Kicking Back with Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’, Part 2

Don’t pass up Part 1!

INSTANT KARMA

Working on the first record cemented a relationship rooted in African American culture, the blues, jazz, gospel, life, music, being on the road and being friends. “It’s a deep relationship,” Keb’ Mo’ reveals.

“When we go in to work, we just understand what each other does,” he continues. “The first record was a lot of work. Taj Mahal had 30 years on me on the road so I could work on the record a little longer. What he brings to the whole table is a mastery that was earned one note at a time. I am the beneficiary of that artistry and mastery, so I am able to do what I do and figure out how to be me. So, Taj is in the room and he opens his mouth to sing and play, that’s freakin’ Taj Mahal! If we’re Sam and Dave, I’m definitely Dave. It’s perfect when we work together.”

It took them more than 20 years to actually meet. Keb’ first saw Taj perform at a school assembly in 1969 as a student at Compton High School. As a 17-year-old, he recalls, “I knew I couldn’t unhear it.” While he says he met Taj during Taj’s recording of Dancing the Blues, he didn’t really meet him until they worked together on TajMo. He had studied three or four Taj Mahal records, predominately The Natch’l Blues (1968) and Giant Step (1969).

“These are iconic records that people took home,” Keb’ says. “We have had conversations about these records, like when a Sly Stone record would come out. One of my favorite records was ‘Stayin’ Alive’ by the Bee Gees, the way it was put together—it was so brilliant, how it speaks. The Natch’l Blues? I played those songs in the clubs before I ever met Taj, so I had to take those songs apart and I did my best to translate those to the other bandmembers so they would play those parts right and have that Taj Mahal feel and they wouldn’t wank on them. So, later down the line, I could apply the concept and understand the method to the madness.”

Talk about madness. For Room on the Porch, it was Keb’s ambitious idea to write and record the songs in the studio—working between Addiction Sound Studios and his own Stu-Stu-Studio, both in Nashville—with the deadline of a few weeks. Taj says his initial reaction was, “Ready. Go. I come from the days where 16 tracks could have been recorded in a day and that was the album.”

Taj still believes the idea was wonderful, finding the process organic, but Keb’ now acknowledges that it was an insane proposal and ended up being grinding. Why did he do it? “I had watched Queen and David Bowie making great records like that, where they just went in and wrote it and recorded and did everything at the same time, so I said, ‘Well, that means it can be done.’”

Still, nowadays, Keb’ feels the pressure of creating music that can really stand out because he says people have access to everything and anything they want to listen to. “How can you get someone to really hear something? I don’t care if I do two takes or 900 takes or if I put it together with all samples. I know something is really good if I can’t stop listening to it.”

Ultimately, the song is key, says Keb’. “I love the Quincy Jones quote: ‘You need three things to make a great record—‘the song, the song, and the song.’”

WRITING ON THE PORCH

As they worked on the title track with Ruby Amanfu (Sam & Ruby, The Peacocks) at Addiction, they knew immediately it was the gem. “Taj had some music he was working on, and Ruby Amanfu came into the studio and co-wrote with us,” Keb’ says. “She took the piece of music and we all fell in with her. When we heard that thing, we knew that was the one,” Keb’ says. “The way we went about recording it from then on was just so right, so homey, so inclusive, even the verse where Taj speaks was a singing verse, but it seemed right. The violin—I said, ‘Play like the lady down the street.’ It’s like, ‘We’re all here.’”

Taj says he wakes up every morning to “Room on the Porch.” He’s so pleased a song that he’s been developing for the past two decades will finally see the light of day. “At night, when I finished playing music, we’d pack up at the end of the night, we were in the van going down the street sometime, somewhere to some hotel to a room. And I’d be making calls, checking in with my family, and I still hadn’t come down from the night and I’d pick up my guitar and put a new set of strings on and tune and very quietly, so I wouldn’t disturb anybody, this song was being played for the last 20 years. I was working it out, but it had no lyrics. So I was thrilled when Ruby and Keb’ came up with the lyrics and what happened to it.”

He says “Junkyard Dog” is also among his favorites his favorites and every day he finds something else to love. “I continue to marvel at Kevin’s way of producing it,” Taj says. “And all his tweezers— he’s got a 60-foot set, a 12-foot set, 14-foot set and a 16-foot set of tweezers. He’ll get inside there and take something out, he’ll shift stuff around in there, and the recording is just amazing.”

Of course, Keb’ loves the entire album, but he mentions a couple of his favorites, including the up-tempo, Calypso-tinged, New Orleans-flavored New Orleans flavored “Better Than Ever,” featuring soulful co-writer and vocalist Wendy Moten. “She’s a dream come true,” Keb’ says. “Both ‘Better Than Ever’ and ‘Room on the Porch’ are very unique. The way ‘Room on the Porch’ is written is brilliant and so timely—about friendship, neighborhood, food; it’s just so juicy. And ‘Better Than Ever’ is a love song that has got these blues verses and R&B bridge and Taj speaks French on the end. It’s so much fun, and my son plays the bass and drums on it. It’s so simple and straight to the point.”

While Keb’ admits that he wasn’t sure he wanted to do another TajMo album—how were they going to top the first?—truthfully, he likes it better than the initial collaboration, and he loved TajMo.

“Sometimes opportunity comes and you don’t really realize you’re getting another opportunity,” Keb’ says. “That’s why I always put my best foot forward. If I agree to it, I’m comin’ in! I hope the record spreads joy to people; a positive piece of work that can be an inspiration to people.”