Suitcase [CD]

Keb' Mo' continues to please the listener with a diverse variety of smooth blues. The album's focus is on love and relationships. A must have for any Keb' Mo' fan. Mo' stays true to his own version of the blues and it pays off. One of his best to date.

Lyrics that we can all relate to, well delivered vocals and a great production makes this album one you can just listen to over and over without having to skip a single track. Mo' is keeping blues relevant by keeping up with the times, his lyrics reflect his life experiences as did the lyrics of bluesman of the past. Thank you Keb' Mo'.

First of all, ladies and gentlemen, this man is the real deal. If you have been a fan from the beginning of his career like me, buy this, and sit back and enjoy. If you have never bought anything of Keb's before , buy this, and sit back and enjoy it. Keb' sings the blues. But, for you non-blues lovers, don't let that scare you. He sings about his life, and he sings about your and my life. We can all relate to his lyrics. B.B. King has always said that to sing the blues, you had to have lived the blues. Well, with all due respect to Mr. King, that isn't always completely true, to a degree.

After you buy Keb's new album, "Suitcase", I'm sure you will want to hear more. I'm sure of it. I would suggest to purchase them in chronological order - "Keb' Mo'", "Just Like You", "Slow Down", "The Door", "Big Wide Grin", "Peace...Back By Popular Demand", and "Keep It Simple". You simply can't go wrong with any of them. Now, I should mention that with the first two that I mentioned, "Keb' Mo'" and "Just Like You", Keb' won "The W. C. Handy Award", which is the biggest award that you can win in the Blues music world. On these albums Keb' sings alot of good old Mississippi Delta Blues, made famous by artists such as the legendary Robert Johnson. And, believe me, Keb' does the music justice and more.

Believe me, this is music that anyone, if they give it a chance, will either love from the beginning, or they will quickly learn to love. And, if you want to hear acoustic slide guitar, or slide guitar on a National Steel Guitar, you won't hear anyone better than Keb' Mo'.

There's only one more thing that I'd like to say, and I hope the people that I'm directing this to don't take it the wrong way, because it certainly isn't meant that way. Keb'Mo' is a Black man, or if you wish, an African American. When you go to a Keb' Mo' show, 95% of the audience is white, which is a shame. I don't mean to get racial, but this man deserves to be heard by everyone. And, if you are in the minority of his fan's, you are definitely missing some great, great music. You deserve to hear it, and Keb' deserves to give you the opportunity to play it for you. I guarantee you that once you listen to him, you won't go back to listening to most of that stuff that's thrown at you on the radio. I've met Keb', and he is one of the nicest, kindest, people that you'd ever want to meet, and it certainly comes across in his music. I can't wait for the next album and I just received the new one today for Father's Day. Thanks Keb'. You're the man!

I have every one of the eight albums/CDs and DVDs that Keb' Mo' (Kevin Moore) has released during his career. Some I have liked more than others, but I have been disappointed in NONE of them. His latest contribution "The Suitcase" is one of his best efforts to date, and will leave new fans scrambling to buy his previous albums/CDs.

I came in at the beginning, when he was doing small Country Fairs, and Small Music Festivals in places like Eureka Springs, Arkansas (pop. under 2,500), where you either paid nothing to see him, or just a modest entry fee. I'm one of the lucky ones. He is one of the nicest, most laid back and easy-going people I've ever met, and that quality comes through in his music. He, and his music, is unpretentious; his voice is mellifluous, yet tinged sometimes with a raspy, raw edge to punctuate the pain found within many of his songs. The quality of his songwriting is that of a Jackson Browne or a Bonnie Raitt; in fact, both of them appeared - together - in one song on his second album/CD, "Just Like You." In addition, Keb' will be the opening act for Bonnie Raitt when her tour arrives in Little Rock, AR this coming October, 2006. You can bet that I'll be there for the show.

You can also count on top notch musicians playing with Keb' on his albums, that his songs will not be "over-produced," and that they will still bear traces of the somewhat rough edges which usually accompany "the blues." While Keb' Mo's blues may not sound, or feel exactly like that played by some of the old time greats, it is HIS interpretation of the "blues," and his alone, and he does a wonderful job of crafting, stating, and playing the songs/stories his own way.

While some fans of more traditional "Blues" may not appreciate Keb's style, that's okay. Keb' has proven that there is room for more than just one approved and accepted form. Most people know this, but I see where one critic on this page - who has apparently appointed himself as "the-one-who-decides" - is upset at Keb's audacity of calling his musical style "blues." Hmmm? Bonnie Raitt is about as authentically "bluesy" as you can get, but it appears that SHE is not angry about Keb's so-called "audacity."

Look, I don't know if it is Keb' who is calling his music "the blues," or if it is the record company mavens. But, either way, I wouldn't get apoplectic, or let my blood-pressure skrocket over something this trivial in the greater scheme of "Life" with a capital "L." :-)

Those more open-minded, true afficionados of good music understand that - just as Jazz has expanded and evolved into something other than what was heard where it originated in old saloons, into what was played in the great dance halls by the big bands, then into the style heard in the smokey bars of Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis, and is still changing, today - so has the "blues" evolved, been transformed, and is currently being translated and interpreted in authentically new ways by some of today's visionaries: folks like, well...like Keb'Mo'! And, in the cases of both "jazz" and "the blues," all these styles and variations on a theme are great in their own ways.

I happen to like old style Robert Johnson blues, as well as the innovative Keb' Mo' style. I'm not into arguing about whose style is best, I'm into listening to good music. You wanna' argue, go someplace else, 'cause I can't hear you when I have my headphones on. :-)

All things considered, I feel certain that, in the not too distant future, the name Keb' Mo' will be associated with those of some of the great bluesmen, as well as some of the great singer-songwriters. He's too good, too smooth, too real, too authentic not to garner wide acceptance. His sound is so sweet, and moving that it forces you to emote and get carried away in the rush or comforted by the beauty. But, no matter which it is - you are gonna' emote! And, it is because of that I feel he is headed for immortality.