Musician Keb’ Mo’ performs Saturday, Aug. 13, at Vilar Performing Arts Center at Beaver Creek

Keb’ Mo’ brings the blues to venues across the country, but he always looks forward to returning to Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek.

“I do bigger ones, but not better ones,” he said of the venue.

Grammy Award-winner Keb’ Mo’ returns to Beaver Creek on Saturday with a show at 8 p.m.

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His performance name, Keb’ Mo’, is the shortened form of his name, Kevin Moore.

“Sometimes, with Southern accents, people replace the ‘v’ with a ‘b,’” he said.

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After growing up “crazy in the ’70s,” Moore became a blues music mainstay since his first, self-titled album in 1994, featuring popular songs “Am I Wrong,” “Life is Beautiful” and “The Worst is Yet to Come.”

He has toured relentlessly for the past two decades and released 15 albums, with another one in the works with Taj Mahal.

“Some things change, and some things don’t,” he said about his career. “When I started, they were still making cassettes.”

While the avenues for music have changed, the constant in Moore’s career has been his pledge to do the best he can.

“Music is music, but music has to compete with more forms of entertainment than it used to, and that’s just the reality of life,” he said. “In life, we always have to adjust to the times and circumstances.”

Over the years, Moore has given back as much as he’s taken from the industry. He’s been a longtime supporter of the Playing For Change Foundation, a nonprofit that improves quality of life for children through music and arts education. He also serves as a mentor at The Johnson School of Excellence in Chicago, working with teachers, students, parents and the community to help build a successful arts education program.

Rolling Stone magazine describes him as a “soulful voice” with “bluesy licks in a laid-back R&B groove.”

“He’s not only incredibly talented musically, but he communicates to anybody who’s been through troubled times, as blues will do,” said Tom Boyd, of the Vail Valley Foundation. “You come away from every song thinking, ‘life is a wonderful thing to live.’ You can just feel it in his music.”

And while Moore understands the Vilar Center is very formal in nature, he hopes to put on a show allowing people to let their hair down and have fun.

“I like to have a good time,” he said.

Reporter Ross Leonhart can be reached at 970-748-2915 and rleonhart@vaildaily.com. Follow him on Instagram at colorado_livin_on_the_hill.