I\u2019m just saying: if you don\u2019t like Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019, there may be something wrong with you. <\/p>\n
Sure, some blues purists might bridle at Mo\u2019s clean, crisp sound and craftsmanlike approach to melody and song structure\u2014his music is really a rangy hybrid of blues, soul, funk, country, folk and pop\u2014but personally, I find fundamentalists of any creed tiresome. Over the course of 22 years and a dozen studio albums, Mo\u2019 has delivered some of the most consistently engaging modern blues-Americana (as he termed it on his last studio album) around.<\/p>\n
Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 is also one of the most authentic and appealing performers of his generation, and that\u2019s why a double-live album from him is such an unqualified joy. Drawing tracks from throughout his career, as well as live shows in nine different cities, the winkingly titled That Hot Pink Blues Album <\/i>both reflects a typical live set from his 2015 tour, and provides a broad overview of the man\u2019s considerable body of work.<\/p>\n
The set both opens and closes with tunes from Mo\u2019s most traditionalist outing, his 1994 self-titled debut, with \u201cTell Everybody I Know\u201d kicking things off in fine style thanks to Mo\u2019s sharp acoustic picking and sassy organ work from Michael B. Hicks. Stan Sargeant (bass) and Casey Wasner (drums) comprise the endlessly versatile rhythm section, with Wasner doubling as producer of this sharp-sounding set.<\/p>\n
The rest of the first disc cherry-picks its way through Mo\u2019s catalogue, featuring emphatic takes on \u201cSomebody Hurt You\u201d (2014), \u201cHenry\u201d (1998), \u201cLife Is Beautiful\u201d (2006), \u201cShe Just Wants to Dance\u201d (1994), and \u201cThe Worst Is Yet To Come\u201d (2014). The contrast among the latter three tells a story in itself; the blues is all about the highs and the lows, the joys and the pain that make up a life. \u201cGovernment Cheese\u201d arrives late on disc one, adding funk to the mix. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The second disc is, if anything, stronger, sandwiching the playful, clever \u201cFrance\u201d between the steadfast, devoted \u201cCome On Back\u201d and the soaring, lyrical \u201cMore Than One Way Home.\u201d Like \u201cLife Is Beautiful,\u201d the latter two are taken from a Nashville date that featured welcome support from the Nashville String Orchestra, adding lift and dimension to the arrangements. <\/p>\n
The upbeat sing-along \u201cA Better Man\u201d swings nicely while serving as the straight-man setup for the rascally punchline \u201cThe Old Me Better\u201d (\u201cYou made me a brand new man, but I liked the old me better\u201d). Soon after, the earthy \u201cDangerous Mood\u201d gets an extended 8:31 treatment, leaving room for some expansive soloing that finds Mo\u2019 more than once paying homage to one of his acknowledged influences, Mr. B.B. King. The evening winds down to a thoughtful finish with the smoky end-of-the-evening contemplation \u201cCity Boy,\u201d the album-closer from his 1994 debut. <\/p>\n
There will always be nay-sayers, of course; it comes with the territory when you ignore the boundaries between genres as frequently as Mo\u2019 does. But for every fundamentalist who might read an overly facile (but reasonably accurate) description like \u201cthe James Taylor of blues<\/a>\u201d as throwing shade, there\u2019s a listener like me who hears it as a major compliment.<\/p>\n That Hot Pink Blues Album<\/i> is a satisfying summation of Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019s career to date, every bit as warm, personable, and observant as the man himself. Let\u2019s hope there\u2019s another dozen albums waiting up ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":32698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7091],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-44468","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-keb-mo","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44468"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44468"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}