Keb Mo isn’t feeling blues on new album

September 15, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

By Kevin C. JOHNSON

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Blues artist Keb Mo didn’t set out to stray from his regular blues turf on his new album, “The Reflection.”

It just came out that way.

“I wasn’t dodging it on purpose. That’s just where I am now,” says the musician, who dropped the Keb’ Mo’ spelling of his name. “The record is very un-blues-focused. It’s doing another thing, getting down in another kind of way. It’s a risk for me, but all my career’s been a risk.”

Instead of locking in on a blues sound, this album blends pop, R&B and jazz. Keb Mo, whose music can be heard on the TNT show “Memphis Beat,” says he didn’t have a particular vision in mind when he set out to record “The Reflection.”

“It comes out the way it comes out, and during the process, I can feel if the songs are coming together,” he says. “I can feel if something is missing or if it’s too much of one thing or a song I need to cut out.”

He carefully considered the placement of every song on the album, although he says he recognizes that in this age of iTunes, fans are going to cherry-pick individual songs.

“I still think of records as an experience you listen to in its entirety and have a whole musical journey,” he says. “For those few who might still be listening to whole records, I want them to have that experience.”

Keb Mo says “The Reflection” takes him to a good place emotionally.

“It lulls me down into that slower groove, and I like that,” he says. “When I sit and listen to it, I get quiet, and every time, I’m happy with it.”

The first single from “The Reflection” is “The Whole Enchilada,” which boasts a lazy, midtempo groove.

Elsewhere on the album, listeners will find names such as Vince Gill, Arie, Marcus Miller, Dave Koz and David T. Walker sharing musical space with Keb Mo.

He says veteran country star Gill, featured on “My Baby’s Tellin’ Lies,” is “just the kind of guy you say, ‘Let’s do something,’ and he goes and does it.”

“The Reflection” is Keb Mo’s first release on his own label after a career with Sony Music. He says he felt in limbo after his last release, 2006’s “Suitcase.”