Stream TajMo, the New Good-Time Blues Album from Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal

Keb’ Mo’ (left) and Taj Mahal. Photo courtesy Shorefire Media

“Some people think that the blues is about being down all the time, but that’s not what it is,” says roots music journeyman artist Taj Mahal. “It’s therapeutic, so you can get up off that down.”

Videos by American Songwriter

Taj’s lastest project, a collaboration album with modern blues guitarist Keb’ Mo’ and appropriately titled TajMo, explores the more good-time elements of blues music.

“It was a lot of fun,” Taj continues. “We’d been thinking about collaborating for a little while, but once we actually got in there, I was really impressed. Keb’s really good at keeping the ball up in the air. He’s a hell of a guitar player, and I’m just amazed at some of the stuff that he put out there.”

TajMo, while rooted in the American blues tradition, also veers into jazzy and Afro-Caribbean island territory at times, which should come as no surprise considering the two men’s back catalogs.

The two musicians worked on the album intermittently for two and a half years and enlisted some heavyweights to guest on the album, including Joe Walsh and Bonnie Raitt, the latter of which offers backup vocals on a rendition of John Mayer’s “Waiting On The World To Change.”

Though Taj and ‘Keb ‘Mo have known each other for years, this marks the first time they have collaborated in a studio setting.

“I’m really proud of this record,” says Keb’, “and I really owe Taj for hanging in there with me. I feel like this is kind of a legacy project, and we’re both pulling from something way back in time. Taj is a part of the same chain that I’ve always been pulling on. He’s like a guide through all that stuff, back through the Deep South and the church and the Carribean and all the way back to Africa. He has some real musical knowledge that goes back to the origins.”

Stream the album below and check out tour dates for 2017.

TajMo Tour Dates

May 30 – Fort Collins, CO – Lincoln Theater
Jun 1 – Denver, CO – Denver Botanic Gardens
Jun 2 – Boulder, CO – Chautauqua Auditorium
Jun 4 – Salt Lake City, UT – Red Butte Gardens
Jun 6 – Tucson, AZ – Fox Theatre
Jun 7 – Scottsdale, AZ – Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
Jun 10 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl (Playboy Jazz Festival)
Jun 13 – Modesto, CA – Gallo Center for the Arts
Jun 15 – Napa, CA – Uptown Theater
Jun 16 – Saratoga, CA – Mountain Winery
Jun 18 – Seattle, WA – Benaroya Hal
Jun 20 – Sunriver, OR – John Gray Amphitheater
Jun 22 – Chico, CA – Laxson Auditorium
Jun 23 – Berkeley, CA – The UC Theatre Taube Family Music Hall
Jun 24 – Tahoe, NV – Montbleu Casino Resor
Aug 9 – Washington D.C. – Lincoln Theatre
Aug 10 – Wilkes-Barre, PA – The F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts
Aug 16 – Portsmouth, NH – Prescott Park
Aug 17 – Albany, NY – The Egg
Aug 18 – Hyannis, MA – Cape Cod Melody Tent
Aug 19 – Cohasset, MA – South Shore Music Circus
Sept 6 – Minneapolis, MN – Hennepin Theatre Trust
Sept 7 – Skokie, IL – North Shore Performing Arts Center
Sept 9 – Kettering, OH – Fraze Pavillion
Sept 10 – Ann Arbor, MI – Michigan Theater
Sept 12 – Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater
Sept 14 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater
Sept 17 – Santa Fe, NM – Santa Fe Opera House
Sept 20 – Dallas, TX – Strauss Square – AT&T Performing Arts Center
Sept 22 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at the Moody Theater
Sept 23 – Houston, TX – House Of Blues
Sept 24 – New Orleans, LA – Orpheum Theater
Sept 29 – La Grange, GA – Sweetland Amphitheater
Oct 1 – Charleston, SC – Gaillard Center
Oct 3 – Wilmington, NC – Cape Fear Stage
Oct 4 – Durham, NC – Durham Performing Arts Center
Oct 6 – Boone, NC – Schaefer Center
Oct 7 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
Oct 21 – 28 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise

Watch The Suitcase Junket Perform at the Family Wash