Keb Mo

That's Kevin Moore to you and me, Keb' to his downtown Los Angeles buddies. A thoroughly modern, uncompromisingly professional, big city acoustic bluesman (and sometime thespian) Moore could be accused of playing at, rather than playing, the blues if he wasn†t so hot at it. Like Mississippi John Hurt or Taj Mahal, Moore is rooted in songs rather than licks, although his guitar/banjo technique is sharp, hard and irresistibly sparkly. Much of this is solo acoustic work, mostly written by Moore, but he†s justas comfortable with a small, tight group, as on the buoyantly happy blues of Tell Everybody I Know. The odd curious call, like pacing She Just Wants To Dance too slow for a serious hipshake, merely adds to his quirky charm. Purists may well tut, but it†s precisely because Moore pushes so hard that he†s so compelling. (Q Magazine: Johnny Black 95 June)