CONCERT REVIEW – Keb’ Mo in Austin, TX

Keb Mo and Austin, TX are a perfect pairing. With an audience full of musicians themselves, the night was filled with blues, country, political humor and mutual love and respect.

First on stage was Anthony D’Amato, who usually plays with his full band Fantastic Cat, but has been doing this Keb Mo tour as a solo act.  He sounds like a young Dylan and looks like a Concert for Bangladesh era George Harrison.  As a pure folk musician, he did a great job of captivating the audience with his voice and harmonica but also being equally entertaining with his between song banter.  I also really appreciate when an artist really takes the role of being the support/opening act for what it is and D’Amato is no exception.  During one song, he had the audience take part in a call and response, and they were more than happy to comply.  During another song, in which he was singing about Armageddon (during the Covid-era), he took a few digs at a former president which was met with roaring approval and laughter.  By the end of his set, everyone in the crowd was happy, alert and ready for more.

Any time Keb Mo takes the stage, the whole audience knows they are in the presence of a master.  I have often thought that another nickname for him could be “the professor”.  He exudes wisdom over all forms of music but particularly of Blues and Americana, which could not be better suited for an Austin audience.

It is particularly impressive that in his eighteen-song set, Keb Mo pulled tracks from twelve separate albums.  Having released a total of sixteen albums in the last thirty years, this really spoke volumes about how consistently he has produced such high quality and long lasting material.  There are no “lost” or “filler” albums in his discography and he proves it every night be keeping the entire catalog alive on stage.

Switching between electric, acoustic and his dobro, Keb wowed the audience with his technical skills but also frequently had the crowd laughing during songs like “Government Cheese” and “Suitcase”.  He also told stories about Texas and spoke of his mother, a native Texan, which was once again met with loud applause by the adoring crowd.

Backed by Casey Washer on drums, and Zachariah Witcher on bass, I really need to give a special shoutout to Dane Farnsworth on the keys.  He played the piano like Chuck Leavell and the Hammond B3 like Booker T Jones.  He danced on the line between soloist and accompanist so gracefully that even Keb spent a good deal of time watching him and even walked over for a high five.  I am definitely going to keep an eye on him and his other projects.

To get technical about Keb, my overwhelming takeaway whenever I see or hear Keb is that he is a master of embracing space.  My first real lesson in the beauty of using space was when I first heard Keb’s solo on “More Than One Way Home”.  It is perfect.  There are plenty of opportunities to just play more notes, but he doesn’t.  The use of space was a theme I continued hearing through the rest of his catalog and even in the works he produces for other artists.  

The idea of “space” translates on stage to Keb practicing “restraint”.  It sometimes looks as if his hands are just ready to play the most amazing things and it is him that just decides when to let them go and when to say “hold up, just take a second first”.  His abilities on all forms of guitar are very apparent.  Fingerpicking, soloing and even accompanying his own vocals or another band members solo.  With all of them, he tastefully decides what to let out and what to just hold onto.  In the case of so many other guitarists, the crowd would be left wanting more and perhaps wondering why he didn’t just blaze through a few progressions letting his fingers fly.  With Keb though, the crowd gets it.  It’s more than enough because it’s perfect.  It’s a lesson in practicing restraint and appreciating space.

All in all, it was a great night of music, storytelling and audience engagement.  Keb is not only a master musician but a master entertainer and to see him in concert is a gift that should be embraced and appreciated.

Thank you Keb for a great evening and see you at Crossroads in September!