Keb’ Mo’ KEEP IT SIMPLE (Epic)

What’s most interesting about Keb’ Mo’ is, perhaps, his contradictions. Years ago, he went to Mississippi and apprenticed himself to the late Eugene Powell, a little-known country blues eccentric, to develop his ability to zero in on the Delta sound. It was his way of distancing himself from the pop and funk he’d played for years in LA and immersing himself in the spirit and the sound of deep blues. Certainly when Kevin Moore (a/k/a Mr. Mo’) plays with traditional musicians, his grasp of the music is obvious. Yet his albums seem like such weak approximations of his avowed taste. Sure, they’re pleasing, easy to listen to. But for the most part, pop instincts rule his slight arrangements, and his lyrics are often built from feel-good homilies. At times he brushes with greatness, but usually it’s tossed aside in favor of radio- and Starbucks-friendly fare.

This album, his first wholly self-produced disc, follows the gentle blues-pop pattern of his earlier offerings. As in the past, his deft fingerpicked acoustic and National steel guitars can transform those homilies into something deeper, but not often enough. He comes closest here on the love song "Shave Your Legs," where his slide playing becomes especially graceful after the tune’s opening African riff and his voice plays off the smooth bottleneck fills. Things heat up most when guest guitarists Robben Ford and Robert Cray plug in for "Riley B. King," a tribute to blues giant B.B.

(Keb' Mo' plays the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, this Wednesday, March 31; call 617-625-4088.)