{"id":815,"date":"2012-07-07T16:43:37","date_gmt":"2012-07-07T15:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/?p=815"},"modified":"2022-12-25T11:15:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-25T11:15:46","slug":"keb-mo-hes-mo-than-just-a-bluesman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/?p=815","title":{"rendered":"Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 \u2013 He\u2019s Mo\u2019 than Just a Bluesman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The name may sound a bit unorthodox to the uninitiated, but Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 (born Kevin Moore) is a household name in the modern blues scene.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Though he was born well after the heyday of many great Delta blues musicians, the roots of Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019s sound dates back to a simpler time in American blues history, while incorporating other, more modern genres seamlessly into his music.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>A late bloomer of sorts, Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 got his big break in the mid-\u201890s, when he was in his early 40s, proving that it\u2019s never too late to become a success in the music industry.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The musician who would later be known as Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 was born in Los Angeles, California, on October 3, 1951.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Despite being quite skillful on the guitar as a young man, Kevin Moore, as he was then known, got his start as a calypso bassist and steel drummer.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>After a few collaborations with violinist Papa John Creach of Jefferson Airplane fame, Moore released a heavily pop and R&B-flavored debut album, <\/span><\/span>Rainmaker,<\/span><\/em> in 1980, using his birth name.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It would be fourteen years before the world would hear of Kevin Moore again \u2013 in 1994, he had a new, snappy stage name and a self-titled release <\/span><\/span>Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019<\/span><\/em> .<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Unlike his 1980 debut, this had a distinct Delta blues flavor and even included two remakes of Robert Johnson originals, \u201cKindhearted Woman Blues\u201d and \u201cCome on in My Kitchen.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>His next album under the new moniker, <\/span><\/span>Just like You<\/span><\/em>, was released in 1996 and won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Despite being 45 at the time, Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019s midlife was anything but a crisis. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>He was the blues scene\u2019s newest superstar, and the best would be yet to come.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The critically-acclaimed <\/span>Slow Down <\/span><\/em>in 1998 and <\/span><\/span>Keep it Simple<\/span><\/em> in 2004 would also win Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammys for Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 the year after their release.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In between those two releases, Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 starred as the legend himself, Robert Johnson, in a 1998 documentary called <\/span><\/span>Can\u2019t You Hear the Wind Now? <\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>He made several recurring appearances on <\/span><\/span>Touched by an Angel.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/em>There were no awards in 2000, but Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 recorded two albums that year \u2013 <\/span><\/span>The Door<\/span><\/em> and <\/span><\/span>Big Wide Grin<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The latter, which was released in 2001, was mostly a covers album, featuring new renditions of several \u201870s rock and R&B classics such as Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cIsn\u2019t She Lovely\u201d and Sly and the Family Stone\u2019s \u201cFamily Affair.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After 2006\u2019s <\/span>Suitcase<\/span><\/em>, a five-year lull followed with no new studio albums recorded.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>A semi-live, semi-studio album, <\/span><\/span>Live and Mo<\/span><\/em>\u2019 was released in 2009.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But the real follow-up to <\/span><\/span>Suitcase<\/span><\/em> came last year via <\/span><\/span>The Reflection<\/span><\/em>, which many feel is a poppier departure from Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019s usual sound.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Nonetheless, <\/span><\/span>The Reflection<\/span><\/em> got a Grammy nomination for Best Blues Album this year, losing out to the Tedeschi Trucks Band\u2019s <\/span><\/span>Revelator<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To this day, Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 remains a force to be reckoned with as a modern-day bluesman.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>His sound has certainly evolved through the years to the point it\u2019s debatable to call him a pure blues musician. Still, the blues foundation is there, as it has always been since that inauspicious 1980 debut.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The name may sound a bit unorthodox to the uninitiated, but Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 (born Kevin Moore) is a household name in the modern blues scene.\u00a0 Though he was born well after the heyday of many great Delta blues musicians, the roots of Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019s sound dates back to a simpler time in American blues history, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=815"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":817,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions\/817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thebluesguitarplayer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}