Keb' Mo'
a.k.a.
Kevin Moore
KEB' ON SMILING
With Big Wide Grin, Keb' Mo' Makes Everyone Happy
With a role on the two-part finale of Touched by an Angel, a gig writing music for Martha Stewart's television show, and the new children's CD Big Wide Grin, Keb' Mo' is bustin' out of the blues. But then Kevin Moore has always been tough to fit into a mold: His music ranges from jazz to county blues and folk. And his tastes are just as broad, as he proves in a Favorite Things interview with Barnes & Noble.com.
Barnes & Noble.com: What's your favorite children's recording?
Keb' Mo': I didn't really like kids' records, and I said mine ain't gonna be some fairy-tale record about family. What I wanted to bring out in the record is that you can't really control what happens in a family, you can't run away from it. You have to deal with what comes up.
B&N.com: What were you listening to when you agreed to make Big Wide Grin for Sony Wonder?
KM: My biggest tip-off was listening to the Sony Wonder catalogue. Especially Kenny Loggins's Return to Pooh Corner. He didn't compromise making a children's record; he made a Kenny Loggins record. It was a really well-made record, and he doesn't talk down to the kids.
B&N.com: What album changed your life?
KM: Everything I listen to affects me but there's always something in me that stays the same, so I can't say one record changed my life. But as far as a recording that made me reveal more of myself, it's Miles Davis's Kind of Blue. That album makes you think -- there's something cosmic about it.
B&N.com: What recording do you wish you played on?
KM: [laughs] I don't have those kind of wishes. If they didn't call me to play on it, then they must of didn't want me. They didn't call me, I didn't want to be there.
B&N.com: What's in your CD player these days?
KM: India Arie's Acoustic Soul, an old Nancy Wilson and George Shearing record, The Swinging's Mutual, and Diana Krall.
B&N.com: What's the sexiest song ever?
KM: "Stardust." It doesn't matter who is singing it, that song always works.
B&N.com: What do you play when you're cleaning house, or does Martha Stewart take care of that for you?
KM: No, Martha respectfully declined to do my house cleaning. I listen to Robert Johnson or the classical radio station.
B&N.com: And what cheers you up?
KM: Shopping; I'm just as much a victim of society as everyone else is. But no, I listen to Shawn Colvin, and I really like the new Brenda Russell [who guests on Big Wide Grin] CD, Paris Rain. It's just gorgeous.
B&N.com: What's your favorite book?
KM: The Conversations with God series, and for nonspiritual purposes my favorite would be Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. --Roberta Penn
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