Keb’ Mo’ – November 14

MCCC Presents

Keb’ Mo’

November 14

7pm

Tickets: $51.82 – $123.90

In Partnership with River Radio

KEB’ MO’

With five GRAMMYs, 14 Blues Foundation Awards, and a groundbreaking careerspanning nearly 50 years under his belt, Keb’ Mo’s got nothing left to prove. Just don’ttell him that. Born and raised in Compton, Keb’ began his remarkable journey at the age of 21, whenhe landed his first major gig playing with Jefferson Airplane violinist Papa JohnCreach. For the next 20 years, Keb’ would work primarily behind the scenes,establishing himself as a respected guitarist, songwriter, and arranger with a uniquegift for linking the past and present in his evocative playing and singing. Though herecorded a one-off album in 1980 under his birth name, Kevin Moore, it wasn’t until1994 that he would introduce the world to Keb’ Mo’ with the release of his widelyacclaimed self-titled debut. Critics were quick to take note of Keb’s modern, genre-bending take on old school sounds, and two years later, he garnered his first GRAMMYAward for Best Contemporary Blues Album with Just Like You. In the decades to come,Keb’ would take home four more GRAMMY Awards; top the BillboardBlues Chart seventimes; perform everywhere from Carnegie Hall to The White House; collaborate withmany including Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, The Chicks, and Lyle Lovett;have compositions recorded and sampled by artists as diverse as B.B. King, Zac Brown,and BTS; release signature guitars with both Gibson and Martin; compose music fortelevision series like Mike and Molly, Memphis Beat, B Positive, Martha Stewart LivingandLeanne; and earn the Americana Music Association’s 2021 award for LifetimeAchievement in Performance. In addition to his extraordinary musical output, Keb’ also established himself as acaptivating onscreen presence over the years, appearing as himself in MartinScorcese’s The Blues, Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing, and even the iconic children’sseries Sesame Street. He flexed his acting chops in a wide variety of projects, as well,portraying Robert Johnson in the 1998 documentary Can’t You Hear The Wind Howl,Howlin’ Wolf on CMT’s Sun Records, and the ghostly bluesman Possum in John Sayles’2007 film Honeydripper.A fixture on late night TV and award show stages, Keb’ hasalso performed on Letterman, Leno, Conan, Colbert, and Austin City Limits in additionto appearing on nationally televised broadcasts from The Kennedy Center, The RymanAuditorium, and Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival. A passionate philanthropist and outspoken activist, Keb’ has devoted countless hoursand helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of social, environmental,and racial justice throughout his career. As a celebrity mentor with The KennedyCenter’s Turnaround Arts Program, which began under the guidance of First LadyMichelle Obama and the President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities, Keb’“adopted” The Johnson School for Excellence in Chicago, where he teamed up withteachers, students, and parents to help develop a thriving arts education program, andas a longtime ambassador for the Playing For Change Foundation, he’s supported thenon-profit from its early days in its quest to provide free music education and basicneeds like food, water, medicine, clothing, books, and school supplies to childrenaround the world.

On his latest album, The Breakdown,five-time Grammy-winner Keb’ Mo’ stripshis songwriting back to its most raw and revealing, offering up an intimateseries of solo acoustic performances that grapple with the passage of time andthe inevitability of change while still holding on firmly to the hope, faith, andlove that have always guided him. Recorded at Keb’s home studio outsideNashville, TN, the collection is stark and deeply honest, reflecting on loss,mortality, and gratitude in the wake of life-saving open heart surgery and theend of a nearly twenty-year marriage.“It felt like everything in my life was breaking down,” Keb’ reflects. “Myhealth, my relationship, my whole world. The only way I knew how to respondwas to break the music down, too.”The result is a poignant mediation on the power of positivity to carry usthrough our darkest days, a masterful blend of folk, blues, roots, jazz, and soulmusic that sifts through the wreckage of a personal breakdown and transformsit into a work of profound growth and beauty.For more information on Keb’ Mo’, please visit his official website atwww.kebmo.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram