Keb Mo - blues artist

[bmac]

Having not followed the Blues for about 20 years I just discovered Keb Mo after hearing him on public radio before Christmas. I made a note of his name (for my Christmas list) and promptly forgot about him.

Having received a number of blues albums for Christmas I only recently opened the Keb Mo album. I have been working with it steadily for the past several weeks.

For those with moderate to advanced mandolin blues skills I think this album "Keep It Simple" will be a delight. Its beauty is that in general it follows traditional blues (with some modern embellishments). I believe all the tunes on this album are composed by Keb Mo. He sings and plays resonator guitar and steel string guitar. Other instruments are - blues harp, piano, and occasionally some back up voices. Keb Mo sings and plays guitar on this album. There are a few tunes which are a bit complex for us non-professionals, but most are perfect for the interested and dedicated blues mandolinists.

In my view the beauty of this album is that the blues mandolinist (you) can play along without the competition of a more acomplished mandolinist. In other words its lack of mandolin is a plus.

For anyone interested in traditional blues from a current song writer/musician I would highly recommend this album.

Type Keb Mo on your search engine and you should come up with additional info and a few snippets of sound.

[jmkatcher]

I think he plays mandolin as well.

On Will Hirsch's website: http://hirschguitars.com/mandolins.php,
there's a picture of a beautiful L&H A-style built for Keb Mo. So he has good taste too. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[recklessmando]

Last time I saw him he did a couple tunes on mandolin. Not the two point mentioned above though, it was a blonde F style, maybe a Weber or even a Gibson F9? I was pretty far back so I couldn't be sure. Great live performer, no doubt about that.

[bmac]

jmkatcher
Regarding Keb Mo's Will Hirsch mandolin:

Geese... That is one nice looking A-style mandolin!!!!!

Does anyone know if he has put out any records which include his mandolin playing? I find his original music so infectious and conducive to my own blues playing that I would be interested in hearing how he interprets his compositions mandolinwise.

[ShaneJ]

I've seen a tab book or two of his CDs and lately I've seen an instructional DVD he put out on blues guitar. I discovered him after seeing him on a "Touched By An Angel" rerun a couple years ago. He played "Hand It Over". I searched on the internet to find out who he was and then found the CD that had that song. I like all his stuff. I learned "Hand It Over" and a couple others on guitar, and they're fun to play. Would be even more fun if I could play 'em as good as Keb (Kevin Moore, actually). I'd love to hear his mandolin playing.

[bmac]

SJennings

"I've seen an instructional DVD he put out on blues guitar"

Really!!... I am going to have to look for that... I have been concentrating on mando so much that I have ignored my guitar and have barely touched it in the last year. I tend to spread my interests too thin but blues is blues and I sure like his composing, singing, and guitar playing.

[ShaneJ]

It might have just been a book, but I'm pretty sure it was a DVD. Might have been an ad in Acoustic Guitar or Flatpicking Guitar Magazine (or maybe both??).

[bmac]

"It might have just been a book, but I'm pretty sure it was a DVD"

Yes... I found it. It was put out by Homespun.. The same outfit that produced the Steve James mandolin blues video. As soon as I get the scratch together I'll be buying it.