Room On The Porch (CD)

The historic collaboration between two generations of American music masters - have announced their long-awaited return with Room On The Porch, a new full-length album out on Concord Records. 

The ten-song collection finds Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal reuniting for their first release together since 2017, when their debut collaboration brought them from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (for a stunning performance alongside Jon Batiste) to the GRAMMY stage (where they took home Best Contemporary Blues Album). “We’re just trying to keep the culture moving forward,” said Taj Mahal during the duo’s acceptance speech that year; a joint mission statement that radiates as strong as ever with Room On The Porch. 

“That first album turned out so great that part of me wondered if maybe we just got lucky,” jokes Keb’ Mo’ on reuniting with Taj Mahal. “But when we got back into the studio together, I felt that same magic again, and I realized it wasn’t luck at all.”

Featuring a tracklist with more original, co-written songs than ever before, Room On The Porch (which Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ also co-produced together) brings out the best in both of these legends. The music is warm and inviting, rooted in the joy of human connection and the power of positivity. There’s no greater example than the album’s title track, which unites TajMo with Ruby Amanfu for a much-needed ode to friendship and community in these divisive times: “Stay as long as you like / That’s alright / Come up on / There’s room on the porch for everyone.”

Sonically, Room On The Porch finds TajMo incorporating a full spectrum of sounds that prove why “each of them is a standard-bearer in the genre-bending world of folk, blues, soul and Americana” (Billboard). But, as Taj Mahal points out, these styles are all deeply tied together by their shared roots: “If you take the African imprint out of Western music for the last 500 years, there’s almost nothing left,” says Taj, who, just this month, was honored with the Recording Academy’s coveted Lifetime Achievement Award. “As much as it might feel like we’re touching on all these different genres, the way I see it, we’re just connecting with the music of our ancestors and their influence on what’s happening now.”

Tracklist

1. Room On The Porch feat. Ruby Amanfu
2. My Darling My Dear
3. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out
4. She Keeps Me Movin’
5. Make Up Your Mind
6. Thicker Than Mud
7. Junkyard Dog
8. Blues’ll Give You Back Your Soul
9. Better Than Ever feat. Wendy Moten
10. Rough Time Blues