Just in time for the holidays, four-time Grammy-award-winning contemporary blues and Americana artist Keb’ Mo’ will bring his Jingle Bell Jamboree to Geneva’s Smith Opera House on Monday, Dec. 16.
The tour is in conjunction with Keb’ Mo’s new holiday album, “Moonlight, Mistletoe, and You,” which contains 10 seasonal songs, including several originals.
“Over the years, I have been writing Christmas material, but not with the intention of writing a Christmas album,” Keb’ Mo’ said in a recent phone interview. “I did a Christmas EP, and I would dabble at it. But I think I had some stronger material this time that I wanted to showcase, so I went and put it out. I was going to do it last year, but I missed the deadline, which was lucky. So this year I had some even better material, and I got it done by the summer time.”
Keb' Mo' noted that recording a holiday album out of season required some help to establish the proper vibe.
“We’d go up in the attic, get the Christmas decorations and bring them to the studio,” he said. “Put up the snowman, hang some lights, put on a Santa hat. You can’t find any eggnog, though!”
One of the album’s highlights is the original tune “Christmas is Annoying,” which takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the holiday. Keb’ Mo’ recently released a funny video to go along with the song.
“That was a fun, big laugh,” he said. “We basically just had a day of silliness. I think we shot the whole thing in about four hours, which is crazy.”
He said Christmas was a big deal in his household when he was young.
“The ‘Annoying’ song is a tribute to that, because you realize how crazy you’re driving your parents by wanting this and that, and being such a greedy little twit,” he said with a big laugh. “Then you grow up, and guess who’s going shopping now? But it’s all in fun and lighthearted.”
“Moonlight, Mistletoe, and You” came in the footsteps of Keb’ Mo’s acclaimed “Oklahoma” album, which explored the complex history of the Sooner state.
“I didn’t mean it to have a cohesive statement, but those songs all just kind of fit together right,” he said. “That was a fun project, too. It was great to get two albums out this year.”
The "Oklahoma" album came in the wake of his collaboration with fellow bluesman Taj Mahal on “TajMo,” which won Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album in 2018. At 68, it seems like Keb’ Mo’ is on a roll, something that seems even more astonishing when you realize the artist born Kevin Moore only adopted the Keb’ Mo’ moniker in his early 40s.
“I was definitely a late bloomer – I thought it was all over for me, then I got signed when I was 41,” he said. “So it’s been mind blowing. But the fact of the matter is, maybe it never really got off the ground and has been kind of slowly rolling along all this time. But in a really cool way it allowed me to savor it like a long good meal, rather than gobbling it all up at once.
“If you were never really big time, you can never be a has-been, because you never were,” he added with a big laugh. “And there’s a lot of creative freedom in there, which I really like. I love the creative freedom.”
While Keb’ Mo’ has most often been called a bluesman, that label has seemed a bit limiting considering the variety of influences – pop, folk, funk, soul and more – he incorporates into his music.
“In the early days people were trying to define what I was doing. Some people called it ‘blues and beyond,’” he said. “In fact, finally I stuck around long enough to where it just became Keb’ Mo’ music.”
What’s next for Keb’ Mo’?
“I’m just gonna chill out for awhile and figure out what to do,” he said. “At this point, I don’t really have to think about what I’m doing, just what is gonna work for me now. I think I have a lot of material out, and I’m poised to do something a little bit more out of the box.
“But when you do something out of the box, it’s gotta be good. It’s gotta measure up, because when you go out of the box, you shock people. And people don’t always like that!” he concluded with a big laugh.
IF YOU GO
Who: Keb’ Mo’ with opener Alicia Michilli
What: “Keb’ Mo’s Jingle Bell Jamboree”; he’ll perform songs from his new holiday album “Moonlight, Mistletoe, and You,” as well as other songs from his 25-year career.
When: 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16
Where: Smith Opera House, 82 Seneca St., Geneva
Cost: $38.50-$148.50
