The Black Keys have shared their new song “Going Down South” today. It is the second single from their forthcoming tenth album, Delta Kream (May 14, Nonesuch Records), which celebrates the band’s roots and features eleven Mississippi hill country blues songs by R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, among others. Auerbach says of the song: “That was one of R.L. Burnside’s hits! We strayed a little from the original on our version with the falsetto and percussion, but we liked how it sounded in that moment. It’s become one of my favorites on the album.” Listen to the track and watch its video, directed by Ryan Nadzam (below).
Like the video for Delta Kream’s first single, “Crawling Kingsnake,” “Going Down South” was filmed at Jimmy Duck Holmes’ Blue Front Café, which is the oldest active juke joint in America. The video also features other notable northern Mississippi blues landmarks including Blues Alley in Holly Springs (hometown of Junior Kimbrough) and shots of Como (home to Mississippi Fred McDowell); the Chulahoma community, The Burnside Palace, and Aikei Pro’s record shop.
The band will perform “Going Down South” & “Crawling Kingsnake,” the first two songs off Delta Kream on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on May 14th. The performances were filmed in Mississippi and feature musicians Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton, long-time members of the bands of blues legends including R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, and Sam Bacco on auxiliary percussion.
