What blues guitarist Keb’ Mo’ shares with Monty Python: ‘We’re all hanging on crosses’
Keb’ Mo’ likes to laugh. When speaking with him, a modest chuckle becomes an expected form of punctuation. We’re not talking about a riotous outburst, just the cordial aural equivalent of a smile that illuminates how he sees the world.
For example, when it was put to the immensely popular, blues-based pop and soul stylist that the last time he played a Lexington concert was at least two Grammys ago, that subtle but pronounced laughter lit up.
“Really? You’re measuring it by Grammys?”
The musician born Kevin Moore has maintained the kind of career that has given him five Grammy Awards, the latter two of which were earned for a pair of recent albums – 2017’s “TajMo” (a collaboration with roots/blues elder Taj Mahal) and 2020’s “Oklahoma.”
But the laughter also reaches deep into the philosophical essence of how Mo’, 71, views the blues, and ultimately, life around him. As a bluesman, he has regularly incorporated broad strokes of pop, soul and Americana to widen the scope of his songs. More to the point, though, is a vision that slices through the stereotypical view of the blues as a voice of misery. To Mo’, it is more the sound of hope.
Where Monty Python comes in
“I always see the blues as something that brings people together,” he said. “When people are suffering, they think they are suffering alone. The blues tell you you’re not, and that’s a good thing.”
To further his example, Mo’ acts out two separate but commiserating voices in a conversation – a conversation, mind you, ripe with laughter.
“It like, ‘My baby left me.’ ‘Really? Yours too?’ ‘Yeah. And I’m broke, too.’ It’s like the Monty Python film (1979’s “Life of Brian”) when all the guys are hanging on the crosses singing ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.’ We’re all hanging on crosses. It just becomes funny, you know? The blues becomes ironic. It becomes something you can share and not wallow in.
“It’s like having a conversation where somebody tells you, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s going to get better, brother. It’s going to be alright.’ That what the blues is to me. The blues and gospel and all those things are supposed to give you hope. Music is supposed to give you hope. It’s supposed to let you share the light. So many people think the blues is this sad body of work – just crying and whining all the time. But it’s not, and I want people to see that about the blues.”
Finding inspiration in COVID, George Floyd
Enforcing the blues view Mo’ endorses are a pair of songs from his newest album, “Good to Be.” Though released in January 2022, its material took shape two years earlier during the heart of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The first is “The Medicine Man,” a dark but whimsical parable centered directly on the pandemic and the uncertainty triggered during its earliest stages. The tune may suggest an impending doomsday, but the music, aided by the rootsy warmth of Old Crow Medicine Show and the sense of back porch invitation summoned in the lyrics and vocals, serves as a kind of security blanket.
“For the most part, 99 percent of the songs in my catalog are based on some subject that is personal or some subject in a society or around my environment that has affected me. ‘The Medicine Man,’ in particular, was COVID. It was kind of like an overview of the whole thing. Within the first weeks, COVID is in the news, Dr. Fauci is on TV, people are dying, people are in the hospital and all hell is breaking loose. People on the street are saying, ‘We don’t want to quarantine.’ Then I see all my tour dates disappearing and I’m like, ‘O-kay.’ So the first thing I’m thinking is (singing the song’s first line), ‘Well, it looks to me like the end is coming.’ It’s either the end of the world or the end of my career or both, but, we’re making fun of it.
“Now, I wanted to put some distance in there. A lot of folks had people very close to them get sick and/or meet their demise from COVID, so you don’t want to be too funny. But the key line in the song is, ‘I’m just gonna love everybody ’til the day I die.’ That’s the point of the whole song. We’ve got to love each other, support each other. Be your best self, whatever that is.”
The other song, “Marvelous to Me,” speaks of a more general triumph of hope over hurt. Though not referenced directly in the composition, the May 2020 death in Minneapolis of George Floyd while in police custody was the key inspiration.
“When I think about the George Floyd situation and how it resonated around the world, I latched onto how many people were upset about what happened and how wide a spectrum of people were upset by it. That shed a light onto the positive.
“George Floyd died at the hands of an arrogant police officer. Not good. So I’m thinking, ‘Okay, it’s bad out there, but people are finally talking about it. So, ‘the future looks marvelous to me,’ you know?”
Enforcing a hope for a brighter future is a brief guitar solo placed in the middle of “Marvelous to Me” by Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, an artist viewed by Mo’ as a glowing ambassador for the next generation of blues artists.
“Kingfish’s role in the song was to be the future. My dobro is in there for half of the break and then I brought in Kingfish to finish it off because he is such a bright light of the future. He lives in Mississippi, in Clarksdale. I live in Nashville, so we met in Memphis and did the overdub at (famed blues, rock and soul recording facility) Royal Studios. It was just fantastic, man.”
As for his own musical future, Mo’ is looking for something new. His lone 2022 composition, “Taking Me Higher,” was featured in the newly issued soundtrack to “Sweetwater,” a film depicting the life of Nat “Sweetwater Clifton,” the first Black basketball player to sign with the NBA. For his forthcoming music, though, Mo’ is casting a wide stylistic net.
“I’ve been listening to a lot of music. It’s like going to a restaurant and they bring you a tasting menu. They just keep bringing out dishes. I’ve been doing a lot of tasting of music. I’m seeing what’s going on in hip-hop. I’m seeing what’s going on in R&B. I’m seeing what’s going on in jazz and classical, what’s going on in rap, what’s going on in country/Americana. Innovative things.
“There’s still a lot of ground to be covered. There are still a lot of possibilities to explore in going forward. I think I have all the records I need that are kind of accessible easily, you know. I’d like to challenge myself a little bit, go out of the box and potentially piss some people off.”
And with that, the laughter began again.
“I just want to explore some new musical frontiers while still being positive.”
Keb’ Mo’
When: May 8 at 8 p.m.
Where: Lexington Opera House, 401 W. Short.
Tickets: $49.50-$75 through ticketmaster.com. Anthony D’Amato opens.
