Not Feelin’ The Blues

Kevin Moore, professionally known as Keb’ Mo,’ says he’s “ecstatic” with his life.

“I love the blues, but I don’t have the blues,” says the guitarist who has made his mark in that genre. “The blues is a great form of music, not a state of mind.”

Moore has a lot to be happy about.

At 60, any scars from his childhood in southern California - “that’s the South for me,” he jokes - are long forgotten. He can trace his ancestry to slaves, so “I know I’m black, but I think of myself as Kevin. I’ve overcome all that stuff.”

With three Grammys, he’s still making all-new music, with “The Reflection,” released in August of 2011, acclaimed by critics as “an object lesson in just what it means to sing and play R&B.”

He’s making music as much as he wants, too, with the current tour taking him to Michigan tonight, Wisconsin on Sunday, Minnesota on Monday and the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville on Wednesday.

But, he adds, as much as he enjoys his job, “any time away from home is too much” right now. That’s because Moore has a 4-year-old son who isn’t interested in Daddy’s fame. “He knows Daddy sings and plays the guitar,” Moore says with a deep chuckle. “That’s just what Daddy does.”

Moore says being a dad the second time around - his 24-year-old son is also a musician - is “way different.”

“I’m at a time in my life where I’m much wiser, much more grounded, much better at relationships - I’m better at everything than I was when I was 30! It’s great, and I still have a few good miles left in me.

“I live an unconventional life.

I wanted to be conventional; I just didn’t know what that was.”

He tried. After high school,Moore enrolled at a technical school to study architectural drafting. The idea, he remembers, was to transfer to a four-year college and end up with a bachelor’s degree.

“At the two-year juncture, I started playing music again,” he says, a shrug audible in his voice. “I never had a plan. I just go where the wind blows.

That’s good - and sometimes not so good. Clarity is a really good thing to have in life.

“Most of my life, I’ve been very vague,” he adds with another chuckle. “I’ve had a few moments of clarity, and in those few moments I’ve been able to achieve a lot. Where the wind blows is always right where you’re supposed to be.”

Moore was reminded of his decision just the day before this interview, when his older son called him for advice.

“His next month’s gigs were looking kind of funky, and he asked me what to do,” Moore says. “I gave him a couple of options - and a third option. I told him he could go to college, and I’d pay for it. ‘You’ll still only be 29 when you get out, and yeah, you’d be older than the other kids, but you’d be there with a purpose.’

“Yeah, I wish I had gone to college in hindsight, but at that time I was still very unclear about who I was and what I was supposed to be. Now I love being me.”

“I trust my instincts and go with them,” he told DownBeat magazine. “It’s important to respect the elders and study them, but it’s just as important to do your own thing.”