ANA POPOVIC (Wed, 1/13/27)

Grace. Power. Drive. Meet the Queen of the Pack

Some guitar players play the blues. Ana Popovic sets it on fire. An award-winning guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader, Ana Popovic is a force of nature onstage. Blending smoking electric funk, fiery slide guitar, soulful vocals, jazz-infused instrumentals, and deep blues grooves, she has created a sound that is unmistakably her own. For more than 25 years, Popovic has relentlessly toured the world, continually pushing the boundaries of contemporary blues.

Her music never stands still. She bends genres, challenges expectations, and reinvents herself with every record, while remaining deeply connected to the power, emotion, and freedom of the guitar.

A ten-time Blues Music Award nominee, Popovic was the only female guitarist selected for the 2014-2018 Experience Hendrix all-star lineup, sharing the stage with legendary artists including Buddy Guy,

Eric Johnson, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. She has appeared on the covers of Vintage Guitar and Guitar Player and has shared headlining stages with B.B. King, Joe Bonamassa, Gary Clark Jr., Robben Ford,

Keb’ Mo’, and many other major artists. Bruce Springsteen summed up her musicianship simply: “One helluva guitar player.” Popovic’s recordings have earned widespread critical and commercial recognition. Can You Stand the Heat and

Unconditional were named Pick of the Week by USA Today and featured by NPR Music.

Her album POWER reached #1 on the Billboard Blues Albums chart, marking another major milestone in her career.

Albums including Like It On Top, Trilogy, Can You Stand the Heat, Unconditional, and Dance to the Rhythm have all appeared among Billboard’s best-selling blues albums.

Her international profile has also been reflected in numerous magazine covers, including Vintage Guitar (US), Guitar Player Gear Guide (US), Blues Music Magazine (US),

Blues Magazine (France), American Blues Scene (US), and Blues Matters! (UK), among many others.

POWER & FANTASTAFUNK

POWER is a record about unity, friendship, resilience, and the strength we find in one another. Its striking cover-two hands, one black and one white, holding on to each other-captures the album’s central message: connection and collective strength

have the power to move the world forward. Recorded during one of the most challenging periods of Ana’s life, POWER became a deeply personal expression of survival and a renewed faith in the transformative power of music. That same spirit inspired Popovic’s FANTASTAFUNK,

an explosive 11-piece big band launched in 2023. Bringing together funk, gospel, soul, and blues, FANTASTAFUNK expands her guitar-driven sound into a full-scale,

high-energy live experience designed for major festival stages.

DANCE TO THE RHYTHM

In 2025, Popovic released DANCE TO THE RHYTHM, a vibrant celebration of perseverance, joy, gratitude, and a renewed love of life. Created with longtime collaborator Buthel,

the ten-track album blends funk, soul, blues, and gospel into what Popovic calls her “ever-evolving gumbo of sound.”

Tracks such as “Dance to the Rhythm” and “Sho Nuff” push the electric guitar into infectious, dance-driven grooves, while songs including “Dwell on the Feeling”

and “Sisters and Brothers” explore inclusiveness, resilience, faith, love, and the powerful connection between artist and audience.

As Popovic puts it:

“POWER was about survival. DANCE is about celebrating life-a second chance.” Popovic writes for the stage-and that is where her music truly comes alive.

Whether leading her powerful band or the FANTASTAFUNK big band, she delivers performances that are soulful, fearless, dynamic, and impossible to sit still through.