The Black Keys release their tenth studio album, Delta Kream, via
Nonesuch Records. The record celebrates the band’s roots, featuring
eleven Mississippi hill country blues standards that they have loved
since they were teenagers, before they were a band, including songs by
R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, among others. Dan Auerbach and
Patrick Carney recorded Delta Kream at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio
in Nashville; they were joined by musicians Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton, long-time
members of the bands of blues legends including R. L. Burnside and
Junior Kimbrough. The album takes its name from William Eggleston’s
iconic Mississippi photograph that is on its cover.
Auerbach says of the album, “We made this record to honor the
Mississippi hill country blues tradition that influenced us starting
out. These songs are still as important to us today as they were the
first day Pat and I started playing together and picked up our
instruments. It was a very inspiring session with Pat and me along with
Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton in a circle, playing these songs. It felt so
natural.”
Carney concurs, “The session was planned only days in advance and
nothing was rehearsed. We recorded the entire album in about ten hours,
over two afternoons, at the end of the “Let’s Rock” tour.”
Auerbach says of Delta Kream’s first single ‘Crawling Kingsnake’: “I
first heard [John Lee] Hooker’s version in high school. My uncle Tim
would have given me that record. But our version is definitely Junior
Kimbrough’s take on it. It’s almost a disco riff!” Carney adds, "We fell
into this drum intro; it's kind of accidental. The ultimate goal was to
highlight the interplay between the guitars. My role with Eric was to
create a deeper groove."
The music from northern Mississippi, which came to life in juke joints,
has long left an imprint on the band’s music, from their cover of R.L.
Burnide’s ‘Busted’ and Junior Kimbrough’s ‘Do The Romp’ on their debut
album, The Big Come Up; to their subsequent signing to Fat Possum
Records, home to many of their musical heroes; and to their EP of Junior
Kimbrough covers, Chulahoma.
1 ‘Crawling Kingsnake’ (John Lee Hooker Cover)
2 ‘Louise’ (Mississippi Fred McDowell Cover)
3 ‘Poor Boy A Long Way From Home’ (R. L. Burnside Cover)
4 ‘Stay All Night’ (Junior Kimbrough Cover)
5 ‘Going Down South’ (R. L. Burnside Cover)
6 ‘Coal Black Mattie’ (Ranie Burnette Cover)
7 ‘Do the Romp’ (Junior Kimbrough Cover)
8 ‘Sad Days, Lonely Nights’ (Junior Kimbrough Cover)
9 ‘Walk with Me’ (Junior Kimbrough Cover)
10 ‘Mellow Peaches’ (Big Joe Williams Cover)
11 ‘Come On And Go With Me’ (Junior Kimbrough Cover)