Bringin' It All Back Home is an album by the American musician Johnny Copeland. It was released in 1985. Copeland supported the album with a North American tour.
Copeland recorded the album in March 1984 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he collaborated with African musicians. It was produced by his manager, Dan Doyle. Bringin' It All Back Home is considered the first time an American blues musician recorded an album in Africa. Copeland decided to record there after his 1982 tour of the continent; many of the album's songs were inspired by the trek. Copeland included African percussion and the kora on many of the tracks.
Robert Christgau wrote that the band "finds a groove somewhere between an airborne Congolese rumba and a Gulf Coast shuffle with some tricky dance figures thrown in." The Chicago Tribune noted that "African rhythms and instruments wind their way in and out of Copeland's more familiar Texas blues, sometimes seeming exotic, other times seeming perfectly normal." The New York Times stated that Copeland "sings with a strong, persuasive urgency," and concluded that he "comfortably extended his reach by working with an African rhythm section."
The Globe and Mail determined that "the singer-guitarist's music at its best moves, and the accompanying horn and rhythm sections here prove a cumbersome weight on the motion." The Toronto Star deemed the album "compelling listening, an almost off-handed synthesis of African roots music and raw, elemental blues."
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