Keb' Mo'
Encyclopedia
Keb' Mo' is an American
blues
singer, guitarist
, and songwriter
, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee
, United States.
and gospel music
. By adolescence
he was already an accomplished guitarist.
band. He moved on to play in a variety of blues and backup bands throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He first started recording in the early 1970s with Jefferson Airplane
violinist Papa John Creach
through an R&B group. Creach hired him when Moore was just twenty-one years old; Moore appeared on four of Creach's albums: Filthy!
, Playing My Fiddle for You
, I'm the Fiddle Man
and Rock Father
.
Around that time Moore was also a staff writer for A&M Records
, and arranged demos for Almo - Irving music. Keb' Mo's early debut, Rainmaker, was released on Chocolate City Records
, a subsidiary of Casablanca Records
, in 1980. He was further immersed in the blues with his long stint in the Whodunit Band, headed by Bobby "Blue" Bland producer Monk Higgins
. Moore jammed with Albert Collins
and Big Joe Turner
and emerged as an inheritor of a guarded tradition and as a genuine original.
In 1994, Keb' Mo' released his self-titled debut album, Keb' Mo'
, which featured two Robert Johnson covers, "Come On In My Kitchen
" and "Kind Hearted Woman Blues
". In the Martin Scorsese miniseries The Blues
, Keb' Mo' states that he was greatly influenced by Johnson.
In 1996 he released Just Like You
, his second album, which featured twelve songs full of Delta rhythms
. He won his first Grammy Award
for this album, which featured guest appearances from Jackson Browne
and Bonnie Raitt
.
On June 10, 1997, Moore performed on the television program
Sessions at West 54th
. He joined musicians Laval Belle on drums
, Reggie McBride playing bass
, and Joellen Friedkin on keyboards
to perform fourteen songs, some from each of his albums. Blues pianist Dr. John
also made a guest appearance. This session (known as Sessions at West 54th: Recorded Live in New York
) was shown on television, but was not released as a DVD
until late 2000.
Slow Down
, his next album, was released in 1998 and featured twelve songs. It earned him a second Grammy Award. The album begins with the song "Muddy Water", a tribute to Muddy Waters
. It also features a song entitled "Rainmaker", which had been released previously on his first album, eighteen years prior. The song was rerecorded, though there is little difference to the song itself with no lyrical changes at all.
His fourth album, The Door
, was released in 2000. The same year, Keb' Mo' released Big Wide Grin
, a children's album featuring many songs from Moore's own childhood, along with some newer children's songs and some by Moore himself.
In 2003, Martin Scorsese
collaborated with many blues musicians including Keb' Mo' to put together a series of films entitled The Blues. Following its release, several albums were released in accordance, some were compilations, some new collaborations, and Keb' Mo' released an album in the series featuring a handful of existing recordings from Keb' Mo to The Door.
On February 10, 2004, he released Keep It Simple
which earned him a third Grammy Award, again in the contemporary blues genre. Later that year he released his sixth studio album, Peace... Back by Popular Demand.
Moore released Suitcase
, on June 13, 2006. His touring band following the release included Reggie McBride on bass, Les Falconer III on drums, Jeff Paris on keyboards, and Clayton Gibb on guitar.
On October 20, 2009, Keb' Mo' released the live album
, Live & Mo'.
, Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?.
In 1997 Keb' Mo' portrayed the character Isaac, the Angel of Music, in the episode "Inherit the Wind" and again in 1999 in "Then Sings My Soul" of the television series Touched By an Angel
. He performed "Hand It Over" from his 1996 release Just Like You in the 1997 episode and again in the 2002 episode "Remembering Me: Part 2". He also appeared as J. D. Winslow in the 2001 episode "Shallow Water" where he performed his song "God Trying to Get Your Attention" from his album, Slow Down.
In 2006, he appeared on the final episode, "Tomorrow
" of The West Wing
to perform "America the Beautiful
" at the inauguration of President Matt Santos
.
In January 2007, he performed at the Sundance Film Festival
.
He played the role of the mischievous spirit Possum in the 2007 John Sayles
movie Honeydripper
.
tour alongside Bonnie Raitt
and Jackson Browne
, with whom he originally recorded the title track from the album Just Like You
.
Keb' Mo' is part of the No Nukes group which was against the expansion of nuclear power
. In 2007 the group recorded a music video
of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield
song "For What It's Worth".
s, acoustic guitar
s and resonator guitar
s. He has a preference for red guitars, as he says on his website : "I have a history with red guitars. My first electric was a red guitar.". He mostly plays on a red custom Fender Stratocaster
which has the particularity to feature two single-coil pickups, and one humbucker
and was much modified from a regular Stratocaster model. On stage, he prefers a Red Hamer guitar with Gibson P-100 pickups. Two of his electric guitars were lost in the 2010 Nashville flood : an Epiphone
Sheraton and a Danelectro
Selectomatic.
He owns a variety of acoustic and resonator guitars, including a Gibson
artist model, a guitar made for him by James Goodall, a National
Style N, a National Resorocket, a Gibson ES-335
-shaped resonator guitar with a P-90 pickup he bought in a Nashville club and got fixed.
" to the compilation album
, When Love Speaks
(EMI Classics
), which features famous actors and musicians interpreting Shakespearean
sonnet
s and play excerpts. Two years later, he appeared on Amy Grant: Greatest Hits 1986-2004
in a duet entitled "Come Be with Me", which became a modest success on pop radio.
In 2005 he appeared on Buddy Guy
's version of "Ain't No Sunshine
", along with Tracy Chapman
. Moore composed one of the theme songs featured on the show, Martha Stewart Living
. That same year, he appeared on Eric Clapton
's album Back Home
. In 2006, he co-wrote the song, "I Hope
", with the Dixie Chicks
for their album, Taking the Long Way
.
Moore also provided vocals to Marcus Miller
's 2007 album, Free
on the track entitled "Milky Way" and again on Miller's 2008 album entitled, Marcus
.
Moore appeared on the June 7, 2008 broadcast of Garrison Keillor
's radio program A Prairie Home Companion
. He performed two songs with Bonnie Raitt
: "No Getting Over You" and "There Ain't Nothin' in Ramblin'". The show was archived on the A Prairie Home Companion website.
Moore covered Lowen & Navarro's
"If You Loved Me Like That" on Keep The Light Alive: Celebrating The Music of Lowen & Navarro. The proceeds of the album benefited The Eric Lowen Trust, ALS Association Greater Los Angeles
, and Augie's Quest.
Moore sings the opening theme ("I See Love", written by Moore and Josh Kelley) to the CBS television show "Mike and Molly".
Moore appeared and played as a backing musician on an episode of Memphis Beat
in 2011.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, United States.
Early life
From early on he had an appreciation for the bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
. By adolescence
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
he was already an accomplished guitarist.
Career
Keb' Mo' started his musical career playing the steel drums and upright bass in a calypsoCalypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
band. He moved on to play in a variety of blues and backup bands throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He first started recording in the early 1970s with Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
violinist Papa John Creach
Papa John Creach
Papa John Creach played for Jefferson Airplane , Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation, the San Francisco All-Stars , The Dinosaurs , and Steve Taylor...
through an R&B group. Creach hired him when Moore was just twenty-one years old; Moore appeared on four of Creach's albums: Filthy!
Filthy!
Filthy! is Papa John Creach's second solo album and the first with his band Zulu. The guitarist of Zulu would later be known as Keb' Mo'. The band Hot Tuna also makes an appearance on the album on the track "Walking the Tou Tou," written by Jorma Kaukonen....
, Playing My Fiddle for You
Playing My Fiddle for You
Playing My Fiddle for You is Papa John Creach's third solo album and his last with Grunt Records. All the songs on the album are played with the supporting band Zulu, featuring Kevin Moore who would later be known as Keb' Mo'...
, I'm the Fiddle Man
I'm the Fiddle Man
I'm the Fiddle Man is Papa John's fourth solo album and the first with Buddah Records. The album was recorded after Papa John Creach left Jefferson Starship following the successful album, Red Octopus. The supporting band on this album is known as Midnight Sun, and had a similar lineup to Zulu on...
and Rock Father
Rock Father
Rock Father is Papa John Creach's fifth solo album and his last with Buddah Records. The tracks are recorded with the band Midnight Sun, with the same lineup that played on I'm the Fiddle Man.-Track listing:...
.
Around that time Moore was also a staff writer for A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, and arranged demos for Almo - Irving music. Keb' Mo's early debut, Rainmaker, was released on Chocolate City Records
Chocolate City Records
Chocolate City Records was a record label subsidiary of Casablanca Records & Filmworks. It was started in 1975 by Cecil Holmes, Neil Bogart's partner at Casablanca...
, a subsidiary of Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records was an American record label started by Neil Bogart, who partnered with Cecil Holmes, Larry Harris, and Buck Reingold in 1973, and based in Los Angeles. The label was formed after all of them had left Buddah Records and secured financing by Warner Bros. Records to start the venture...
, in 1980. He was further immersed in the blues with his long stint in the Whodunit Band, headed by Bobby "Blue" Bland producer Monk Higgins
Monk Higgins
Milton Bland better known as Monk Higgins, was an American musician and saxophonist who was born in Menifee, Arkansas....
. Moore jammed with Albert Collins
Albert Collins
Albert Collins was an American electric blues guitarist and singer whose recording career began in the 1960s in Houston and whose fame eventually took him to stages across the US, Europe, Japan and Australia...
and Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
and emerged as an inheritor of a guarded tradition and as a genuine original.
In 1994, Keb' Mo' released his self-titled debut album, Keb' Mo'
Keb' Mo' (album)
Keb' Mo' is the debut album by Delta blues artist Keb' Mo'. The artist, however, previously released an album under his birth name "Kevin Moore" .-Track listing:...
, which featured two Robert Johnson covers, "Come On In My Kitchen
Come On in My Kitchen
"Come On in My Kitchen" is a blues song by Robert Johnson. Johnson recorded the song on Monday, November 23rd, 1936 at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas - his first recording session...
" and "Kind Hearted Woman Blues
Kind Hearted Woman Blues
"Kind Hearted Woman Blues" is a blues song recorded on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas by legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion 03416 and ARC 7-03-56. Johnson performed the song in the key of A, and recorded two takes, the first...
". In the Martin Scorsese miniseries The Blues
The Blues (film)
The Blues is a 2003 documentary film series produced by Martin Scorsese, dedicated to the history of blues music. In each of the seven episodes, a different director explores a stage in the development of the blues...
, Keb' Mo' states that he was greatly influenced by Johnson.
In 1996 he released Just Like You
Just like You (Keb' Mo' album)
Just like You is the second album by Delta blues artist Keb' Mo'. It features guest artists Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt both on the title track "Just Like You." Unlike the first album, Just Like You features a more Blues-pop to Blues-rock feel and more of its tracks feature a full band...
, his second album, which featured twelve songs full of Delta rhythms
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
. He won his first Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for this album, which featured guest appearances from Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
and Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
.
On June 10, 1997, Moore performed on the television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Sessions at West 54th
Sessions at West 54th
Sessions at West 54th was an American television program that featured music performances, and was in some ways a pop music variation on the theme set by the long-lived Austin City Limits, though the featured musicians represented a number of musical genres. It was called Sessions at West 54th...
. He joined musicians Laval Belle on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, Reggie McBride playing bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, and Joellen Friedkin on keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
to perform fourteen songs, some from each of his albums. Blues pianist Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
also made a guest appearance. This session (known as Sessions at West 54th: Recorded Live in New York
Sessions at West 54th: Recorded Live in New York
Sessions at West 54th: Recorded Live in New York is a live music DVD by Keb' Mo' recorded in June 1997 which was then released in 2000. The performance was recorded for the television series Sessions at West 54th, a studio located in West 54th Street in New York City. The songs recorded on the...
) was shown on television, but was not released as a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
until late 2000.
Slow Down
Slow Down (album)
Slow Down is the third studio album by blues artist Keb' Mo' released in August 1998. In 1999, Slow Down won Keb' Mo' his second Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album...
, his next album, was released in 1998 and featured twelve songs. It earned him a second Grammy Award. The album begins with the song "Muddy Water", a tribute to Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
. It also features a song entitled "Rainmaker", which had been released previously on his first album, eighteen years prior. The song was rerecorded, though there is little difference to the song itself with no lyrical changes at all.
His fourth album, The Door
The Door (Keb' Mo' album)
-Track listing:All songs written by Kevin Moore unless otherwise noted.# "The Door"# "Loola Loo"# "It Hurts Me Too"# "Come On Back"# "Stand Up "# "Anyway"# "Don't You Know"# "It's All Coming Back"# "Gimme What You Got"...
, was released in 2000. The same year, Keb' Mo' released Big Wide Grin
Big Wide Grin
Big Wide Grin is a blues album by Keb' Mo', it was released in 2001 by the Sony Wonder record label.- Track listing :# "Everybody Be Yoself" Big Wide Grin is a blues album by Keb' Mo', it was released in 2001 by the Sony Wonder record label.- Track listing :# "Everybody Be Yoself" Big Wide Grin is...
, a children's album featuring many songs from Moore's own childhood, along with some newer children's songs and some by Moore himself.
In 2003, Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
collaborated with many blues musicians including Keb' Mo' to put together a series of films entitled The Blues. Following its release, several albums were released in accordance, some were compilations, some new collaborations, and Keb' Mo' released an album in the series featuring a handful of existing recordings from Keb' Mo to The Door.
On February 10, 2004, he released Keep It Simple
Keep It Simple (album)
Keep It Simple is the fifth studio album by blues artist Keb' Mo'. The album won a Grammy in 2005 for best contemporary blues album.-Track listing:...
which earned him a third Grammy Award, again in the contemporary blues genre. Later that year he released his sixth studio album, Peace... Back by Popular Demand.
Moore released Suitcase
Suitcase (Keb' Mo' album)
Suitcase is the eighth studio album by Delta blues artist Keb' Mo' released in June 2006. Suitcase sees Moore re-unite with producer John Porter who helped Moore put together his first few commercial releases up to Slow Down, where the two started working on projects with others...
, on June 13, 2006. His touring band following the release included Reggie McBride on bass, Les Falconer III on drums, Jeff Paris on keyboards, and Clayton Gibb on guitar.
On October 20, 2009, Keb' Mo' released the live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
, Live & Mo'.
Film projects
In 1998 he portrayed Robert Johnson in a documentary filmDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?.
In 1997 Keb' Mo' portrayed the character Isaac, the Angel of Music, in the episode "Inherit the Wind" and again in 1999 in "Then Sings My Soul" of the television series Touched By an Angel
Touched by an Angel
Touched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della...
. He performed "Hand It Over" from his 1996 release Just Like You in the 1997 episode and again in the 2002 episode "Remembering Me: Part 2". He also appeared as J. D. Winslow in the 2001 episode "Shallow Water" where he performed his song "God Trying to Get Your Attention" from his album, Slow Down.
In 2006, he appeared on the final episode, "Tomorrow
Tomorrow (The West Wing)
"Tomorrow" is the 154th episode and the series finale of the American television show The West Wing. It originally aired on May 14, 2006.-Plot:...
" of The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
to perform "America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward....
" at the inauguration of President Matt Santos
Matt Santos
Matthew Vincente "Matt" Santos is a fictional character on the American television show The West Wing, played by Jimmy Smits. His initial appearance is as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Houston, Texas. According to West Wing writer and producer Eli Attie, Santos was based on the then...
.
In January 2007, he performed at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
.
He played the role of the mischievous spirit Possum in the 2007 John Sayles
John Sayles
John Thomas Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter and author.-Early life:Sayles was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Mary , a teacher, and Donald John Sayles, a school administrator. He was raised Catholic and took to labeling himself "a Catholic atheist"...
movie Honeydripper
Honeydripper (film)
Honeydripper is a 2007 American musical drama film written and directed by John Sayles.-Plot:Filmed and set in Alabama, the film stars Danny Glover as the owner of a blues club that is failing until he hires a young electric guitarist . The film also stars musician Keb' Mo', actor/comedian Kel...
.
Political activism
In 2004 he participated in the politically-motivated Vote for ChangeVote for Change
The Vote for Change tour was a politically-motivated American popular music concert tour that took place in October 2004. The tour was presented by MoveOn.org to benefit America Coming Together. The tour was held in swing states and was designed to encourage people to register and vote...
tour alongside Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
and Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
, with whom he originally recorded the title track from the album Just Like You
Just like You (Keb' Mo' album)
Just like You is the second album by Delta blues artist Keb' Mo'. It features guest artists Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt both on the title track "Just Like You." Unlike the first album, Just Like You features a more Blues-pop to Blues-rock feel and more of its tracks feature a full band...
.
Keb' Mo' is part of the No Nukes group which was against the expansion of nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
. In 2007 the group recorded a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield is a North American folk rock band renown both for its music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined...
song "For What It's Worth".
Equipment
Keb' Mo' uses several types of guitars, including electric guitarElectric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s, acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
s and resonator guitar
Resonator guitar
A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more spun metal cones instead of the wooden sound board . Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than conventional acoustic guitars which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion...
s. He has a preference for red guitars, as he says on his website : "I have a history with red guitars. My first electric was a red guitar.". He mostly plays on a red custom Fender Stratocaster
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...
which has the particularity to feature two single-coil pickups, and one humbucker
Humbucker
A humbucker is a type of electric guitar pickup, first patented by Seth Lover and the Gibson company, that uses two coils, both generating string signal. Humbuckers have higher output than a single coil pickup since both coils are connected in series...
and was much modified from a regular Stratocaster model. On stage, he prefers a Red Hamer guitar with Gibson P-100 pickups. Two of his electric guitars were lost in the 2010 Nashville flood : an Epiphone
Epiphone
The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Musical Instrument Company, which also owned Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop market...
Sheraton and a Danelectro
Danelectro
Danelectro is an American manufacturer of musical instruments and accessories, specializing in rock instruments such as guitars, bass guitars, amplifiers and effects units.-History:...
Selectomatic.
He owns a variety of acoustic and resonator guitars, including a Gibson
Gibson
Gibson may refer to:* Gibson Amphitheatre* Gibson Appliance* Gibson Girl* Gibson Guitar Corporation* Gibson * Gibson Generating Station-Places:In the United States:* Gibson, Arkansas* Gibson, Georgia* Gibson, Iowa* Gibson, Louisiana...
artist model, a guitar made for him by James Goodall, a National
National String Instrument Corporation
The National String Instrument Corporation was a guitar company that formed to manufacture the first resonator guitars.-National resonator guitar designs:...
Style N, a National Resorocket, a Gibson ES-335
Gibson ES-335
The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial thinline arched-top semi-acoustic electric guitar. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES series in 1958, it is neither hollow nor solid; instead, a solid wood block runs through the center of its body...
-shaped resonator guitar with a P-90 pickup he bought in a Nashville club and got fixed.
Discography
| Released | Album | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Rainmaker Rainmaker (Kevin Moore album) Rainmaker is the 1980 debut album by Kevin Moore, now more commonly known as Keb' Mo'. The album features the songs "Rainmaker" and "Anybody Seen My Girl" which were each re-released in Moore's later releases Slow Down and Keb' Mo respectively.... |
Released under the name "Kevin Moore" |
| June 7, 1994 | Keb' Mo' Keb' Mo' (album) Keb' Mo' is the debut album by Delta blues artist Keb' Mo'. The artist, however, previously released an album under his birth name "Kevin Moore" .-Track listing:... |
Debut album as "Keb' Mo'" |
| June 18, 1996 | Just Like You Just like You (Keb' Mo' album) Just like You is the second album by Delta blues artist Keb' Mo'. It features guest artists Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt both on the title track "Just Like You." Unlike the first album, Just Like You features a more Blues-pop to Blues-rock feel and more of its tracks feature a full band... |
Won Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album was awarded from 1988 to 2011. From 2001 to 2003 the award recipients included the producers and engineers as well as the artists... , 1997 |
| August 25, 1998 | Slow Down Slow Down (album) Slow Down is the third studio album by blues artist Keb' Mo' released in August 1998. In 1999, Slow Down won Keb' Mo' his second Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album... |
Won Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album was awarded from 1988 to 2011. From 2001 to 2003 the award recipients included the producers and engineers as well as the artists... , 1999 |
| October 10, 2000 | The Door The Door (Keb' Mo' album) -Track listing:All songs written by Kevin Moore unless otherwise noted.# "The Door"# "Loola Loo"# "It Hurts Me Too"# "Come On Back"# "Stand Up "# "Anyway"# "Don't You Know"# "It's All Coming Back"# "Gimme What You Got"... |
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| December 4, 2000 | Sessions at West 54th: Recorded Live in New York Sessions at West 54th: Recorded Live in New York Sessions at West 54th: Recorded Live in New York is a live music DVD by Keb' Mo' recorded in June 1997 which was then released in 2000. The performance was recorded for the television series Sessions at West 54th, a studio located in West 54th Street in New York City. The songs recorded on the... |
Recorded in 1997 |
| June 5, 2001 | Big Wide Grin Big Wide Grin Big Wide Grin is a blues album by Keb' Mo', it was released in 2001 by the Sony Wonder record label.- Track listing :# "Everybody Be Yoself" Big Wide Grin is a blues album by Keb' Mo', it was released in 2001 by the Sony Wonder record label.- Track listing :# "Everybody Be Yoself" Big Wide Grin is... |
Children's album |
| September 19, 2003 | Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Keb' Mo' Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Keb' Mo' Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: Keb' Mo is a blues album by Keb' Mo', it was released in 2003 as part of Martin Scorsese's The Blues documentary series.- Track listing :# "Soon As I Get Paid" - 4:37... |
Part of the series The Blues |
| February 10, 2004 | Keep It Simple Keep It Simple (album) Keep It Simple is the fifth studio album by blues artist Keb' Mo'. The album won a Grammy in 2005 for best contemporary blues album.-Track listing:... |
Won Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album was awarded from 1988 to 2011. From 2001 to 2003 the award recipients included the producers and engineers as well as the artists... , 2005 |
| September 21, 2004 | Peace... back by popular demand | |
| June 13, 2006 | Suitcase Suitcase (Keb' Mo' album) Suitcase is the eighth studio album by Delta blues artist Keb' Mo' released in June 2006. Suitcase sees Moore re-unite with producer John Porter who helped Moore put together his first few commercial releases up to Slow Down, where the two started working on projects with others... |
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| October 20, 2009 | Live and Mo' | Six live performances and 4 new studio recordings |
| August 2, 2011 | The Reflection | |
Other contributions
In 2002, Moore contributed "Sonnet 35Sonnet 35
Shakespeare's Sonnet 35 is part of the sonnet sequence commonly agreed to be addressed to a young man; more narrowly, it is part of a sequence running from 33 to 42, in which the speaker considers a sin committed against him by the young man, which the speaker struggles to forgive.-Paraphrase:Don't...
" to the compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, When Love Speaks
When Love Speaks
When Love Speaks is a compilation album that features interpretations of William Shakespeare's sonnets and excerpts from his plays by famous actors and musicians, released under EMI Classics in April 2002.-Track listing:...
(EMI Classics
EMI Classics
EMI Classics is a record label of EMI, formed in 1990 in order to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogs for internationally distributed classical music releases....
), which features famous actors and musicians interpreting Shakespearean
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
s and play excerpts. Two years later, he appeared on Amy Grant: Greatest Hits 1986-2004
Greatest Hits 1986-2004
Greatest Hits 1986–2004 is a compilation album by pop singer Amy Grant, released in 2004 . It was the first compilation of Amy Grant's music to be released since The Collection in 1986...
in a duet entitled "Come Be with Me", which became a modest success on pop radio.
In 2005 he appeared on Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...
's version of "Ain't No Sunshine
Ain't No Sunshine
"Ain't No Sunshine" is a song by Bill Withers from his 1971 album Just as I Am, produced by Booker T. Jones. The record featured musicians Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass guitar and Al Jackson, Jr. on drums, as well as Withers on lead vocals and guitar. The song was released as a single in September...
", along with Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.-Biography:Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland,...
. Moore composed one of the theme songs featured on the show, Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Living is a magazine and a television show featuring entertaining and home decorating guru Martha Stewart. Both the magazine and the television program focus on the domestic arts. Martha Stewart Living began as a quarterly magazine in 1990, published by Time Inc..and is currently...
. That same year, he appeared on Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
's album Back Home
Back Home (Eric Clapton album)
Back Home is a studio album by British guitarist-singer-songwriter Eric Clapton. It was released 29 August 2005 internationally and a day later in the US. It is his first album featuring new, original material since Reptile , as the previous release Me and Mr...
. In 2006, he co-wrote the song, "I Hope
I Hope
"I Hope" is a country–pop song written and performed by the American all-female trio Dixie Chicks for their seventh studio album, Taking the Long Way, in 2006.It was nominated for two Grammy Awards at the 48th ceremony, but lost in both categories....
", with the Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
for their album, Taking the Long Way
Taking the Long Way
-Public reception:On May 31, 2006, the album took three number one spots on the charts of Billboard magazine. It was number one on the Hot Country Albums, Top Digital Albums, and on the Billboard 200 chart, going Gold in its first week with 526,000 units sold....
.
Moore also provided vocals to Marcus Miller
Marcus Miller
Marcus Miller is an American jazz composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Miller is best known as a bassist, working with trumpeter Miles Davis, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonist David Sanborn, as well as maintaining a prolific solo career...
's 2007 album, Free
Free (Marcus Miller album)
Free is an album by Jazz bassist Marcus Miller. It was released in 2007.The album's title track is a cover of the 1977 Deniece Williams song. UK soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae provided lead vocals. "Higher Ground" is a song originally by Stevie Wonder, and "What Is Hip" was originally performed...
on the track entitled "Milky Way" and again on Miller's 2008 album entitled, Marcus
Marcus (album)
Marcus is an album by Jazz bassist Marcus Miller. It was released in 2008.This is the US version of Marcus' previously released album Free...
.
Moore appeared on the June 7, 2008 broadcast of Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
's radio program A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
. He performed two songs with Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
: "No Getting Over You" and "There Ain't Nothin' in Ramblin'". The show was archived on the A Prairie Home Companion website.
Moore covered Lowen & Navarro's
Lowen & Navarro
Lowen & Navarro is a songwriting team composed of Eric Lowen and Dan Navarro, who met in Los Angeles, California in the 1980s. They wrote the song "We Belong", which became a major hit for Pat Benatar in 1984. Starting in 1990, they released a number of records of their own...
"If You Loved Me Like That" on Keep The Light Alive: Celebrating The Music of Lowen & Navarro. The proceeds of the album benefited The Eric Lowen Trust, ALS Association Greater Los Angeles
ALS Association
The ALS Association is an American non profit organization that raises money for research and patient services, promotes awareness about and advocates in state and federal government on issues related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also known as Lou Gehrig's disease...
, and Augie's Quest.
Moore sings the opening theme ("I See Love", written by Moore and Josh Kelley) to the CBS television show "Mike and Molly".
Moore appeared and played as a backing musician on an episode of Memphis Beat
Memphis Beat
Memphis Beat is an American drama series that debuted on TNT on June 22, 2010 and ended on August 16, 2011. Memphis Beat was officially canceled on October 14, 2011.-Overview:...
in 2011.
External links
- Keb' Mo' official website