Keb’ Mo’ is a guitarist and singer with a style that includes sweet country blues juke-joint jive up-tempo rhythm and blues and jazz pop. His two Grammy award-winning albums 1998’s Slow Down and 1996’s Just Like You catapulted him to star status and his follow-up albums The Door and Big Wide Grin received universal acclaim.
Born Kevin Moore on October 3, 1951 in South Los Angeles, California, Keb grew up in Compton, South Central Los Angeles. At age 12 he began playing a guitar he’d received from his Uncle Herman. As a teenager he also played trumpet and French horn. In his first band a calypso outfit he also played upright bass and steel drums.
After gigging with a Top 40 group, Moore hooked up in 1973 with Papa John Creach (violinist with Jefferson Starship); his guitar is featured on three of Creach’s albums. Later, concentrating on songwriting, Moore joined A&M records as a staff writer. There he also honed his skills arranging demos for Almo-Irving Music.
By 1980, the singer-guitarist had released his first solo album Rainmaker on Chocolate City, a division of Casablanca Records. Three years later after a stint with the vocal group The Rose Brothers he began performing at the Los Angeles nightspot Marla’s Memory Lane with The Whodunit Band, an ensemble of ace blues players. Monk Higgins producer for Bobby “Blue” Bland led the group and its lead guitarist became one of Moore’s early mentors. “Charlie Tuna ” Moore recalls “he was the guy who really inspired me to play blues guitar. And in that band I was exposed to great songwriters too like Lermon Howard.”
Apprenticing with the Whodunit Band in fact was an epiphany for Moore. “I‘d written plenty of songs but my catalog just seemed shallow to me. There were two ‘Anybody Seen My Girl’ and ‘Rainmaker’ that I wrote in the late Seventies — and that was the direction I wanted to go in. I recorded them on more recent albums but back then they were the only songs that had depth. The blues gave me something deep. So I took a hiatus for a while and just got into the blues.” Jamming with Albert Collins and Big Joe Turner Pee Wee Crayton and Jimmy Witherspoon he began developing his own style as a blues guitarist.
Enthralled by the grit and bite of the country blues he concentrated on solo acoustic work. He went down to Mississippi to hang out with veteran Delta bluesman Eugene Powell. Playing a Delta bluesman himself in the early 90s Los Angeles Theater production Rabbit Foot and later in Spunk an adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s writings, he expanded his stage experience. All the while he continued gigging club dates around Los Angeles and he became Keb’ Mo’, a street talk version of his own name the moniker signaled his allegiance to the music that helped form his own.
Befittingly, it was the newly revived Okeh label with its fine lineage of artists (Mississippi John Hurt Duke Ellington Screamin’ Jay Hawkins) that released 1994’s Keb’ Mo’ an album that prompted immediate critical praise. Just two years later came Just Like You, Grammy Award winner for Best Contemporary Blues Album. “Winning the Grammy ” Keb’ Mo’ remembers “was nothing compared to the fun of getting there. But it’s great to win. You think about all the sacrifices you made the apartments you got kicked out of the girlfriends who dumped you because you were going nowhere.” In 1998 Slow Down, his second Grammy-winner confirmed his arrival as a fresh voice inspired by a classic idiom.
On the evening of June 10th, 1997, lucky fans were ushered into a studio in New York City for the exclusive taping of a performance by Keb’ Mo’ the modern bluesman rising star and two-time Grammy Winner. Four songs from this performance and an offstage interview aired in the premiere season of Sessions At West 54th public television’s award-winning weekly music series. The complete concert recorded that night was captured on a DVD in the same intimate setting enjoyed by the studio audience. The additional songs illuminate the many talents of this charismatic performer.
In 2017, Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ released their first ever album as a duo ‘ TajMo‘ (Concord Records) that features guests appearances from Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, Sheila E. and Lizz Wright.
‘TajMo’ was a historic collaboration between two generations of blues giants, converging their singular talents on an album of original songs and covers. The album was self-produced by the duo.
Discography:
Rainmaker (Chocolate City/Casablanca 198)
Keb’ Mo’ (Okeh EK 57863 1994)
Just Like You (Okeh EK 67316 1996)
Slow Down (BK 69376 1998)
The Door (BK 61428 2000)
Big Wide Grin (Sony Wonder 2001)
Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Keb’ Mo’ (Sony 2003)
Keep It Simple (Sony 2004)
Peace… Back by Popular Demand (2004)
Suitcase (Epic 2006)
Live and Mo’ (2009)
The Reflection (Yolabelle International 2011)
TajMo’ (Concord, 2017)
Oklahoma (Concord Records, 2019)
Moonlight, Mistletoe & You (Concord Records, 2019)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.