The Black Keys released their 10th album, Delta Kream, on Friday and celebrated the occasion with an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The latest release from the Akron, OH-bred garage rockers finds them paying tribute to Mississippi Hill Blues.
While the duo of Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach have ridden the garage rock wave of the late 90s/early 00s encompassing bands like them and The White Stripes, the ensuing 20 years since their formation has found the band on the crest of the deteriorating alt-rock movement. Nowadays, music by The Black Keys can be heard in commercials and the soundtracks of NHL video games. While the mainstream commercialization of a once-defiant musical movement is an issue unto itself, The Black Keys sidestep this cultural shift entirely with Delta Kream.
Instead, the duo revisits their earliest roots with an 11-track album consisting entirely of covers. Songs by John Lee Hooker, R.L. Burnside, David “Junior” Kimbrough, and more fill up Delta Kream and return the band to its earliest roots. Twenty years ago in the Rubber Captial of the World, Carney and Auerbach bonded over their love of Mississippi Hill Blues musicians.
In a new interview with Consequence of Sound, drummer Carney revealed that the pair’s first-ever recording session produced a cover of Junior Kimbrough’s “Do the Rump”, a track they revisit on Delta Kream. Additionally, the new record finds The Black Keys expanding personnel to include Kenny Brown, who played guitar for Burnside, and Eric Deaton, who played bass for Kimbrough.
The timing of Delta Kream also plays a significant factor. For decades, white rock musicians have built legacies and fortunes upon the traditions laid by their Black predecessors who often received minimal compensation or recognition from mainstream audiences. Instead of continuing that tradition, The Black Keys set about making it blatantly known that they did not write these songs, and that the people who did are directly responsible for what the band has been able to accomplish these past 20 years.
That reverence for the traditions of the Mississippi Hill Blues bleeds through to The Black Keys’ recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where the band performed from Blue Front Cafe. Located in Bentonia, MS, the Blue Front is the oldest active juke joint in the world. Scroll down to watch the band’s performances of “Crawling Kingsnake” and “Going Down South”, as well as stream Delta Kream.
The Black Keys – “Crawling Kingsnake” (John Lee Hooker)
[Video: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert]
The Black Keys – “Going Down South” (R.L. Burnside)
[Video: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert]
The Black Keys – Delta Kream
The post The Black Keys Release Blues Cover Album ‘Delta Kream’, Perform On ‘Colbert’ [Stream/Watch] appeared first on L4LM.
