The Door

Singer-guitarist Kevin Moore, known by his slangy abbreviation Keb' Mo', has already enjoyed commercial success. He's cut radio hits like "I Was Wrong," toured with Bonnie Raitt, and won Grammys for his last two albums. Yet this time, Moore's truly nailed his blues-pop ambitions with a warm mix of sonics and songcraft. The Door wraps spare arrangements around Moore's bone-deep slide guitar and the slow-granite foundation of drummer Jim Keltner and bassist Reggie McBride. They catch the spirit of the music's simple country roots, but spin savvy moves like updating Elmore James's "It Hurts Me Too" with a hip-hop groove that flies. Moore has also penned wise, sweetly emotional lyrics. He weaves themes like class-consciousness (the star-crossed love ode "Anyway") and poverty of the spirit ("Change") into heart-tugging ballads colored by the chocolate-y Mississippi moan of his voice. Add in flourishes of electric jazz guitar and some nasty rock tones, and this tallies up as his most ambitious, balanced CD. But shouldn't he have called it The Do'? --Ted Drozdowski