The Breakdown Keb' Mo'

• 1 Fussing and Fighting 04:16
• 2 Every Step of the Way 04:35
• 3 They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To 04:42
• 4 More Yesterdays 03:42
• 5 We Make Love 03:33
• 6 Walking on Water 03:38
• 7 Hand It Over 03:23
• 8 Living in the Moment 03:37
• 9 Stitched Up Heart 03:18
• 10 One Day Away 03:55
• Total Runtime 38:39

Info for The Breakdown

Five-time GRAMMY winner Keb’ Mo’ is a living legend on the blues scene. For 30 years, he has consistently released beautiful, superbly produced albums and is now set to release his 17th solo studio album.

After a career spanning more than 50 years – marked by five GRAMMY Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association, performances ranging from Carnegie Hall to the White House, and songs covered by everyone from B.B. King to BTS – Keb’ Mo’ returns with his most stripped-back and intimate album to date. On *The Breakdown*, due for release on 21 August via Concord Records, he does something he has never done before: he strips his recordings down to just his guitar, his voice and carefully selected vocal contributions from the Soweto Gospel Choir and the gospel sextet Take 6.

The 10-track collection was recorded in his home studio on the outskirts of Nashville and was created in the wake of a life-saving open-heart operation, the end of his nearly 20-year marriage and a period of profound personal upheaval. With a sober and deeply honest tone, Keb’ reveals his most vulnerable side on *The Breakdown*: he grapples with the passage of time and the inevitability of change, whilst nevertheless clinging firmly to the hope, faith and love that have always guided him.

“It felt as though everything in my life was falling apart,” reflects Keb’. “My health, my relationship, my whole world. The only way I could respond to that was to take the music apart as well.”

Whilst the album is deeply rooted in Keb’s personal history, the songs also serve as a broader commentary on the state of the world as a whole. Today, he released the album’s first single, “Fussing and Fighting”, which could just as easily reflect a long-term relationship as a divided nation searching for common ground.

“Fussing and Fighting” arose from the realisation that relationships can suddenly fall apart. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out, and you find yourself asking, “What happened?”, he explains

*The Breakdown* is Keb’ Mo’s first solo album since his GRAMMY-nominated 2021 album *Good To Be…* and his first since 2024, when his career almost came to an abrupt end after he suffered breathing difficulties whilst on tour with Slash. “I was having trouble breathing and thought there must be something wrong with my lungs,” recalls Keb’. “When I finally got back from the tour, I went to see the doctor, and he sent me straight to A&E.”

As it turned out, the problem wasn’t with his lungs, but with his heart. A leaky heart valve and an aortic aneurysm required major surgery, and the lengthy rehabilitation period forced him to postpone a whole series of tour dates.

“It felt as though death was tapping me on the shoulder,” explains Keb’. “I’d been walking around all those years feeling healthy and strong, and suddenly I had to face the possibility that I might not make it. I had to go through some difficult experiences to write these songs, but I learnt a lot as I looked back on my life and my relationships and viewed everything from a new perspective.”

This newfound perspective lies at the heart of *The Breakdown*, which manages to transform pain and uncertainty at every turn into hope and resilience. “I’ll be 75 this year,” muses Keb’, “and I know I won’t be here forever. You can only make the best of what you’ve got and be grateful for every step along the way.”

"On ‘The Breakdown’ Keb’ Mo’ opens his heart, revealing and working through his own struggles in spare and intimate songs that resonate emotionally with us." (folkalley.com)

Keb' Mo', National steel guitar, vocals
Soweto Gospel Choir (track 7)

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