Keb' Mo'

A Grammy-winning bluesman steeped in the roots of the Delta and the classic US folk traditions, Keb' Mo' is an acclaimed guitarist and storyteller who has been mastering a range of Americana musical styles since cutting his teeth on California's music scene in the mid-1970s. Born on October 3, 1951 and raised by a single mum in Compton, Los Angeles, he started learning the guitar at the age of 12 and was initially inspired by seeing The Beatles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' in 1964, before landing his first professional job with former Jefferson Airplane violinist Papa John Creach's solo band when he was 21. He immersed himself in rock, jazz and country music and recorded three albums with Creach before indulging in raw R&B grooves on his debut solo record Rainmaker in 1980, which was released under his real name Kevin Roosevelt Moore. It didn't prove the breakthrough he craved, but he went on to work with saxophonist Monk Higgins in his funk band and with Muscle Shoals soul group The Rose Brothers. He later discovered the traditional music of the Mississippi Delta and re-introduced himself as a rootsy, soulful blues troubadour on 1994 album Keb' Mo'. His following album Just Like You featured Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne and won him his first Grammy Award, and he continued to make his reputation as a renaissance man of American music by playing legendary blues musician Robert Johnson in the docu-drama film Can't You Hear the Wind Howl? in 1998. He changed direction with the children's album Big Wide Grin in 2000, won another Grammy for 2004's Keep It Simple and appeared in the musical movie Honeydripper and throughout the years he made a number of guest appearances on albums by Eric Clapton, Dixie Chicks and Otis Taylor. Collaborating with Vince Gill, Marcus Miller and David T. Walker, he showed the full range of his musical loves on the smooth, soulful, crooning pop record The Reflection in 2011 and dabbled with country and New Orleans jazz on BLUESAmericana in 2014, before teaming up with blues guitarist Taj Mahal for the slick, good time, blues jam TajMo in 2017. After three more solo albums, the TajMo moniker is reactivated for the album Room on the Porch, released in 2025.