Five-time GRAMMY® winner Keb’ Mo’ will be the recipient of the fifth annual Crossroads of American Music Award at GRAMMY Museum® Mississippi’s 2023 Gala, which will take place at the Museum in Cleveland, Miss., on Thursday, Sept. 28, at 6 p.m. The 2023 Gala is presented by Walmart, with additional support provided by Cannon Motors of Mississippi, Kirk Auto Group, and Quality Steel Corporation. Additional details will be announced soon.
Tickets to the 2023 Gala go on sale to GRAMMY Museum Mississippi Members on Aug. 18 and can be purchased at grammymuseumms.org. Pending availability, tickets will go on sale to the general public on Aug. 25.
“As one of the most recognized and celebrated musicians of this generation, Keb’ Mo’ is synonymous with modern-day blues music,” said Emily Havens, Executive Director of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. “From his GRAMMY-winning hit albums and collaborations with some of the most iconic artists across a variety of genres, Keb’ Mo’s contributions to American music are immeasurable, and we know there is much more to come. We can’t wait to honor his incredible achievements with the fifth annual Crossroads of American Music Award at this year’s Gala.”
“I’m incredibly honored that the Mississippi GRAMMY Museum chose me as the recipient of this year’s Crossroads of American Music award,” said Keb’ Mo’. “It gives me so much joy to be recognized with this award for doing what I love the most, and to be named alongside past recipients such as the legendary Bobby Rush and Jerry Lee Lewis. Thank you, GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. This is an honor I’ll treasure forever.”
“We are proud to support the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi’s 2023 Gala and congratulate this year’s Crossroads of American Music Award recipient Keb’ Mo’,” said Keith Morris, senior director of community relations at Walmart. “We applaud the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi for celebrating artists who have made significant contributions to the evolution of American music. Proceeds from the gala contribute to the museum’s mission to educate and inspire future generations, particularly those across the great State of Mississippi, on the significance of our country’s rich musical heritage.”
GRAMMY Museum Mississippi’s Red Carpet Guild, an organization of committed volunteers whose mission is to promote, support and sustain the Mississippi Museum, is currently developing plans for the Mississippi Museum’s 2023 Gala. The theme for this year’s Gala is “Red, Rhythm, and Blues.”
The event will take place on Thursday, Sept. 28, at 6 p.m. at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi and will feature a reception, dinner and cocktails, live music, and a silent and live auction. The event will also feature the presentation of the 2023 L.U.C.Y. Award, which honors a K-12 educator from the state of Mississippi who embodies the educational mission of GRAMMY Museum Mississippi.
Established by the Museum’s Board of Directors, the Crossroads of American Music Award honors an artist who has made significant musical contributions influenced by the creativity born in the cradle of American music. Past recipients of the Crossroads of American Music Award are GRAMMY winners the late Charley Pride and Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby Rush, and Marty Stuart.
The annual GRAMMY Museum Mississippi Gala is the Museum’s signature fundraising event. Proceeds from this year’s Gala will benefit the Museum’s education programs, which seek to use music as a gateway to learning by inspiring and cultivating creativity, critical thinking, and self-expression.
ABOUT KEB’ MO’
Born Kevin Moore in Los Angeles, Nashville-based artist Keb’ Mo’ landed his first major gig at 21 in Papa John Creach’s band. Over the course of the next 20 years, the GRAMMY winner would go on to establish himself as a respected guitarist, songwriter, and arranger, releasing his self-titled debut as Keb’ Mo’ in 1994. Critics were quick to take note of Keb’ Mo’s modern, genre-bending take on old-school sounds, and two years later, he garnered his first GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Just Like You.
In the decades to come, Keb’ Mo’ would take home four more GRAMMY Awards; top the Billboard Blues Albums chart eight times; perform everywhere from Carnegie Hall to The White House; collaborate with artists including Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, The Chicks, and Lyle Lovett; have compositions recorded and sampled by artists as diverse as B.B. King, Zac Brown, and BTS; release signature guitars with both Gibson and Martin; appear in and compose music for film and TV shows like “The Blues,” “Mike & Molly,” and Can't You Hear the Wind Howl? The Life & Music of Robert Johnson; and earn the Americana Music Association’s 2021 award for Lifetime Achievement in Performance. NPR’s Mountain Stage hailed him as “one of the most decorated living blues artists,” while The New Yorker raved that “few musicians emblematize the blues like Kevin Moore,” and The New York Times praised “the subtle twists of his songwriting” along with his knack for “facing down desolation with a grin.”
The songs on Keb’ Mo’s most recent album, 2022’s Good to Be, draw on country, soul, and blues to forge a sound that transcends genre and geography. Keb’ Mo’ worked with a wide variety of collaborators on the project, including 22-time GRAMMY-winning country artist Vince Gill, famed producer Tom Hambridge (B.B. King, Buddy Guy), and special guests like Darius Rucker, Kristin Chenoweth, bassist Marcus Miller, guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Old Crow Medicine Show, and the late legendary Freedom Rider, Ernest "Rip" Patton Jr. Keb’ Mo’ also enlisted the famed Compton Cowboys for the “Good to Be” music video.
