The newest release from The Black Keys finds them returning to one of their earliest influences as the band covers the Mississippi Hill Country blues legends R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough as well as others on Delta Kream.
The impromptu recording for the cover album took place at Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studios at the end of the Let It Rock tour and was completed in two days as Auerbach and bandmate Patrick Carney returned to the blues with ease. The duo also brought in some ringers as Burnside’s guitarist Kenny Brown and Kimbrough’s bassist Eric Deaton joined for the jam sessions which contain false starts and abrupt endings as the band naturally felt things out.
Opening with the rolling “Crawling Kingsnake” the players show they could keep flowing in this style forever as the bass and drums pump around the serpentine guitar work. Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “Louise” gets an airing next, yet a reoccurring issue from the session becomes clear as Auebach uses a breathy vocal style, not even fully enunciating. While the one-take feel to the instrumentation is a major plus on the record, often the vocals sound more like placeholders that needed to be overdubbed pre-release.
Things become more layered for “Going Down South” which finds nuanced falsetto singing, organ work, and added percussion, tightening the sound, improving the end result while delivering an album highlight. Other standouts are when the tempo increases around some killer licks during the rollicking “Poor Boy a Long Way from Home” and the hip-shaking “Coal Black Mattie” which delivers lacing lead guitar work from Auerbach and Brown.
When the collective cools down the results remain solid as the smoldering “Stay All Night” fits directly into the Black Keys wheelhouse and creeping album closer “Come and Go with Me” incorporates some more organ work, ending the proceedings on a warm, pleading note.
The Black Keys have been playing these electric hill country blues since their debut, and even dedicated a full EP, Chulahoma, to Kimbrough himself. This casual record isn’t meant to change the world, it is just a deep dive into the tunes the duo love; less a major release than a passion project but by adding Deaton and Brown to these sessions The Black Keys blues workouts on Delta Kream go down smooth.
