Even better is “The Medicine Man” with the welcome addition of banjo, harmonica, and fiddle courtesy of the Old Crow Medicine Show. Guest Darius Rucker is held back and never lets go with his heart-on-the sleeve roar, but the two have complementary voices and make this a worthy single. “Good Strong Woman” has the strongest country influence, complete with two-beat bass, slide steel guitar, and lyrics about a good strong woman who’ll fill you up when you’re out of gas. They’re fine, but you probably won’t think much about them when they’re over.
They’re bouncy, almost quaint songs about feelin’ alright, having a picnic on the 4th of July, and how easy it is to say “I love you.” The blues organ is way back in the mix and well-behaved, and there are synth strings and smooth jazz guitar. (He’s very good at it, if you need a break from Howlin’ Wolf.) The first three tracks, “Good to Be (Home Again),” “So Easy,” and “Sunny and Warm” are all at home with being easy, sunny, and warm. Instead of traditional blues about having the blues, Mo’ sings sunny songs about how great life is. Imagine an album where Vince Gill gets into it with Marcus Miller, Kingfish Ingram, and Darius Rucker! This isn’t that album.
Producer Vince Gill brings out the commercial country influences here and there, but there’s no consistent house style on the album. The guest soloists (blues star Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Hootie and the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker, and Wicked’s Kristin Chenoweth) are tightly confined to short licks or background vocals on the choruses. Mo’ has three of the best bass players in the world (Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, and Nathan East), but none of them are given any challenging structures or a note of solo space.
Many of the elements are here for a killer album that doesn’t quite materialize. Just don’t expect Mo’ to give you a full, satisfying serving of any one particular style. You’ll have to decide for yourself if you love it. Like his friend and mentor Taj Mahal (their duo recording, 2017’s TajMo, is essential listening for fans of either), Mo’ is at home mixing up country, folk, and pop with traditional blues into music that is hard to imagine anyone not liking at least to some degree. At his best - and there are indeed moments of that here - Mo’ is a genre-bender who brings new listeners to blues, folk, and smooth soul music. Mo’s latest is Good to Be… which is in line with his recent work. He has the chops and the credentials, but he keeps giving us friendly, processed music about how peachy life is when everyone just loves one another.
I always looked forward to a new album from Jarreau, thinking “maybe this time he’ll give us what we know he can do,” and I always came away liking the album OK but also thinking, “Oh well, maybe next time.” Mo’ is similar for the blues. Not that they have much of anything in common musically, but Jarreau was one of those artists who had serious jazz chops and credentials who kept putting out slick, commercial, cheerful pop music. Keb’ Mo’ (he puts Kevin Moore on his tax returns) reminds me a bit of Al Jarreau. At his best - and there are indeed moments of that here - Keb’ Mo’ is a genre-bender who brings new listeners to blues, folk, and smooth soul music.