Bluesman Keb’ Mo’ is so humble you might be tempted to overlook his talent -- but don’t

As his four Grammy awards attest, Keb’ Mo’ is a man of exceptional talent.

Critics agree, yet they sometimes pick on the veteran bluesman, playing his first-ever Olympia show on Thursday, because he’s nice.

Yep. While Mo’ — born Kevin Roosevelt Moore — wasn’t available for an Olympian interview, the prepared one his public-relations folks sent along is full of humility and humor. He chuckles frequently, even when nothing is particularly funny.

Let’s start with the name — so nice it has apostrophes twice.

“I’ve been Keb’ Mo’ since I was in grade school,” said the singer-songwriter-guitarist, who grew up in South Los Angeles. “On my block, everybody called me Keb’ Mo’, because that’s how we talked in the neighborhood.

“Kevin Moore is Keb’ Mo’. It’s the same thing.”

It is, and it isn’t. Keb’ Mo’ calls to mind Elmo, with whom Mo’ appeared when he visited “Sesame Street,” and surely inspired the rebranding of beverage chain BevMo.  Fun fact: Those events both happened in 2001, the same year Mo’ released his Grammy-nominated children’s disc “Big Wide Grin.” 

With that kind of appearance to his credit — along with appearances on both “The West Wing” TV series and at the real White House, where he performed in 2015 — it’s no wonder he’s so nice it actually seems to annoy the occasional grump.

One such is Pop Matters’ Matt Cibula, whose amusing review of 2006’s “Suitcase” describes Mo’ as “about as edgy as a sphere” and his music as “rockin’ right along with a smile and a wink.”

In the end, though, Cibula can’t help succumbing to the musician’s charm. “Dang it,” he writes, “Moore is just too talented and nice to hate, or even to ignore.”

The Grammy folks certainly aren’t ignoring him. He’s been nominated 11 times, with his four wins stretching from 1996’s “Just Like You” to 2018’s “TajMo,” a collaboration with Taj Mahal that mixes songs the two wrote together with covers ranging from The Who’s “Squeeze Box” to John Mayer’s “Waiting for the World to Change.”

“Taj suggested we do something together, and of course, my answer was, ‘When? Where? How? What time? Let’s go,’” he said. “And then to top it off, we get nominated for a Grammy and actually win the Grammy, which is very hard to do.

“There I am with an icon, someone who is a hero to me, and I have the privilege of winning a Grammy along with him. I guess now you can put a fork in me.”

“TajMo” also features Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh, Sheila E. and Lizz Wright, and that list is just a sampling of the stars with whom modest Mo’ has collaborated. Others include Jackson Browne, Natalie Cole, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Bobby McFerrin and most recently Rosanne Cash, with whom he produced the political anthem “Put a Woman in Charge,” released Sept. 27. (Mo’ does, after all, live in Nashville.)

“I’m always very surprised when anybody wants to work with me,” he said. “It’s always amazing, and I appreciate it.”

He enjoys the teamwork, having started his career as a sideman. And 38 years after his first solo disc, he still sees himself that way. “I’m basically a sideman,” he said. “I’m not an expert in anything.”

Plenty of people would disagree — including such artists as B.B. King, Joe Cocker and Buddy Guy, who’ve all performed tunes Mo’ wrote, and guitar makers Gibson Brands and C.F. Martin & Co., both of which make Keb’ Mo’ guitars.

And then there’s another Pop Matters critic, Colin McGuire, who could hardly have heaped on Mo’ praise when he reviewed 2016’s “That Hot Pink Blues Album.”

“Kevin Moore has always been one of the best players in all of the genre, mainstream or not,” McGuire wrote. “He’s always been — and always will be — one of the unsung heroes of the gray area that marries blues and funk.”

Keb’ Mo’

What: The quadruple Grammy-winning blues artist, who’s worked with everyone from Taj Mahal to Elmo, is headed to Olympia for a solo show.

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday

Where: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia

Tickets: $39-$62 with discounts for seniors, students, youth and military; $105 additional for VIP Experience

More information: 360-753-8586, washingtoncenter.org

Listen: Mo’ just teamed up with Rosanne Cash for the political anthem “Put a Woman in Charge,” online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=uluFEq1zfpk.