Keb' Mo'

Mo' Than the Blues
Keb' Mo' Reveals his Pop and Gospel Roots on "The Reflection"
By Andrew Clayman
Published in The Nashville Scene, October 2011

Like any reputable bluesman, Keb' Mo' has a back story slightly blurred by mythology. Only in this case, the folklore lies in the very notion that Keb' Mo' (born Kevin Moore) actually plays the blues. Sure, the 60-year-old Nashville resident has been a lifelong admirer of Robert Johnson, covering several of the Delta legend's songs and even portraying him in the 1998 film Can't You Hear the Wind Howl? But for those who have truly followed Mo's music up through his latest album, The Reflection, it's clear that his reputation as a revivalist is wildly inaccurate.

"Getting tagged as a blues artist — that's just a consequence of people not actually hearing me," Mo' says. "They've just heard about me."

In reality, since his humble beginnings as a teen guitar wizard in South Central LA, Mo's passions for AM pop, soul and jazz have largely propelled his music — even during the '90s, when his retro attire and appearances on Martin Scorsese's The Blues set up some enduring misconceptions.

On The Reflection — Mo's eighth full-length studio album and first in five years — there's again nary a hint of 12-bar in the bunch, with most of the songs taking on a slick, adult-contemporary vibe along the lines of Eric Clapton's "Change the World." Mo' even offers a mellow cover of the Eagles' "One of These Nights" — a bold move one wouldn't expect of, say, Buddy Guy. But considering the fact that Keb's own press materials size up many of these tunes as perfectly suited to "urban radio's 'Quiet Storm' format," the easygoing tone is quite clearly intentional.

"To me, the best way to experience a record is to light a fire, have a glass of wine, and take it in," Mo' says. "For some people, if you don't have a certain spontaneity or rawness in the recording, it can lose some of the feeling. But to me, it's the opposite. Because as part of the creative process, the more time and attention you give a song, in my experience, the more that feeling can actually intensify."

After winning three Grammy awards as a major label artist (all three for "Best Contemporary Blues Album," of course), Mo' hasn't necessarily ventured into new musical territory on The Reflection, but it's a new beginning of sorts — his first release on his own Yolabelle label. "Things hit home a little harder when you're writing the checks yourself," he says with a chuckle. More importantly, though, Mo' says the new record — free of any outside label influence — is a truly unfiltered look into the here and now as he sees it.

"For me, it's always been a journey — making music and telling truths. And a record is like a stop along the way in that journey, you know? How am I looking at life, relationships, politics and everything else right now? That's kind of what 'The Reflection' means — my music mirroring my life."

Mo' adds that — on every stop of a journey — you "pick some people up and drop some people off." This could apply, among other things, to his impressive and eclectic cast of collaborators. This time around, guests include Vince Gill ("My Baby's Tellin' Lies"), Dave Koz (on the Eagles jam), India.Arie ("Crush on You") and virtually all of Mo's extended family on a moving rendition of the old spiritual "Something Within."

Maybe the standout track on The Reflection, though, is "We Don't Need It," a song about tough times and family sacrifices that Mo' originally wrote with Allan Rich back in 2004.

"We had done a real nice recording of 'We Don't Need It' for the Keep It Simple album," Mo' says, "but it didn't make the final cut. For some reason, I felt like I just hadn't captured it quite right. So on this record, I decided to finally revisit it and take the song in a new direction. And in that moment, when I recorded it, I knew I had the right version. It was just the right time, you know? After that, it seemed like every time I played it, people were really moved by it, and it became the showpiece of the record."

As a song about the importance of love over materialism, "We Don't Need It" reflects Keb' Mo's general philosophy on his life and career rather accurately.

"I actually don't really think of what I do as a career," he says. "It's more of a calling. You know, a career is something you put in time for so you can get that BMW or Mercedes. A calling is something that's in your soul that you were born to do. Now, if you do that and still get a BMW or Mercedes, too, that's OK [laughs]. I've never owned one myself, but I've sat in them, and they're pretty nice cars."