Keep It Simple (CD - 2004)

Personnel: Keb' Mo' (vocals, guitar, banjo, bouzouki, steel mandolin, bass, percussion); Robben Ford, Robert Cray (guitar, background vocals); John Porter (guitar); Paul Franklin (dobro); Jeff Paris (mandolin, harmonica, piano, organ, keyboards); Steve Bush (mandolin); Andrea Zonn (violin, background vocals); Greg Phillinganes (piano, electric piano); John Hobbs (Fender Rhodes piano, electric piano); Reggie McBride, Nathan East, Reggie McBride (bass); Ricky Lawson, Steve Ferrone, Chad Cromwell (drums); Munyungo Jackson (percussion); Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Alex Brown, Bobette Jamison-Harrison, Phillip Ingram, Shannon Curfman (background vocals).

Recorded at The Village Recorders and Stu Stu, West Los Angeles, California; House Of Blues Studio, Encino, California; Blackbird Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

Personnel: Keb' Mo' (vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, synthesizer, percussion); Robben Ford, Robert Cray (guitar, background vocals); John Porter (guitar); Paul Franklin (dobro); Jeff Paris (mandolin, harmonica, piano, organ, keyboards); Sam Bush (mandolin); Andrea Zonn (violin, background vocals); Greg Philinganes (piano, electric piano, keyboards); John Hobbs (electric piano, Fender Rhodes piano); Ricky Lawson, Steve Ferrone, Chad Cromwell (drums); Munyungo Jackson (percussion); Bobette Harrison-Jamison, Alex Brown, Amy Grant, Phillip Ingram, Shannon Curfman, Vince Gill (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Keb' Mo'.

Recording information: Blackbird Studios, Nashville, TN; House Of Blues, Encino, CA; Stu Stu Studio, West Los Angeles, CA; The Village Recorders, West Los Angeles, CA.

Photographer: Frank W. 3 Ockenfels.

Keb' Mo' is less a blues singer than a performer who works from that conceptual base, not in the way Taj Mahal does, knowingly carrying a tradition forward, half teacher and wise elder, but more as a populist, the James Taylor of blues, say, or a less recalcitrant J.J. Cale. To criticize him for not being Skip James or Robert Johnson sort of misses the point of what Keb' Mo' is shooting for, and like Bonnie Raitt discovered, bringing a modern pop-blues to a wide audience sure beats playing authentic for purists. Either path is as fake or as real as the other in a post-postmodern age where the blues creaks along as a single DNA strand in a world of rap, metal, and neo-soul. All of which makes the blues a strange career path to use to get straight out of Compton, yet that's exactly what Keb' Mo' has done, rising out of one of toughest urban landscapes in the world by covering Robert Johnson songs on his National steel guitar. So enough about whether he's a real bluesman or not, because in the end he has to put supper on the table, and he does it by crafting a warm, wry, blues-informed version of pop Americana that wrestles with contemporary problems like how to pay the mortgage, the high price of coffee, or how to afford a vacation in France. "France," the lead track on Keep It Simple, pretty much states the case with the lines "Wake up Mama/Don't you fret/I found two cheap tickets/On the Internet," which Keb' Mo' sings in a honey-tinged voice over a patented and tasteful blues shuffle. Later, in "House in California," he sings, "Better have good money/If you're looking for a house/In California," and again, he uses a shuffle to hang the news on, looking no further into the past than necessary to put the song across. Keb' Mo' is a solid guitar player, and is a master of the easy, nuanced vocal, and he makes like Denzel Washington on this album, commenting on the little problems and travails of contemporary life with a winning grin and an assured stance that you can't help but like. Is this a great album? No, just a good one, all of a piece with his earlier work, and his debut release, simply called Keb' Mo', is still probably your best bet for a first purchase. That's the album the critics like best because it stays closest to the Delta definition of the blues, and it is a good album, but Keb' Mo' didn't trade Compton for the Delta just to stay there. He's looking for a house in California and a plane ticket to France. Aren't we all? That's the blues, folks. ~ Steve Leggett

For his fifth studio album, KEEP IT SIMPLE, Keb' Mo' adhered to the title's advice and cut out any middleman by taking the production reins himself. As a result, the California native came away with a dozen songs that are perhaps the most personal of his career. Playing a combination of finger-picked and slide guitar, Mo' lends a tasty, fat tone to these tales of intimate relationships (the Bonnie Raitt-flavored "One Friend," featuring Shannon Curfman), simpler times (the harmonica-soaked, slow blues title cut) and pure unconditional love (the sprightly "Shave Yo' Legs"). Even Keb' Mo's use of special guests comes off as organic and woven into the mix. "Riley B. King" features Robben Ford and Robert Cray dropping in unobtrusive guitar solos, and the perky "House in California" seamlessly works in mandolin accompaniment by Sam Bush and harmonies by married couple Vince Gill and Amy Grant. KEEP IT SIMPLE is the sound of a skilled singer-songwriter who has hit a peak by sticking to the essence of blues music. minimize