Written by Five-time GRAMMY winner Keb’ Mo’ has announced a new studio album, The Breakdown, due for release on August 21 via Concord Records, and if the first two singles are anything to go by, this is going to be a deeply significant record — both in the context of his career and as a personal statement.
The backstory matters here. In 2024, while on tour, Keb’ Mo’ began experiencing shortness of breath and was admitted to hospital, where he underwent life-saving open heart surgery. The Breakdown was recorded at his home studio outside Nashville during the recovery period that followed, compounded by the end of a marriage of nearly twenty years. The ten songs that emerged from that time are, by his own account, the most honest and revealing work he has made. “I had to go through some difficult experiences to get these songs,” he has said. “I learned a lot looking back on my life and my relationships and taking inventory of everything in a new light.” For an artist who has always had a gift for directness, that is saying something.
The second single to be released from the album, “Hand It Over,” features the Soweto Gospel Choir and carries a remarkable piece of context of its own. The track is a reimagining of a song that originally appeared on his 1996 GRAMMY-winning album Just Like You, and it was recorded at Flame Studios in Johannesburg — a studio housed in a former prison where Nelson Mandela was held during the Rivonia Trial. It is hard to imagine a more charged setting for a recording session, and the combination of Keb’ Mo’s blues roots and the Soweto Gospel Choir brings a weight and a warmth to the track that the original, good as it is, could not have anticipated. Keb’ Mo’ has noted that the song was his mother’s favourite of his recordings, which gives the whole thing an additional layer of personal meaning.
This follows the earlier single “Fussing and Fighting,” released earlier this month alongside a live performance video, which gives a first indication of the album’s emotional temperature.
Keb’ Mo’ turns seventy-five this year, and there is a reflective quality to everything he has said about this record that feels entirely genuine rather than promotional. “I know I won’t be around forever,” he has reflected. “All you can do is make the most of what you’ve got and be grateful for every step of the journey.” On the evidence of what has been released so far, The Breakdown sounds like exactly that — a record made by someone who has genuinely confronted his own mortality and come through it with his humanity intact.
Again, like several of the albums I have been covering in recent weeks, this sits at some distance from straight jazz — Keb’ Mo’ has always been rooted in blues, soul, and Americana — but he is an artist of genuine stature and this record sounds like it demands attention. I will be reviewing The Breakdown in full closer to its August release date.
The Breakdown is available to pre-order now via Concord Records.
Last modified: June 25, 2026
