Keb' Mo'The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center will present Keb’ Mo’ and G. Love & Special Sauce on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
The two bands will perform as co-headliners; each will perform a separate set, with Keb’ Mo’ first. The show is set for 7 p.m., in the ASC, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $68.50, $58.50 and $48.50. Call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org.
Keb’ Mo’ has been making critically acclaimed albums since 1994, when he released his self-titled debut. But it was his second release, “Just Like You,” in 1996 that won him the first of three Grammy awards. His genre-blending artfulness, intuitive lyrics, unique guitar style, distinctive voice and magnetic stage charisma have gained him the significant honor of being called “a musician’s musician.” His latest recording, out this year, is “BLUESAmericana.” 
G Love. Photo by Emmett Malloy.This album, his 12th, marks the 20th anniversary of his debut release. The album features acoustic guitars prominently, along with electric and resonator slide guitars, mandolin, percussion, keyboards, reeds, and horns. Mo’ played most of the guitars and bass, keyboards and several other instruments. His favorite number on the album, which celebrates love and understanding, is the ebullient “I’m Gonna Be Your Man,” a dynamo of a song that starts with acoustic guitar and powers through the blues to more free-ranging sonic terrain, and boasts one of his signature melodies.
G. Love & Special Sauce is a Philadelphia-based trio whose laid-back, bouncy hip-hop blues encompasses the sound and production of classic R&B and recent rap artists. Twenty years after the release of their self-titled debut and eight years since their last live performance together, the original lineup of G. Love & Special Sauce (Garrett Dutton aka G. Love, Jeff Clemens and Jim Prescott) returns with their first album in nearly a decade. Built on the trio’s signature hip-hop blues sound, they are breathing new life into their groove-heavy, Chicago-blues-infused brand of stripped-down rock ’n’ roll.