The Breakdown Keb' Mo'

• 1 Fussing and Fighting 04:16
• 2 Every Step of the Way 04:35
• 3 They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To 04:42
• 4 More Yesterdays 03:42
• 5 We Make Love 03:33
• 6 Walking on Water 03:38
• 7 Hand It Over 03:23
• 8 Living in the Moment 03:37
• 9 Stitched Up Heart 03:18
• 10 One Day Away 03:55
• Total Runtime 38:39

Info for The Breakdown

Five-time GRAMMY winner Keb’ Mo’ is a living legend on the blues scene. For 30 years, he has consistently released beautiful, superbly produced albums and is now set to release his 17th solo studio album.

After a career spanning more than 50 years – marked by five GRAMMY Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association, performances ranging from Carnegie Hall to the White House, and songs covered by everyone from B.B. King to BTS – Keb’ Mo’ returns with his most stripped-back and intimate album to date. On *The Breakdown*, due for release on 21 August via Concord Records, he does something he has never done before: he strips his recordings down to just his guitar, his voice and carefully selected vocal contributions from the Soweto Gospel Choir and the gospel sextet Take 6.

The 10-track collection was recorded in his home studio on the outskirts of Nashville and was created in the wake of a life-saving open-heart operation, the end of his nearly 20-year marriage and a period of profound personal upheaval. With a sober and deeply honest tone, Keb’ reveals his most vulnerable side on *The Breakdown*: he grapples with the passage of time and the inevitability of change, whilst nevertheless clinging firmly to the hope, faith and love that have always guided him.

“It felt as though everything in my life was falling apart,” reflects Keb’. “My health, my relationship, my whole world. The only way I could respond to that was to take the music apart as well.”

Whilst the album is deeply rooted in Keb’s personal history, the songs also serve as a broader commentary on the state of the world as a whole. Today, he released the album’s first single, “Fussing and Fighting”, which could just as easily reflect a long-term relationship as a divided nation searching for common ground.

“Fussing and Fighting” arose from the realisation that relationships can suddenly fall apart. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out, and you find yourself asking, “What happened?”, he explains

*The Breakdown* is Keb’ Mo’s first solo album since his GRAMMY-nominated 2021 album *Good To Be…* and his first since 2024, when his career almost came to an abrupt end after he suffered breathing difficulties whilst on tour with Slash. “I was having trouble breathing and thought there must be something wrong with my lungs,” recalls Keb’. “When I finally got back from the tour, I went to see the doctor, and he sent me straight to A&E.”

As it turned out, the problem wasn’t with his lungs, but with his heart. A leaky heart valve and an aortic aneurysm required major surgery, and the lengthy rehabilitation period forced him to postpone a whole series of tour dates.

“It felt as though death was tapping me on the shoulder,” explains Keb’. “I’d been walking around all those years feeling healthy and strong, and suddenly I had to face the possibility that I might not make it. I had to go through some difficult experiences to write these songs, but I learnt a lot as I looked back on my life and my relationships and viewed everything from a new perspective.”

This newfound perspective lies at the heart of *The Breakdown*, which manages to transform pain and uncertainty at every turn into hope and resilience. “I’ll be 75 this year,” muses Keb’, “and I know I won’t be here forever. You can only make the best of what you’ve got and be grateful for every step along the way.”

"On ‘The Breakdown’ Keb’ Mo’ opens his heart, revealing and working through his own struggles in spare and intimate songs that resonate emotionally with us." (folkalley.com)

Keb' Mo', National steel guitar, vocals
Soweto Gospel Choir (track 7)

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.