| | Keb' Mo' Keep It Simple CD Keb' Mo' Discography of CDs
 (7 Customer Reviews)
For his fifth studio album, KEEP IT SIMPLE, Keb' Mo' adhered to the title's advice and cut out any middleman by taking the production reins himself. As a result, the California native came away with a dozen songs that are perhaps the most personal of his career. Playing a combination of finger-picked and slide guitar, Mo' lends a tasty, fat tone to these tales of intimate relationships (the Bonnie Raitt-flavored "One Friend," featuring Shannon Curfman), simpler times (the harmonica-soaked, slow blues title cut) and pure unconditional love (the sprightly "Shave Yo' Legs"). Even Keb' Mo's use of special guests comes off as organic and woven into the mix. "Riley B. King" features Robben Ford and Robert Cray dropping in unobtrusive guitar solos, and the perky "House in California" seamlessly works in mandolin accompaniment by Sam Bush and harmonies by married couple Vince Gill and Amy Grant. KEEP IT SIMPLE is the sound of a skilled singer-songwriter who has hit a peak by sticking to the essence of blues music.
Recorded at The Village Recorders and Stu Stu, West Los Angeles, California; House Of Blues Studio, Encino, California; Blackbird Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.
Guests:Robben Ford,Robert Cray ,Vince Gill,Amy Grant,S.Curfma
Personnel: Keb' Mo' (vocals, guitar, banjo, bouzouki, steel mandolin, bass, percussion); Robben Ford, Robert Cray (guitar, background vocals); John Porter (guitar); Paul Franklin (dobro); Jeff Paris (mandolin, harmonica, piano, organ, keyboards); Steve Bush (mandolin); Andrea Zonn (violin, background vocals); Greg Phillinganes (piano, electric piano); John Hobbs (Fender Rhodes piano, electric piano); Reggie McBride, Nathan East, Reggie McBride (bass); Ricky Lawson, Steve Ferrone, Chad Cromwell (drums); Munyungo Jackson (percussion); Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Alex Brown, Bobette Jamison-Harrison, Phillip Ingram, Shannon Curfman (background vocals).
Keep It Simple Music | List Price | $7.99 (You save $0.40) | | Category | Rock/Pop Albums, Rock CDs, Rap, Contemporary Blues, Country Rock, Blues | | Label | Epic | | Orig Year | 2004 | | All Time Sales Rank |  2525  | | CD Universe Part number | 6667656 | | Catalog number | 86408 | | Discs | 1 | | Release Date | Feb 10, 2004 | | Studio/Live | Studio | | Mono/Stereo | Stereo | | Producer | Keb' Mo' | | Engineer | Mark Johnson | | Personnel | Paul Franklin - dobro
Greg Phillinganes - piano, electric piano
Nathan East
John Hobbs - Fender Rhodes piano, electric piano
Ricky Lawson
Chad Cromwell - drums
Steve Ferrone
Keb' Mo' - vocals, guitar, banjo, bouzouki, steel mandolin, bass, percussion
John Porter - guitar
Alex Brown
List all 23 contributors
|
Keb' Mo' Keep It Simple Songs Keep It Simple Music Review Average Rating: (4.4 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews Fantastic!
Keb' Mo' on fine form once again.
A gem of an album
Buy it
Submitted by Sascha (London, UK)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 2 of 2 found this helpful.
 A Cracker.
A cracker,beautifully written, produced and arranged from airey dobro lines to cool life songs,a superb songwriter.
Submitted by mark (lincolnshire ,england.)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 1 found this helpful.
Keb Mo at His Best!
From Texas to Paris to California, this is absolutely Keb Mo's best CD ever. The songs flow together. I cannot stop listening. By "Keeping It Simple" Keb Mo was consistently at the top of his game.
Submitted by terrylowe (Greenwich, CT. USA) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No teefan
super! super! super! Najlepiej brzmiący bluesman. Jego muzyka to prawdziwy blues. Jego muzka jest niepowtarzalna!.
Submitted by teefan (poland)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Keb Mo's music really touches my true existence.
Keb Mo's tunes--the lyrics and music--have touched me so that I have decided to write a story centered on keeping life simple. His light-hearted blues technique shows how there is a light at the end of the tunnel for us who have, at times, been sucked into society's standards of high living. And says that for some, simple is survival. His music also depicts the worthiness of trusting and holding on to good love. I've never considered myself a fan of the blues, but in Keb Mo style, I certainly am now.
Submitted by jogenzer (San Antonio, Texas)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No List All Reviews | Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Keep It Simple CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Keb' Mo' Slow Down CD (1998) Enhanced CD
Keep It Simple
 $7.59  
SLOW DOWN is a Enhanced CD containing both a full audio program as well as multimedia computer files.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.
SLOW DOWN won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.
Let's dispel a common misconception right off the bat; Keb Mo is not a blues singer. To call him one would be as limiting as calling Lyle Lovett a country singer. He's got his finger in too many musical pies to be tied down to one tradition. As SLOW DOWN makes plain, his songs are certainly bluesy, but like Taj Mahal, he takes the style an mingles it with so many others that a new paradigm is created.
Keb Mo's snappy, soulful acoustic guitar is the central element of most of the tunes here, but there's everything from funk to R&B to '70s-sounding rock-pop at work in these songs. As a composer, Keb Mo knows how to get down to the basics of human emotions and trials without lapsing into cliche, and his no-nonsense vocal delivery communicates his message effectively. Blues traditionalists may not get what they've been led to expect from SLOW DOWN, but if they've got butts ...
| | Joe Bonamassa Blues Deluxe CD (2003)
Keep It Simple
$14.29
As the electric guitar ace Joe Bonamassa was so strongly inspired by blues and blues-oriented six-stringers (i.e., Clapton, Johnny Winter), many of his fans would politely pester him about doing a disc of blues standards. Originally ...
| | Tesla Into The Now CD (2004)
Keep It Simple
$8.49
Unfairly labeled a hair-metal band, Tesla was always closer to the spirit of vintage 1970s hard rock. When the group released 1994's BUST A NUT, grunge rock was in full swing, and the Sacramento quintet subsequently took their curtain call, keeping busy with low-profile side projects. Testing the waters in 2000, Tesla launched a successful reunion tour, proving the band's enduring appeal. INTO THE NOW stands as their first full-length studio effort in 10 years.
The core of Tesla's sound has been updated with a fresh and contemporary flavor, but it's still very much their own. Jeff Keith's voice retains its heartfelt grit and grease, while guitarists Frank ...
| | Keb' Mo' Peace...Back By Popular Demand CD (2004)
Keep It Simple
$7.59
What began as a few protest songs recorded by Keb' Mo' in response to the war in Iraq turned into 2004's PEACE?BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND, a 10-pack of tunes about hope and freedom. Amazingly completing this project in a month's time, Keb' Mo' managed to rustle up an interesting array of (mostly) covers.
With his rich vocals and laid-back phrasing, the Los Angeles native shines on a bubbly reading of Donny Hathaway's "Someday We'll All Be Free," takes a crackling walk through McFadden and Whitehead's "Wake Up Everybody," and strips Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" down to an acoustic piano duet. Unusual arrangements abound, whether it's the vocals ...
| | Keb' Mo' Suitcase CD (2006)
Keep It Simple
$10.69
| | Beau Marks Quality Years CD (1998) (Import) Reissue; Canada
Keep It Simple
$18.39
| | Deborah Coleman Soul Be It! CD (2002)
Keep It Simple
$14.55
| | Nathan James This Road Is Mine CD (2003)
Keep It Simple
$12.39
| | Sybersound Party Tyme Karaoke: Christmas 2 CD (2004)
Keep It Simple
$4.49 
| | U N K L E Self Defence CDs (2006) Box Set
Keep It Simple
$22.25
| | Johansson Per Texas Alla Mina Kompisar CD (2008) (Import)
Keep It Simple
$15.55
| | Tom Ewing Sacred Place CD (2008)
Keep It Simple
$13.99
|
|
|
buttons below to play song samples
Adobe Flash
Email a Friend
