Blues getting a lift to Performing Arts Center with Keb' Mo'

Part of the evolution of blues music traces back to early days on the Mississippi Delta and to visions—perhaps both imagined and real—of musicians like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters sitting on rickety old porches, singing about love and loss and the struggles of black society in pre-civil rights America.

Early listeners of the genre might have wondered how the blues could actually uplift their spirit or inspire political and social change.

But for artists like Keb’ Mo’, who was born Kevin Moore in southern Los Angeles to parents from the Deep South, the blues were always more of a style of music than a way of life, a way of conveying emotion—both happy and sad—through songs.

During a phone interview before a concert in Burlington, Vermont, last week, Mr. Moore, 58, who will perform at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts center on Sunday, November 1, said the blues have evolved over the years—and will continue to do so as long as the tradition is passed down from generation to generation.

Mr. Moore’s own style of the blues, he said, will always remain steeped in hope, his songs meant to put aside feelings of misery, no matter how dire the circumstances might be.

“Music changes but it also stays the same,” Mr. Moore said in a rich, deep voice that many years ago must have seemed destined for the blues. “The intention is always the same, to lift up and be purposeful.”

Mr. Moore, who was influenced by early blues musicians and by more modern artists like Taj Mahal, took the blues and blended in touches of R&B, soul and country to create his own distinct style and sound.

That sound exploded onto the popular music scene with the release in 
1994 of Mr. Moore’s self-titled debut album, “Keb’ Mo’,” followed two 
years later by “Just Like You,” which won Mr. Moore his first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album in 1997.

He won the contemporary blues Grammy again in 1999 for the album “Slow Down” and for a third time in 2005 with “Keep It Simple.”

Mr. Moore is currently in the middle of a 31-date coast-to-coast American tour to promote the release of his new album, “Live & Mo’,” which is the premiere release on Mr. Moore’s own label, Yolabelle International. He and his three-piece band are joined on the tour by singer Kristina Train, an up-and-coming blues musician, who released her debut album, “Spilt Milk,” last week as well.

“Live and Mo’” features six live recordings and four new studio releases, highlighting Mr. Moore’s ability to excel both in the studio and on the road. The live tracks show the band’s knack for connecting with audiences by drawing on sounds from the past while at the same time serving up a contemporary sound that has clearly demonstrated a capacity for resonating with modern listeners.

Buffalo News writer Joe Sweeney described Mr. Moore’s concert in Niagara Falls last week as being “steeped in honest-to-goodness artistic joy and organic creativity.” He wrote that the music caused members of the audience to “cry out in the quiet spaces, urging the musicians on toward the glorious climax. This kind of visceral emotion is the essence of the blues, and Keb’ Mo’ delivered it with authority, taking an art form with a sad name and using it to rejoice like hell.”

Mr. Moore’s recent concerts have featured, at their core, songs from the new album, including the anthemic “A Brand New America,” which was written in the days leading up to the inauguration of Barack Obama as the country’s first African-American president.

“It was a very moving, emotional night and I wanted to capture that spirit in a song before the feeling went away,” Mr. Moore said, describing the days leading up to the president’s inauguration. “As a nation right now we put a lot of attention on bad things. I like to stay in the positive.”

But while Mr. Moore has always focused on his own contemporary sound, he has also consistently paid tribute to the early musicians who laid out the blueprint for blues music. The song “Hole in a Bucket” could best be described as “back-porch blues,” a song about a single man who works hard all day but, still “keeps on keepin’ on.”

“With hard times, I might mention them, but they’re mentioned so I can quickly get to something on the other side,” Mr. Moore said. “I like to show the possibilities and express a brighter future.”

Keb’ Mo’ and his Band will perform at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Sunday, November 1, at 8 p.m. Singer Kristina Train will open. Tickets are $75, $95, or $115, available by calling the Arts Center box office at 288-1500, stopping in at the PAC at 76 Main Street, or by visiting www.whbpac.org.