just young Ana. Now, I know so much more.”
AP: No, actually, I don’t listen to a whole lot of my stuff but I think that version is particularly very interesting. I think the vocals sound great. I think the slide guitar’s still really good when I hear it. And I think the production of it is nice. And I wanted to do that kind of jazzy twist to it. I like that song.
JPG: As far as Hendrix, when did you first hear him and did he have an immediate impact on you or did you need years of experience playing guitar and hearing other things before you fully understood what he did?
AP: I really started listening to blues and American music when I was two or three years old. Literally, that was all in my home. We grew up listening to Cream and Hendrix and roots blues guys like Robert Johnson and Bukka White and Elmore James, Albert Collins and Albert King. It was just a regular thing in my home. I was a little kid. The only thing we could hear was American blues and soul and rock music. So Hendrix was something that I got very early. I don’t remember the moment. I just know that we were watching those live concerts, those footages when the first time we could get a video player at that time. In Serbia, that was the first thing we got, I think it was Hendrix Live at Monterey and Cream, as I remember. Those are the things that are so natural to me that I didn’t even think about it.
My father was into that then and he still is. He would get us around the guitar. He’s a guitar player, too. Actually, my grandfather was a guitar player, too. So I’m the third generation guitar player in my home. My grandfather was kind of a Django Reinhardt style, and that was back in…I’m talking 1930s, 1940s. My dad, he’s also into blues and he still plays blues. I grew up listening to his jam sessions.
I remember watching Hendrix [videos] and being in awe and thinking this is the most beautiful way of making a living that I could possibly imagine. At that time in Serbia it was way before I could even think about me becoming a musician. But it was very natural. I didn’t really think about it. Music was always in our home and we would just listen to those things.
JPG: What is about Hendrix and his creative approach and his playing etc. that inspires you?
AP: He was such a master not only in playing but in arrangements and lyrics and being onstage. In all this process, he’s been a huge inspiration. I don’t even want to say influence. I mean, I just think it’s an inspiration, what’s happening there, because there was really only one Hendrix, then a whole lot of space and then all the other guitar players are counted.
When you think about the lyrics, it’s only Dylan and Hendrix as far as I’m concerned that could make art just by writing a few sentences and singing those sentences. And then he was actually following what Dylan was playing at the time, what Dylan was writing at the time. He was almost on a daily basis checking out Dylan’s books and his lyrics and stuff. You can see how deep they go.
This is one side, his lyrics, and the lyrics are very important for me. My music is very important. When I choose songs, lyrics are equally important if not more to me than the musical part. If you bring out a handful of records in the decade, you might as well leave a song message. Put out something to inspire people. Give some thought versus putting out a few lines that maybe people gonna buy and listen on the radio. It should be much deeper than that. And that’s the matter of course with “The Wind Cries Mary” and “Belly Button Window” and every one of his songs is very well thought of as far as the lyrical part.
Then, we’ve got the whole musical part, the guitar playing, obviously, was so ahead of its time that it’s still an inspiration to all the guitar players no matter what style – fusion, jazz, rock, heavy metal. They are all equally inspired by Hendrix, and that’s because his ideas, riffs and solos were amazing at that time and still are.
Now because I’m going on this tour, I went back and listened to some shows that I could, some recordings at that time when I was a kid, I couldn’t find. Now, that you have Internet, you can go back and listen to all the stuff he’s been playing. The shows we are talking about like 1970, somewhere in Scandinavia there’s a show and the audience is quiet, nobody’s responding and this guy’s like playing amazing stuff that, nowadays, if he would be playing that today, he would be considered a great guitar player even after all these years. But he was doing that back in 1970. It’s incredible!
And then you get the whole other prospect of him being onstage and being almost one with his instrument, and that specific energy that he had going with the trio is actually something that I’m searching for in my shows. If you asked me why I do what I do I search for that moment in the show where you are one with your instrument and your band and almost like lifted up from the stage. You don’t see the audience. Anything else doesn’t matter except for that tone and that drumbeat.
On a good night it’s something that I find from time-to-time, and it’s something that comes from watching Hendrix.
