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Keb’ Mo’: BLUESAmericana

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Kind of Blue Music
Released: 2014.04.22
Time:
 38:05
Category: Blues
Producer(s): Keb' Mo', Casey Wasner
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.kebmo.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2014
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] The Worst Is Yet to Come (Heather Donovan / Kevin Moore / Pete Sallis) - 3:57
[2] Somebody Hurt You (Kevin Moore / John Lewis Parker) - 3:37
[3] Do It Right (Kevin Moore / Jim Weatherly) - 4:08
[4] I'm Gonna Be Your Man (Kevin Moore / John Lewis Parker) - 4:34
[5] Move (Tom Hambridge / Kevin Moore) - 4:32
[6] For Better or Worse (Heather Donovan / Kevin Moore / Victoria Shaw) - 3:25
[7] That's Alright (Jimmy Rogers) - 4:15
[8] The Old Me Better (Kevin Moore / John Lewis Parker) - 2:56
[9] More for Your Money (Kevin Moore / Gary Nicholson) - 2:48
[10] So Long Goodbye (Rebecca Corriea / Kevin Moore) - 3:53

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Keb' Mo' - Banjo, Bass, Guitar, Acoustic, Resonator & Electric Guitar, Harmonica, Horn Arrangements, Keyboards, Organ, Piano, Primary Artist, Producer, Slide Guitar, Tambourine

Casey Wasner - Bass, Drums, Engineer, Producer, Tracking
Brian Allen - Bass
Paul Franklin - Pedal Steel
Tom Hambridge - Drums
Michael Hanna - Organ, Piano
Michael Hicks - Organ, Background Vocals
Steve Jordan - Drums
Tim Lauer - Organ, Piano
Colin Linden - Handclapping, Mandolin
Kevin Moore - Banjo, Guitar, Electric Piano,
Jeffrey Moran - Banjo
Patrick Morrison - Banjo
Jovan Quallo - Tenor Saxophone
Juan Carlos Reynoso - Washboard
Dominique Rodriguez - Drums
Tom Shinness - Cello, Mandolin
Keio Stroud - Drums
Joe Wood - Handclapping

The California Feet Warmers - Horns on [8]
Melvin "Maestro" Lightford - Horn Arrangements
Brandon Armstrong - Sousaphone
Roland Barber - Trombone
Charles Decastro - Trumpet
Joshua Kaufman - Clarinet
Justin Rubenstein - Trombone
Quentin Ware - Trumpet

Robbie Brooks-Moore - Background Vocals
Darcy Stewart - Background Vocals
Moiba Mustafa - Background Vocals
Rip Patton - Background Vocals
Kevin So - Background Vocals

Zach Allen - Engineer, Tracking
John Caldwell - Engineer, Tracking
David Leonard - Engineer, Tracking
John Schirmer - Engineer, Tracking
Ross Hogarth - Mixing
Richard Dodd - Mastering
Andrea Lucero - Photography
Meghan Aileen Schirmer - Cover Design, Package Design
Leigh Brannon - Production Manager, Project Manager

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


The title is a tip-off that after the soul excursion of The Reflection, Keb' Mo' is getting back to the blues, but also that he's concerned with not limiting himself to just that genre. It's clear Keb' Mo' has a broad view of the blues, seeing it as the backbone of American music, a generous definition he makes plain on BLUESAmericana. As the record rolls through its ten tracks, it amiably drifts across the country, touching upon the careening New Orleans stomp of "Old Me Better" as well as the soulful thrum of Memphis on "For Better or Worse." Keb' Mo' takes plenty of stops along the way, favoring a bit of Chicago grind and low-key Texas shuffles, but usually he pours it all into a relaxed, friendly groove that leaves plenty of space for his warm, cheerful vocals. Such an emphasis on feel means that beneath its sly anthropology, BLUESAmericana is essentially mood music, a soundtrack for good times on a sunny Sunday afternoon, and if that seems like slight praise, it also means that the album ultimately proves Keb' Mo''s point; blues can be heard in every thread of the musical fabric of America.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine - All Music Guide



Here it is, BLUESAmericana. Kevin Moore’s 11th full length album released under the name of Keb’ Mo’. Anyone who has followed him this far into his career knows that Keb’ Mo’ is not the type to experiment wildly. The only curveballs he’s thrown us over the years were two albums of mostly covers (Big Wide Grin and Peace…Back by Popular Demand) and a Christmas EP (The Spirit of the Holiday), and even those didn’t shortchange us on any of the down home country blues that he’s molded into a style of his own. Keb’ Mo’ is like your favorite stew—you know how it’s going to taste, which is why you keep going back to it. You refer to it as “consistent” rather than “predictable”. The return of the same traits comfort instead of bore you. As my wife said when I played this album in the living room, “it sounds like… Keb’ Mo’!”

Even if you got your hands on a karaoke mix of BLUESAmericana, you would know that it’s a Keb’ Mo’ album. Just from the first few bars, the andante banjo, soft harmonica and no nonsense drums are likely to give you a flashback to any of your favorite Keb’ Mo’ albums. By track three, that resonator from the front cover of his major label debut makes its return. Mo’ Keb’ is good Keb’. The one form of musical deviation gives us the album’s most memorable song, “Old Me Better”. Co-written with John Lewis Parker and performed with the California Feetwarmers, its honking kazoos, oinking tuba and sinewy reeds and brass put you squarely in the French Quarter. The lyrics are just as entertaining, with the main character lamenting the loss of his old self: “You made me a brand new man / But I like the old me better”. Even when he sings “I was a lot more fun”, this is the most fun moment on all of BLUESAmericana.

BLUESAmericana can be a bit of a buzzkill too. Hey, it’s the blues, isn’t it? The press release refers to a “challenging patch” that Keb’ Mo’ and his wife went through during the songwriting process for the album. I don’t know what that patch was, and I don’t blame the couple for not wanting to air all their dirty laundry for everyone to see. But the same press release refers to its “happy resolution”, so I assume that everything’s okay at home now. There are two songs that take a serious look at marital discourse. “For Better of Worse” finds the couple sticking it out, persevering through the talks and hard truths. “So Long Goodbye” finds another couple calling it a day—and it’s the last track of the album. Mercy.

But Keb’ Mo’ worked with producer Casey Wasner to nail down “pure” sounds (at first, BLUESAmericana was going to be just Keb’ Mo’ and a guitar), and with pure music comes pure lyrics. Wasner doesn’t futz with the gospel flavorings of “Somebody Hurt You” or the Midwestern chug rock of “Move”. And on the 12 bar blues cover “That’s Alright”, something that Keb’ Mo’ does surprisingly little of, no modern elements are carelessly dropped into the mix. Besides, the protagonist of the Sam Chatmon tune is totally indifferent to his two-timing old lady. The dude in the center of the album’s opener “The Worst Is Yet To Come” takes his bad luck much harder. He wakes up from a bad night’s sleep, misses two meals, gets news that he’s about to lose his job, then notices that his car’s burning oil. Then the last verse: “Got back to my house, opened up the door / She took everything I had, and a dog took a shit on the floor / Lord have mercy, even the bedbugs up and run”.

About the least “pure” moment of BLUESAmericana is a Fender Rhodes-propelled shuffle called “I’m Gonna Be Your Man”. With some oddly placed major thirds and sevenths, it’s almost too purty to be blues or Americana. But so what? Keb’ Mo’ has made a long career out of avoiding commitments to genres, especially those that tend to snootily revel in purity and rawness. That purity may be what he was aiming for with Casey Wasner, but sometimes the man just can’t help himself. He’s Keb’ Mo’. BLUESAmericana is not his finest album, but it’s got plenty inside to remind you of why you like him in the first place.

John Garratt, 21 April 2014
PopMatters Associate Music Editor



"I like having definition but not being defined," says Keb' Mo'.

So, for the title of his newest album, he took two related genres of music and pushed them together, coming up with BLUESAmericana, which streams at USA TODAY a week in advance of its official release.

"After all the years of going between genres, I thought Americana seems to be very encompassing, and blues is a part of my experience," says the Nashville-based singer-songwriter, 62. "After coming back from my last record (2011's The Reflection) — which was more a soul record, a slick record — to a more recognizable Keb' Mo, I thought BLUESAmericana was the way to go. It kind of defined a genre for me, carved out a place I want to be in."

Lyrically, though, BLUESAmericana leans heavily on messages of marriage and commitment.

"It's a love record" except for opening track The Worst Is Yet to Come, Mo' says. "There are a lot of love and challenging songs, because that's the way I am with my music. I write about my life, what's going on. I just let it all hang out."

BLUESAmericana is also an album full of secret history. The singer with the low part on Somebody Hurt You, for example, belongs to Ernest "Rip" Patton, Mo's next-door neighbor when he was growing up in Compton, Calif. "I knew him as a jazz drummer, and I was a kid with a new guitar from Sears." Years later, after they reconnected in Nashville, Mo' learned that Patton also was one of the original Freedom Riders, a group that challenged segregated public transportation in the South during the early '60s. "Then I found out he had this great bass singing voice, so I had him come in with three younger guys and sing," Mo' says.

Mo' wrote Do It Right with Jim Weatherly, the writer of Gladys Knight & the Pips classics Midnight Train to Georgia and Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye). The two met one night at Nashville's famed Bluebird Café, then Mo' ran into Weatherly the following day at a restaurant and soon got together to write. "He's got a searchlight in his brain," Mo' says. "He's looking for the artery; he's looking for that thing. When you write a song with him, you don't just come away with a song. You come away with an experience."

Mo' wrote songs for BLUESAmericana with Nashville writers Victoria Shaw (For Better or Worse) and Gary Nicholson (More for Your Money). He also covers Ike Turner's That's Alright, a song he learned from watching a Sam Chatmon video on YouTube. "I wanted something down-home and dirty on it," Mo' says.

BLUESAmericana is the three-time Grammy winner's 12th album, and it marks the 20th anniversary of his recording career. "I recorded my first album in November of '93, and I recorded this one during November 2013," he says.

Mo' says he's far more meticulous with his recording now than he was when he released the self-titled Keb' Mo' in 1994. "A lot of people like things raw," he says. "I don't want raw. I wanted to the record to have some precision to my looseness."

Brian Mansfield, April 15, 2014
Special for USA TODAY



Of all the Blues Albums currently on last weeks (10/12/14)  Billboard chart, Keb’ Mo’ Bluesamericana has charted in the top ten longer than any other, an impressive twenty-four weeks. This three-time Grammy-awarded Blues bard continues to extend his legacy as an essential twenty-first century master of this original American art  form.

Bluesamericana is Keb Mo’s first release since 2011′s  Grammy nominated, The Reflection, which included heavy hitting guests like India. Arie, Vince Gill, David T. Walker, Dave Koz and Marcus Miller.  Mo’s first inclination for the current recording was to make a stripped down accoustic album. But his passion for ensemble playing put that notion to rest.  Though there is plenty of acoustic playing, it is augmented with electric instruments too.

There is a full cast of musicians and singers. To wit, co-producer Casey Wagner, drums and bass, Keb’ Mo’, vocals, bass, electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, tambourine, keys, slide guitar, resontator guitar & horn arrangements, Michael Hicks, organ, backing vocals, Rip Patton, Darcy Stewart, Moiba Mustafe, backing vocals, Keio Stroud, drums, Brian Allen, bass. Colin Linden, mandolin, Michael “Maestro” Lightfoot, horn arrangement, Quintin Ware, trumpet, Jovan Quallo, tenor sax, Roland Barber, trombone, Tom Hambridge, drums, Paul Franklin, pedal steel guitar, Tim Lauer, organ, piano, Steve Jordan, drums, Michael Hanna, piano, Tim Shinness, cello, mandolin, The California Feet Warmers and Robbie Brooks Moore, Mrs. Mo’ & backing vocals.

Part of the magic of this production is that it is not overblown.  In spite of having twenty or so contributors the finished result never sounds more than an ensemble of four or five. The basic framework for this expansive project were basic tracks laid at Keb’ Mo’s home studio on the outskirts of Nashville with co-producer Casey Wasner and drummer Keio Stroud.  They then seemed to texture in elements of Delta Blues, Pop,  Jazz and  Doo-Wop.

There are several standout tracks here. The opening number, “The Worst Is Yet To Come,” with it’s intro of drum, bass, and home run banjo makes you wanna get up and Buckdance even when you don’t know how.  Understated mandolin, harmonica and background vocals make it sweet.

“I’m Gonna Be Your Man, ” is a solid, well crafted declaration of good lovin’ intentions.  The Doo-wop outro really highlights the confidence of the narrator.

“That’s Alright,” written by Jimmy Rogers (first Muddy Waters band alum), not to be confused with “That’s All Right (Mama),” written and sang originally by Arthur “Big Boy Crudup, later becoming Elvis’s first RCA recording, offers a wry, in the alley look at the lover’s triangle theme.

The California Feetwarmers add New Oreans cred on “The Old Me Better.”

Bluesamericana has something for everybody. Keb’ Mo’ rolls on.

Tee Watts - Blues Blast Magazine



Those who were disappointed in the slick, blues-free approach that made Keb’ Mo’s previous release so bland will be pleased to know this follow-up three years later is a substantial improvement. Despite the singer/guitarist’s early affiliation with Robert Johnson, his albums have been more informed by an easy on the ears pop/blues/soul mix that hewed too close to snoozy to have much bite. But putting “blues” in caps for this release’s title is an indication of how he has retreated to the music that first put him on the map in 1994. While no one will mistake this for Muddy Waters or even Mo’s old mentor Taj Mahal, it’s encouraging that the album’s only non-original is from deep bluesman (and Waters sideman) Jimmy Rogers as opposed to a less than convincing Eagles cover from 2008’s fuzzy The Reflection.

Lyrically, Mo’ puts his smooth vocals to work on a few socio economic issues in the banjo assisted “The Worst is Yet to Come,” and “More for Your Money,” the latter stripped down to Mo’s skeletal bass and guitar, with brushed drums mandolin and errr…cello. The rest concerns matters of the heart and life changes, in particular the singer’s somewhat uneasy maturing which he confronts head on in the peppy New Orleans Dixieland horn enhanced “The Old Me Better,” guaranteed to be smile inducing. Mo’s pop blues is especially effective on “Somebody Hurt You,” a near perfect combination of genres that while far from earthy, sports a stylish Robert Cray styled guitar solo. Ditto for the glossy but never too sugary “I’m Gonna Be Your Man” featuring a taut resonator guitar solo that tears a slight edge in the song’s affable shuffle. And give the multi-talented Mo’ credit for getting somewhat down and dirty by overdubbing himself on bass, slide and electric guitar, organ and harmonica on a perfectly credible version of Rogers’ blues standard “That’s Alright” assisted by Steve Jordan’s always in the pocket drums.

It’s clear that Mo’ put his heart into these tunes and even if they’re not as rootsy as the album’s title suggests, this is a warm, relaxed and enjoyable set that creates an effortless and natural blues/soul groove.

Hal Horowitz - April 22nd, 2014
© 2015 ForASong Media, LLC - American Songwriter



Over the past 20 years, Keb’ Mo’ has been among a small group of African American next generation musicians widely considered to be the future of blues music. Along with contemporaries like Corey Harris, Eric Bibb, Guy Davis, Otis Taylor and Alvin Youngblood Hart, Keb’ Mo’ has carried the torch of blues music passed on by great Post-War artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson.  Each of them has experimented and modernized the music while moving it forward as an art form.

Keb MoBorn Kevin Moore in Los Angeles, it is said he got his unique stage name from his original drummer, Quentin Dennard, and embraced it as a “street talk” shortening of his full name.  An accomplished musician at a young age, Moore was a side man to Papa John Creach (of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna) in the 1970s.  He played in various R&B bands in the 1980s until he landed a job as a bluesman in a stage play called Rabbit Foot in 1990 and later appeared as Robert Johnson in another play, Can’t You Hear The Wind Howl?

But Moore didn’t really receive wide acclaim until he was in his forties.  In 1994, Keb’ Mo’s self-titled first album, which included two Robert Johnson covers and 11 of his own songs, was released.  That first album was a masterpiece that echoed with the rustic roots of Delta blues.  Since then he has branched out and incorporated various soul, rock and pop music strains into his work.  He won Grammy awards in contemporary blues in 1996 for his second album, Just Like You, and again in 1998 for Slow Down.  In addition to his recorded work, Moore has also appeared in a number of films, including his role as Possum in John Sayles’ blues-themed Honeydripper in 2007 (which also featured Gary Clark Jr., who is now hailed as the new future of blues).  One of the best renditions of “Sweet Home Chicago” you may ever see is the Keb’ Mo’-Corey Harris duet that can be viewed as a special feature to the DVD of Feel Like Going Home, the Martin Scorsese-directed first installment in The Blues film series that aired on PBS in 2003.

Keb’ Mo’s work is always well done, and he is an engaging entertainer, but he has sometimes strayed far from the roots music for which he was so well recognized.  His 2011 release The Reflection, for instance, is a soul album that might best be described as jazzy pop music.  Moore’s voice pulled it off, but it was a huge stylistic stretch from what many fans might have expected.

BLUESAmericana represents a return to the varied formula that made Keb’ Mo’s early albums so welcoming.  He is a master of pure Delta acoustic blues, but he can also pick up the pace some with relaxed, soul-inflected pieces.  The album features a large  collection of musicians and background singers, including a full horn section on several songs.  The opening, “The Worst Is Yet to Come,” mixes some juicy banjo picking into an uptempo jaunt.  Other great selections include the lively “Do It Right,” the sentimental “For Better or Worse,” the dark Jimmy Rogers cover “That’s All Right,” and the playful “The Old Me Better.”  Those looking for the quieter, more reflective acoustic side of Keb’ Mo’ will enjoy “More For Your Money.”

Bill Wilcox - May 01, 2014
© Twangville.com



I find it a little precarious to evaluate the worth of a contemporary blues album. In a genre that gave birth to all different forms of American music and has stood steadfast through decades, what am I looking for? Am I searching for a reinvention of the genre itself? Like Buddy Guy did on Sweet Tea or R.L. Burnside on A Ass Pocket of Whiskey, am I looking for the artist to be reinvented?

Generally speaking, my ear tends to enjoy old, modern, and contemporary blues much more frequently than much of the rock music getting play on the radio nowadays. That's more of a testament to the genre of blues and its inherent natural pleasures than it is a criticism of other contemporary music. Something about blues music is just right: the pentatonic scale, the laments of unrequited love, the down-on-his-luck blues man who aches out a hopeful resolve. Something's in it—has always been in it—that works and has kept it alive, if not always in the spotlight, since its inception.

But I've wondered: what should a 2014 blues record do? What could possibly be added to the conversation that hasn't already been said? If nothing, what's the purpose of a new blues record? There are a few things that are reasonable to expect from such a record. First, can the artist sing? Gone are the days of Robert Johnson's frail voice shaking out of a scratchy recording. Regardless of the instrumental work, a contemporary blues artist ought to be able to sing, and I mean sing. Think Koko Taylor. Think Stevie Ray Vaughan, whose voice I've always thought has been underrated and under-appreciated.

Kevin Moore—whose stage name is Keb' Mo'—has this first criterion all locked up on his new record, Bluesamericana. You'd be hard pressed to find any sort of reasonable criticism of his vocal work. Like Koko Taylor, he's got a voice that's instantly recognizable. It's not that its raspy or coarse, but there's something about it that feels authentic, almost aluminum, as if he was born with a dobro in his throat. This hasn't been lost on his fellow musicians either, as he's been featured on a number of albums throughout his career, including two records with lauded jazz musician Marcus Miller. On Bluesamericana, Keb' Mo's voice shines right on through from start to finish, and he shows an admirable knowledgeable of the value of restraint. While he certainly could do so more frequently, he only briefly exhibits his full vocal range, and only at opportune times. This allows those brief moments to stand out while not taking too much focus away from the instruments themselves.

Secondly, it seems reasonable that a new blues record ought not try to reinvent the wheel of the genre, but at the same time give it a fingerprint that listeners might not necessarily expect when they press play. Keb' Mo' does this reasonably well on Bluesamericana, whether through the use of instruments we might not immediately expect to hear—such as the banjo—or with varied moods and cadences from song to song. In the first five tracks of the album, for example, you'll hear echoes of folk (the “americana” portion of the album's title), funk, rock, and jazz. Of course, the songs that result from these variations vary in quality, and not all of them inherently ask to be listened to again, but at all times the arrangement of instruments and sounds is so expertly done that it all feels natural.

Third, the lyrical content of a new blues record should make an effort to offer up a modern take on inevitably traditional blues ideas. A cheating lover, an ever-elusive financial stability, a hard-worked life: all of these things have been at the heart of the blues since it came to be. Probably the most challenging thing for this record to do is add new folds to such content. At times, it fails to do so. On “More For Your Money,” for example, we hear an attempt to add a modern flare to the old woes about money. Unfortunately, it doesn't feel authentic. On the other hand, that authenticity is all over the NOLA-inspired “Old Me Better.” While these efforts to be lyrically new aren't always successful, there's almost always an attempt to do so, and that's admirable in itself.

As someone who has spent and will continue to spend a whole lot of time listening to the blues—from Robert Petway to Albert King, from T-Model Ford to Joe Bonamassa—I enjoy Bluesamericana most when it is rooted heavily in a more traditional sound while adding subtle layers of variation that make it new. The record really falls off at the end, but there are several tracks here that fans of the blues will appreciate, both for the record's attention to history and its contemporary flashes.

P. J. Williams - 06/29/2014
ImpressionOfSound.com
 

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