The Door (CD - 2000)

Personnel includes: Keb' Mo' (vocals, guitar); Scarlet Rivera (violin); Greg Phillinganes (keyboards); Reggie McBride (bass); Steve Jordan, Jim Keltner (drums).

Engineers: Mark Johnson, Hans Leibert, Dave O'Donnell.

Recorded at Groove Masters, Santa Monica, California; Stu Stu Studio, Marina Del Rey, California; The Secret Studio and Right Track Recording, New York, New York.

THE DOOR was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

Personnel: Keb' Mo' (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Dennis Collins, James "D-Train" Williams , Leon Ware , Marva Hicks (vocals, background vocals); Clayton Gibb (banjo); Scarlet Rivera (violin); Thomas Tally (viola); Gerri Sutyak (cello); Lawrence Feldman (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); David Mann (tenor saxophone); Lew Soloff (trumpet); Michael Davis (trombone); Greg Phillinganes (keyboards, synthesizer, guitar synthesizer); Tommy Eyre (string synthesizer); Steve Jordan , Sergio González (drums, percussion); Jim Keltner (drums).

Audio Mixers: Dave O'Donnell ; Ryan Smith .

Recording information: Groovemasters, Santa Monica, CA; Right Track Recording Studio, New York, NY; Right Track Studios, NY; Stu Stu Studio, Marina Del Rey, CA; Stu Stu Studios, Marina Del Rey, CA; The Groove Masters, Santa Monica, CA; The Secret Studio, New York, NY.

Photographer: John Halpern.

Keb' Mo''s self-titled first album, from its Robert Johnson covers to its appearance on a resuscitated Okeh Records, seemed to suggest the arrival of a Delta blues traditionalist, even though the former Kevin Moore was really a Los Angeles native who had kicked around the music business for years playing various styles of music. The follow-up, Just Like You, was therefore a disappointment to blues purists, since it clearly used folk-blues as a basis to create adult contemporary pop in the Bonnie Raitt mold. But to the music industry, that was just fine, since it fostered the hope that here was an artist (finally!) who could find a way to make the blues -- consistently revered but commercially dicey -- pay, and Keb' Mo' won a Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy for his effort. Slow Down (1998) brought him a second Grammy and got even higher in the charts. The Door is more of the same. Keb' Mo''s slightly gritty voice and fingerpicking are the focus of the music, but he does not hesitate to add mainstream pop elements, beginning with writing partners who include Bobby McFerrin and Melissa Manchester, and continuing with a backup band that features such session aces as keyboard player Greg Phillinganes and drummer Jim Keltner. This is music that is folkish and bluesy rather than being actual folk-blues. Just in case anyone hasn't gotten the point yet, Keb' Mo' begins the album's sole cover, Elmore James' "It Hurts Me Too," in authentic folk-blues style, after which the arrangement lurches into a heavily percussive, anything but traditional direction. It's fair warning that the singer/guitarist is interested in tradition only as a jumping-off point. Maybe that's what "contemporary blues" is. ~ William Ruhlmann

For his fourth album, California native Keb' Mo' continues down his same creative path, weaving traditional country blues with more contemporary pop sounds. Content to leave guitar histrionics to young bucks like Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, the former Kevin Moore instead uses his skill with a National Steel guitar to give his material a texture like smooth sippin' whiskey.

Keb' Mo's most endearing quality is a laid-back persona that fits comfortably like a worn pair of jeans. This molasses-slow delivery works particularly well on the uplifting title track of spiritual renewal, and the laconic "It's All Coming Back," which features jazzy guitar chords and George Benson-like scatting. He demonstrates a sure hand in covering a wide range of human emotion and social situations, including the sad scenarios of class barriers ("Anyway") and poignant heartbreak ("Come On Back"). Elsewhere, he shows off his sassy side with the slyly ribald "Gimme What You Got," complete with funky licks buoyed by bouncy brass and string arrangements, in addition to a weird, Eurodisco-like cover of Elmore James' "It Hurts Me Too," dripping with slide guitar. minimize