Keb’ Mo’s blues come in multiple shades

Keb’ Mo’, who performs Thursday night at the all-ages Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay, occupies a much different hue of the blues spectrum than B.B. King (who plays at Humphrey’s Aug.15) and many other practitioners of the music, including former San Diego dynamo Billy Thompson, who opens Keb’ Mo’s show here.

Put simply, the singer, songwriter and guitarist born Kevin Moore favors a blues style that is tidy and polite, polished and pop-friendly. If those qualities seem at odds with the earthy grit and bite that are key parts of the blues template — and Thompson’s vibrant music — well, so what?

“Sometimes I think that calling me a blues artist is a stretch of the imagination,” Keb’ Mo’ told me in a 1999 Night&Day interview.

“Because I stretch it out. I do some blues, and then others things that I like, too. A song like`Just Like You’ (the pop-flavored title track of his third solo album) is not the blues. But the thing about it that is from the blues standpoint, for me, is that the song is real.

“Before, when I was just trying to be a pop songwriter, the things I wrote didn’t have to have a meaning for me. It just had to be catchy and have a form. In hindsight, I see that what was missing from them was heart, and the blues really woke me up to the need for songs to have heart. If it’s not the blues, it’s still gotta be real. So the blues is a kind of anchor for me, a guidepost and a yardstick. If it doesn’t have those qualities, and some human feelings, then I don’t mess with it. I think that’s the common factor that pulled together the other styles I do.”

Keb’ Mo’ appeared here in the Old Globe’s 1992 production of the Hank Williams-inspired musical, “Lost Highway,” and wrote many of the songs for the Globe’s 1999 production of the blues-inspired musical, “Thunder Knocking On the Door.” (By coincidence, Thompson — the opening act for Thursday’s concert at Humphrey’s — performed in the band for the national touring production of “Thunder.”) A former staff songwriter for A&M Records, Keb’ Mo’ has collaborated with Amy Grant, Lyle Lovett and the Dixie Chicks, as well as with B.B, King, Buddy Guy and Guitar Shorty. His well-crafted music is consistently pleasant, which is both a strength and a weakness.

Keb’ Mo’, 59, has a warm, engaging voice. He’s a solid guitarist and an engaging songwriter who makes his music with care and precision. Having served apprenticeships with such formidable blues artists as Lowell Fulson and Big Joe Turner, he knows the music well.

A Los Angeles native Keb’ Mo’ had previously regarded the blues much the same as did many other young African-Americans — dismissing the music as an archaic reminder of a socially and politically repressive time. After playing with Fulson and Turner, he quickly changed his mind.

“I didn’t even want to look at the blues before that, and I hadn’t even heard `Reconsider Baby.’ That’s how ignorant I was,” Keb’ Mo’ recalled in our 1999 interview.

“But when I heard Lowell and Big Joe, even though I didn’t want to be a blues artist, I could not deny what I heard. And it stayed with me, and probably will ’til I die. And when all I could get was a gig playing with blues artists, I took it with gratitude and learned what I could.”

That Keb’ Mo’ prefers to glide and simmer with his music, rather than soar and burn, is an aesthetic preference that has helped him earn a loyal audience that prefers its blues to be more on the smooth side.

His mellow-fellow approach is evident on “The Reflection,” Keb’ Mo’s 10th and newest album. The title track and the cool-as-ice “Walk Through Fire,” both sleek ballads, would suit a sequel to Steely Dan’s 1980 album, “Gaucho.” His version of The Eagles’ “One of These Nights,” with sax man Dave Koz, sounds ready-made for smooth-jazz radio. (Koz’s “Hello Tomorrow” album last year featured Keb’ Mo’.)

Some of the other songs have a more bluesy edge, even if they don’t actually have much edge. That’s probably because his easy-on-the-ears blues style is clearly “built for comfort” — the Willie Dixon song reference is unintentional — and for a pop-oriented audience.

Happily, in concert, Keb’ Mo’ performs with notably more intensity than on his albums. With the combustible Thompson opening the show, the bar should be set high. (Thompson returns Aug. 18 with his full band for a show at Humphrey’s Backstage Live.)