Ravinia 2025 Issue 1

TAJ MAHAL & KEB’ MO’ It’s been nearly a decade since Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ teamed up for their collaborative debut, Taj- Mo , and though the album was a runaway success—it won a Grammy Award, garnered rave reviews, and spawned a massive joint tour of the US and Europe—neither artist ever expected to record a follow-up. Though the two only began recording together as TajMo in 2017, the pair’s creative rela- tionship—and mutual admiration—stretches back decades. “Taj Mahal has always been one of my favorite artists,” Keb’ explains. “I first heard his music during my senior year of high school, and it had a profound effect on me. His playing was immediately imprinted on my psyche.” Born Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr., Taj landed his first record deal in the mid-1960s with Rising Sons—an early band he formed with Ry Cooder and Jessie Lee Kincaid—be- fore going solo under the name Taj Mahal in 1968. While his early work was thoroughly entrenched in the Mississippi Delta, he soon began blending an intoxicating mix of sounds from throughout the African diaspora into his records, touching on everything from rock and roll and R&B to reggae and jazz to West Indian and Caribbean music as he quickly became known as one of the most influential and progressive roots musicians of the modern era. Over the course of more than six decades and nearly 50 albums, Taj would go on to win five Grammy Awards (plus a Lifetime Achievement honor from the Recording Academy), perform everywhere from The White House to Carnegie Hall, be inducted into the Blues Music Hall of Fame, receive the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and collaborate with the likes of The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, Ang é lique Kidjo, and countless other luminaries. “Keb’ Mo’ was one of the first guys from the next generation that really caught my attention,” Taj recalls. “He understood that you had to really study your craft, that you had to learn the traditions and then find your own voice from there.” Born and raised in Compton, Keb’ spent the first few decades of his career working primarily behind the scenes, establishing himself initially as a highly respected guitarist, songwriter, and arranger. Though he recorded a one-off album in 1980 under his birth name, Kevin Moore, it wasn’t until 1994 that the world would meet 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 Billboard ’s blues chart seven times; collaborate with icons like Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, The Chicks, and Lyle Lovett; have compositions recorded and sam- pled by artists as diverse as B.B. King, Zac Brown, and BTS; perform multiple times at The White House; 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 Lifetime Achievement Award. Rather than rest on their considerable laurels, Taj and Keb’ decided to continue pushing themselves into new creative territory with Room on the Porch , writing and recording the bulk of the album from scratch over the course of just two weeks in the studio. “It was like a party every day,” adds Keb’, who later put the finishing touches on the album at his own home studio. “We had our sons in there playing with us and all the other musicians and writers were hanging the whole time, so it was a really fun place to be.” That excitement is palpable on Room on the Porch , which feels just as fresh and revelatory as the pair’s debut. Taj Mahal first appeared at Ravinia in 1996 and returned in 2000 and 2009. Keb’ Mo’ made his Ravinia debut in 1997 and has appeared on another four festival season, most recently in 2023. This is their first duo performance at Ravinia. ABRAHAM ALEXANDER When Abraham Alexander unspools his ex- traordinary life story, it becomes clear that he should always trust his instincts. Each time he has, something unknowable but amazing has happened for him. Born in Greece, where he spent the early part of his life with the Acropolis as his playground, Abraham was transplanted to Texas in the early 2000s at 11 years old to escape the ever-present racial tension of his birthplace. Adopted in Texas after losing his mother in a car accident with a drunk driver, Abraham became a sports nut who excelled on the pitch and had first set his sights on a career in soccer. A torn ACL sidelined those ambitions but opened the door to a new path. A friend handed him a gui- tar during this downtime, and, without warn- ing, his soul was unlocked. Songs he did not know that he had in him poured out. A series of increasingly incredible chance meetings— including a life-changing encounter with Leon Bridges—led him to nurture this newfound mu- sical voraciousness. Those roads converged on his first full-length album SEA/SONS , released in 2023. Co-produced by Alexander with the help of Matt Pence and Brad Cook, the album is a lush, seductive affair that showcases the sing- er-songwriter’s beguiling voice—one that offers both honey and grit—and supple acoustic gui- tar work. The 11 tracks on SEA/SONS display a cool assuredness even as the songs themselves play with themes of loss, redemption, longing, anguish, and joy, fluidly melding elements of folk, pop, rock, R&B, gospel, and even electron- ic music. Ineffable backing vocals, sparse but rich arrangements, and a sense of emotional purpose draw the musical threads together into a cohesive whole that is simultaneously warm and cool. From open mics in Fort Worth, TX, to recent stints on the road opening for Leon Bridges, The Lumineers, and Mavis Staples—an instructive trinity for his sound—Alexander is ready for the spotlight: in the past year, collab- orating with Black Pumas’ Adrian Quesada, he composed and performed “Like a Bird” for the A24 film Sing Sing , earning an Oscar nomina- tion for Best Original Song. AbrahamAlexander made his Ravinia debut in 2022 and is making his first return to the festival. RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 75