Moonlight, Mistletoe & You Keb' Mo'

• 1 Please Come Home For Christmas 03:00
• 2 Moonlight, Mistletoe & You 03:29
• 3 Better Everyday 03:34
• 4 Santa Claus, Santa Claus 03:55
• 5 Christmas Is Annoying 02:12
• 6 Merry, Merry Christmas 04:34
• 7 I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm 04:17
• 8 Santa Claus Blues 03:02
• 9 When The Children Sing 03:06
• 10 One More Year With You 04:16
• Total Runtime 35:25

Info for Moonlight, Mistletoe & You

Following the release of Keb’ Mo’s deeply thought-provoking album, Oklahoma, that brought worldly issues to the forefront, the seasoned musician returns to lift spirits with a heartfelt feel-good holiday album, Moonlight, Mistletoe & You, slated for release on October 18, 2019 via Concord Records. After 25 years performing under the moniker “Keb’ Mo’,” the widely respected artist has finally gifted his eclectic global fanbase his first Christmas album, offering a melting pot of influences and original songs.

Moonlight, Mistletoe & You embraces Keb' Mo's diverse talents, having “built his now legendary reputation as a bluesman but [proving] to be equally adept in R&B and Americana-styled roots music” (Glide Magazine), showcasing the 4X GRAMMY-Award winner’s genre-bending capability. Produced by Keb’ himself and recorded by Zach Allen at Stu Stu Studio in Franklin, Tennessee, the malleable artist provides seven new songs sprinkled with three covers.

“After 25 years of performing without releasing a Christmas album, I felt now was as good a time as any to spread some love and compassion,” Keb’ Mo’ says. “There’s something about Christmas time that makes everyone’s hearts a little lighter and I wanted to contribute to the movement of spreading a little joy. I feel like I was able to accomplish that through the making of Moonlight, Mistletoe & You.”

Starting the album, Keb’ Mo’ puts his spin on a Christmas Classic, “Please Come Home for Christmas” offering a more uplifting optimistic disposition versus the Charles Brown original and the many covers that have followed it. While singing lyrics like “Oh what a Christmas to sing the blues, my baby’s gone, and I have no friends, to wish me greetings once again.” Keb’s warm version of the song offers a sense of hope.

Staying true to his Blues roots, Keb’ uses the building blocks of a proper Blues song with tracks “Santa Claus Santa Claus” and “Santa Claus Blues,” while bringing his own flair to the Mildred Bailey original and Billie Holiday covered classic, “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.” Keb’ keeps a jazz-like sway throughout with the help of Melissa Manchester’s distinctive vocals, acting as his female counterpart.

All can relate to the humorous track, “Christmas Is Annoying,” helping ones inner Scrooge shine while pointing out the always-maddening events that come along with the Christmas season like maxing credit cards and having “no time to relax.”

Keb’ makes sure to also highlight the romance that soars throughout the holiday season with the title track “Moonlight, Mistletoe, And You” and closing track “One More Year With You,” both carrying a more “traditional” Christmas sound. While “Moonlight” brings on the saxophone solo, “One More Year With You” starts with jingle bells accompanied by piano and brass horns throughout, giving one all the Christmas feels and closing the album on a high note singing, “sign me up for one more year with you.”

Keb' Mo', vocals

Keb' Mo'
Over the past two decades, award-winning singer, songwriter, guitarist and contemporary blues artist, Keb’ Mo’, has cultivated a reputation as a modern master of American roots music through the understated excellence of his live and studio performances. His recent project – TajMo– is a cross-generational collaboration with legendary blues musician Taj Mahal which merges the two artists’ distinctive voices and guitar styles. The project, which won the 2018 GRAMMY for “Best Contemporary Blues Album,” features guest appearances by Sheila E., Joe Walsh, Lizz Wright and Bonnie Raitt. B.B. King, Buddy Guy, the Dixie Chicks, Joe Cocker, Robert Palmer and Tom Jones have all recorded his songs. His guitar playing has inspired leading instrument makers Gibson Brands to issue the Keb’ Mo’ Signature Bluesmaster acoustic guitar and Martin Guitars to issue the HD-28KM Keb’ Mo’ Limited Edition Signature model.

He has collaborated with a host of artists, including Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Brown, Cassandra Wilson, Buddy Guy, Amy Grant, Solomon Burke, Little Milton and many others. Keb’ also wrote and performed the theme song for the smash sitcom, “Mike & Molly,” and was music composer for TV’s “Memphis Beat.” He has also been featured in TV and film, playing Robert Johnson in the 1998 documentary “Can’t You Hear The Wind Howl,” appeared three times on the television series, “Touched By an Angel,” and was the ghostly bluesman Possum in John Sayles’ 2007 movie, “Honeydripper.” Keb’ is very involved with the Playing For Change movement, which was created to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music. He has been involved with Playing For Change since its inception and has been featured in many related videos and events.

“It felt like everything in my life was breaking down,” the five-time Grammy-winner reflects. “My health, my relationship, my whole world. The only way I knew how to respond was to break the music down, too.”

Born and raised in Compton, Keb’ took the first steps of his remarkable journey at the age of 21, when he landed a gig playing with Jefferson Airplane violinist Papa John Creach. For the next 20 years, he would work primarily behind the scenes, establishing himself as a respected guitarist, songwriter, and arranger with a unique gift for linking the past and present in his evocative playing and singing. Though he recorded a one-off album in 1980 under his birth name, Kevin Moore, it wasn’t until 1994 that he would introduce the world to Keb’ Mo’ with the release of his widely acclaimed self-titled debut. Critics were quick to take note of his modern, genre-bending take on old school sounds, and two years later, Keb’ garnered his first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album with Just Like You. In the decades to come, he would go on to take home four more Grammy Awards; top the Billboard Blues Chart eight times; perform everywhere from Carnegie Hall to The White House; collaborate with the likes of Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, The Chicks, and Lyle Lovett; have his compositions recorded and sampled by artists as diverse as B.B. King, Zac Brown, and BTS; release signature guitars with both Gibson and Martin; compose music for television series like Mike and Molly, Memphis Beat, B Positive, and Martha Stewart Living; appear as himself in Martin Scorcese’s The Blues and Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing; flex his acting chops playing Robert Johnson in the 1998 documentary Can’t You Hear The Wind Howl, Possum in John Sayles’ Honeydripper, and Howlin’ Wolf in CMT’s Sun Records; and earn the Americana Music Association’s 2021 award for Lifetime Achievement in Performance.

This album contains no booklet.