Keb’ Mo’ and Shawn Colvin will perform at The Cotillion Ballroom on Sunday, March 16.
The pairing is an inspired one, with both artists having amassed their share of critically lauded albums and having distinguished themselves as two of the most exciting artists in the roots music world.
Both also came into their own as artists after having paid their dues as backing musicians. Colvin spent roughly a decade singing behind artists such as Buddy Miller and Suzanne Vega before scoring a record deal with Columbia Records. That ushered in fertile period in her career that included classic LPs such as “Steady On” (1989) and “A Few Small Repairs” (1996) and cemented her place as a respected writer and interpreter of songs.
The Keb’ Mo’ path to multiple Grammys, performances at the White House, acting roles (his turn as the blind ghost Possum in John Sayles’ 2007 feature “Honeydripper,” which saw him sharing scenes with Danny Glover), as well as collaborations with some of the biggest names in the world of Americana music was a circuitous one.
In his 20s, he came to the attention of fiddler Papa John Creach and performed under his birth name, Kevin Moore, on Creach albums such as “Playing My Fiddle for You” (1974) and “I’m the Fiddle Man” (1975). He also earned writing credits and has perhaps his greatest moment of visibility in that decade when in 1975 a piece he co-wrote with his mentor, “Git Fiddler,” appeared on the Jefferson Starship album “Red Octopus.” (Creach left the San Francisco group by the end of the year.)
Moore honed his writing skills and performed on various demos before landing a deal with the Chocolate City imprint, a subsidiary of Casablanca Records, most famously the home of KISS, the Village People and Donna Summer. That 1980 debut, “Rainmaker,” the sole recording he issued as Kevin Moore, sank without a trace. He would not release another album until the 1994 release “Keb’ Mo’.”
Reflecting on their similar paths from his home in Nashville just before the start of the tour, Moore, 73, says, “I was way over the hill, she was just a little older,” before adding, “I guess we weren’t necessarily what they were looking for, but we managed to make some records and make a little noise.”
For Moore, that noise has included an almost nonstop string of albums, including three Grammy wins for Best Contemporary Blues album with his own recordings and one with Taj Mahal for their 2017 set “TajMo.” (The pair have reunited and will issue a follow-up, “Room on the Porch,” in May with a brief tour to follow.)
His 2019 album, “Oklahoma,” featuring Roseanne Cash on the single “Put a Woman in Charge,” earned him a Grammy for Best Americana Album.
Despite these accolades and his decades as a live performer, he says he still feels a tinge of anxiety before he goes on stage.
“I think, ‘What is this going to look like?’ I’m just as surprised as the audience is. I like when it unfolds, and I get that big sigh of relief, ‘Yeah, there it is,’” he says with a laugh.
As for the selections that he and Colvin have in mind or even whether they’ll be sharing the stage full time or splitting their sets somehow, he remains tight-lipped.
“I like to keep that as a surprise,” he offers, “and let people see that when they come to the show.”
While he remains a warm interview subject, frequently punctuating his sentences with laughter, he remains reluctant to engage with what for many seems a necessary part of music industry machinery -- hype. Unlike some in the industry, he makes no grand statements about the scope of the performances he and Colvin are likely to deliver and offers no predictions about the exact nature of gigs.
Even the idea of promotion itself seems antithetical to how he approaches performing.
“We’re supposed to be talking about this show and that’s OK, but I’m not really about hype.”
Perhaps some of it comes down to what he sees as an important element to the whole pursuit. Maintaining, on some level, a sense of mystery about the process.
“You never can take it for granted that you know what you’re doing,” he says. “I never take it lightly, ‘Oh, I know how to do this. Let’s just go do it.’ There’s a level of confidence and a level of humility that you have to have. I have to have,” he adds. “I shouldn’t speak for everyone else.”
“You mix those up together and leave the stage with a show that you can be proud of,” he continues. “That’s always my goal: To move some energy and move some emotion, just have a great time.”
