Reflection

Being labeled and marketed as a blues musician was never really a good fit for Keb' Mo'. True, he first came to the attention of most when he came out of Compton playing Robert Johnson songs on a National Steel guitar, and that’s how his recording career started, but this is a guy who used to be a staff songwriter for A&M Records, so he has always had plenty of pop, soul, R&B, and jazz in his kit bag and, truth be known, he’s really closer to an artist like James Taylor than he is to Howlin’ Wolf. His album The Reflection, the first on his own Yolabelle record imprint (he also self-produced the album) after several releases with Sony, has nothing on it that could be called blues, and nothing that even really comes close. It’s a calm, easy, and mellow mixture of adult pop…