Keb’ Mo’ with special guest Abby Owens

With five GRAMMYs, 14 Blues Foundation Awards, and a groundbreaking career spanning nearly 50 years under his belt, Keb’ Mo’s got nothing left to prove. Just don’t tell him that. See him at Celebrity Theatre on Sunday April 30!

“I may be turning 70,” Keb’ reflects, “but I’m still breathing and I’m still hungry. I’m still out there going for it every single day.”

Born and raised in Compton, Keb’ began his remarkable journey at the age of 21, when he landed his first major gig playing with Jefferson Airplane violinist Papa John Creach. For the next 20 years, Keb’ would work primarily behind the scenes, establishing himself as a respected guitarist, songwriter, and arranger with a unique gift for linking the past and present in his evocative playing and singing.  In 1994 he would introduce the world to Keb’ Mo’ with the release of his widely acclaimed self-titled debut.

Critics were quick to take note of Keb’s modern, genre-bending take on old school sounds, and two years later, he garnered his first GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album with Just Like You. In the decades to come, Keb’ would take home four more GRAMMY Awards; top the Billboard Blues Chart seven times; perform everywhere from Carnegie Hall to The White House; collaborate with many including Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, The Chicks, and Lyle Lovett; have compositions recorded and sampled by artists as diverse as B.B. King, Zac Brown, and BTS; release signature guitars with both Gibson and Martin; compose music for television series like Mike and Molly, Memphis Beat, B Positive, and Martha Stewart Living; and earn the Americana Music Association’s 2021 award for Lifetime Achievement in Performance.

Abby Owens is an American Original hailing from Indiantown Florida.

There is no genre that Owens’ music fits nicely into. As Kenny Vaughan, long time guitarist for Marty Stuart’s supporting band the Fabulous Superlatives, describes her, “She sings and plays music on a personal level that few performers experience. While most artists are busy trying to mold their music into a neat, clean and tidy box that will fit into an accessible format, Abby is cruising full speed down an open road, singing and playing with a depth and intensity that tells you she’s lived every song that she sings. Get ready for a ride.”

Abby’s first two albums Fore The Light Comes and Indiantown showcased her as a consummate writer, vocalist and guitarist. Her track “Indiantown” was well received and continues to be requested by fans. Here she is singing “It’s Already Changed.”