Keb' Mo'
Keb' Mo' (1994)

review by: Glenn Pfeifer
Date: 11/26/01

Do you like the blues? I mean REEEEEEEAALLLLLY like the blues? Ya know, The kind of blues with nothing but a National guitar and a soulful black voice…with maybe a finger slide for some effect. Well, if this is you…if you can spot a Robert Johnson chord progression from across a crowded party…if you wake up early on the weekend to hear a Buddy Guy and Junior Wells special on a blues-hour radio show…and if you realize that a nation of black musicians invented rock 'n' roll long before pretty-boy Elvis stumbled upon it and made it racially-correct – then you need this CD.

Keb Mo. Debut CD. Released at the height of the "alternative" bandwagon. Pure blues. Two of the afore-mentioned Mr. Johnson’s covers. Maybe a couple of tunes veering away from traditional formats with traces of jazz/folk/ballad. But nothing loud. I’m not even sure they needed electricity for any of the instruments. No generational angst. No bitches or hoes or glocks or classic rock samples. Just sweet, beautiful blues. The sticker on my CD reads "This debut flows like a fresh spring through the sludge of today’s pop-rock-rap soundalikes" – People Magazine. I don’t often quote People Magazine, but I can’t say it any better.

Keb has released several more discs since this. They’re all good and you should check 'em out – but none are this simple, and this powerful. If you know Keb and don’t have this 1st CD, get it immediately. If you like the blues and don’t have this CD, get it soon. And if you think the blues are tired and slow and you’d much rather listen to the "energy" of Limp Dick or Korny, don’t read any more of my reviews….you can’t be saved. –gp fife