Blues music is a uniquely American tradition — and if any one knows its history, it’s Keb’ Mo’.
WTOP caught up with the five-time Grammy winner on his way to perform at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia on Saturday.
“Blues is the technology of the soul,” Keb’ Mo’ told WTOP. “It’s got history, it’s American music formed here in America and it’s just in the soil, so you can’t kill it. You know how you have weeds and you try to get the weeds out of your yard? You can’t kill them, they just keep coming up. … It managed to seep into the heart and soul of America in a way that nothing else did. When you hear the blues, you’re listening to the dirt, man.”
The concert will feature songs from his career, including his latest album “Good to Be” (2022), which connected his hometown of Compton, California, with his new home of Nashville, where he’s lived for over a decade now.
“It’s going to be an overview of stuff from all of my albums,” Keb’ Mo’ said. “My newest album called ‘Good to Be’ is not that new anymore. That was a pandemic record. … It was a nod to familiar life, the life you grew up with and to hold on to that. Those [roots] are very precious, they shape your whole future, those growing up years.”
Born on Oct. 3, 1951, in Los Angeles, he grew up listening to Motown, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis and Mongo Santamaría before picking up his own instruments to forge a career in music.
“I did a brief stint on the trumpet and let’s just say I wasn’t trumpet material, but that started me out,” Keb’ Mo’ said. “Then I moved to steel drums and then to guitar and I played all of those. Then in high school I got on the French horn and I just rode that out, went back to guitar, then after that guitar became my main instrument.”
At age 21, he gained experience when his band Zulu began touring with Jefferson Airplane violinist Papa John Creech. After releasing his first album “Rainmaker” (1980) under his birth name Kevin Moore, he quickly changed his name to Keb’ Mo’ for the catchier self-titled album “Keb’ Mo'” (1994).
“It was kind of an accident,” Keb’ Mo’ said. “I was called Keb’ Mo’ and I put that on my demo tape: ‘Kevin Moore a.k.a. Keb’ Mo’ — and no one paid much attention to Kevin Moore anymore after that first record, so I guess I changed my name and put my past behind me and started over.”
His next album “Just Like You” (1996) won his first Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album.
“It was shocking,” Keb’ Mo’ said. “When I got nominated, I put my suit on and went to the Grammys and I got to go up there.”
He won his second Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album for “Slow Down” (1998).
“It was challenging because I worked with a new engineer,” he said. “I was a co-producer on that along with John Lewis Parker, but we got it done and it came out OK. We were still running tape back then, two-inch tape … big reels of tape, carrying it around and I was living in New Orleans at the time we made that record, so I came out to California and did the record out there and it was great. You’re jogging my memory!”
Two more nominations followed for “The Door” (2000) and “Big Wide Grin” (2001) before winning his third Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album with “Keep it Simple” (2004).
“It was just keeping it simple,” Keb’ Mo’ said. “‘Shave Your Legs’ was on that record, ‘Prosperity Blues,’ there’s an overlooked gem: ‘I can’t even crack a frown since the blues slipped outta town.'”
After an album of 60s-style peace anthems called “Peace … Back By Popular Demand” (2004), he racked up more nominations for his albums “Suitcase” (2006), “The Reflection” (2011) and “BLUES Americana” (2014).
Eventually, he won his fourth Grammy collaborating with blues legend Taj Mahal on “TajMo” (2017).
“That’s called a legend and a hanger on-er — you know which one is which,” Keb’ Mo’ said. “Taj Mahal is a giant and to be working on that record, I’m kicking myself and I thought after that experience I didn’t really want to do any more TajMo records because it was too much on my heart to be in the studio working with him right up close. We won the Grammy and I said, ‘It can’t get any better than this. Let’s leave that alone.'”
From there, he stretched genres by winning the Grammy for Best Americana Album for “Oklahoma” (2019), a year before saluting country legend Garth Brooks by singing “The River” at D.C.’s DAR Constitution Hall during the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2020.
“That was shocking to say the least,” Keb’ Mo’ said. “I wasn’t expecting to win let alone get nominated, I just wanted to do something different in another genre, then bam, here we are, winning an Americana Grammy.”
What’s next for Keb’ Mo’? Turns out, he’s reunited with Taj Mahal, who he ranks on his Mount Rushmore of blues legends along with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King.
“We’re mixing it now and it comes out in February,” Keb’ Mo’ said. “This one is really cool and it has a whole different feel to the record. We’ve got some cool songs and I won’t reveal the title of it yet, but I’m really excited about it. It might stand up to the first one.”
My suggestion: Flip the title of “TajMo” around to “MoTaj” — as in More Taj.
“You’re having way too much fun on your job, man,” he joked.
Listen to our full conversation on the podcast below:
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