THE BLACK KEYS’ DELTA KREAM DEBUTS AT #6 ON BILLBOARD 200 ALBUM CHART AND #1 ON TRIPLE A RADIO CHARTS

 

For Immediate Release                           May 26, 2021   THE BLACK KEYS’ DELTA KREAM DEBUTS AT #6 ON BILLBOARD 200 ALBUM CHART AND #1 ON TRIPLE A RADIO CHARTS FEATURE IN NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE RUNNING THIS SUNDAY BAND PERFORMS “CRAWLING KINGSNAKE” & “GOING DOWN SOUTH” ON THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT

Photo by Gioncarlo Valentine Courtesy of The New York Times The Black Keys tenth studio album, Delta Kream, was released on May 14, 2021, and debuts at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album, which features eleven Mississippi hill country blues songs by artists including R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, also debuted at #1 on the Billboard and Mediabase Triple A Radio Charts. A feature about the band, written by Hanif Abdurraqib, is in this Sunday’s New York Time Magazine. He says of The Black Keys: “Recording blues covers in a small room, with just as much freedom and exuberance as they had when there were no expectations beyond the ones they set for themselves. Because they know that saving history or keeping it alive is beyond their control; they’re simply playing the songs they love with the people they respect while they can still do it ...gratitude comes through in the joyful returns and homages on ‘Delta Kream.’ Each song on the record puts the listener in the room with the band, watching smiles spread across their faces as the music they have studied and loved flickers into life through them, effortlessly.” Read the full New York Time Magazine feature here.   Delta Kream album is also #2 on the Billboard Top Albums chart, and #1 on the Current Alternative Albums, Blues Albums, LP Vinyl Albums, Current Rock Albums, Americana/Folk Albums, and Billboard Tastemaker Albums charts. Internationally, Delta Kream is the band’s fourth consecutive top 10 album in the UK, debuting at No.5, as well as top 10 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland, among others, and scoring career peaks in several countries. The Black Keys recently performed “Crawling Kingsnake” & “Going Down South” from Delta Kream on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The videos feature musicians Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton, long-time members of the bands of blues legends including Burnside and Kimbrough, with Sam Bacco on auxiliary percussion. The Black Keys are the first band to be featured in Spotify’s live stream series and will perform a night of new songs at The Blue Front Café in Mississippi, the oldest operating juke joint in the country, on Thursday, May 27 at 8pm ET. Tickets for the event are available here.   CRITICAL PRAISE FOR DELTA KREAM “By spending the time playing the blues that’s buried deep in their soul, the Black Keys reveal how far they’ve gone in a space of 20 years...” -Pitchfork “[Delta Kream] finds Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney doing what they do best, riding a smoky electric blues groove that gives Auerbach plenty of space to wrangle some emotion out of his guitar.” -Stereogum “A tribute to the roots and blues music they were raised on, featuring some of its most formative play- ers … a slow-rolling swagger through a bygone era, gilded by the band’s own faithful imitations … a living history lesson, too.” -Entertainment Weekly “Stellar… an exciting foray into Hill Country blues combined with The Black Keys’ signature garage rock sound.”  -Consequence    “Thick, swampy sonics created by the four players as they weave these licks together with the intensity and sheer love of the music that clearly runs through their veins… if enough Keys fans are encouraged to explore the originals, this project will have accomplished its mission.” -No Depression  “The Keys have streamlined some great blues songs into sleek, rock-leaning jams.” -Rolling Stone   “Their mastery of the unmathematical Hill Country style oozes here from every groove. Their back-to-our-roots arc is hardly new, but this music is timeless, alive, and about as good as it gets.” -MOJO “Recorded with former RL Burnside guitarist Kenny Brown and bassist Eric Deaton, this revisits raw and mesmerizing RL Burnside and Junior Kimbrough ’juke’ numbers ... you completely understand how the simple groove and ringing of the strings might act as a revivifying tonic.” -Uncut   Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney recorded Delta Kream at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville. The album takes its name from William Eggleston’s iconic Mississippi photograph that is on its cover. Delta Kream is available for purchase on all formats here. 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  Burnside’s "Busted" and 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, to their EP of Junior Kimbrough covers, Chulahoma. The Black Keys have also announced that they will partner with the Save The Music Foundation to support elementary and middle school music programs in Mississippi —starting with Holly Springs. Every Save The Music school commits to having music for at least ten years, and most of the programs last far beyond that. The band shares about the program: “We’ve teamed up with Save The Music – a national non-profit dedicated to building school music programs - and a group of local Mississippi partners to contribute instruments and teacher support to schools in the Hill Country. The goal is to grow music programs across the state, starting this coming school year with Holly Springs.” Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys, who have been called “rock royalty” by the Associated Press and “one of the best rock ‘n’ roll bands on the planet” by Uncut, are guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. Cutting their teeth playing small clubs, the band have gone on to sell out arena tours and have released nine previous studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), Turn Blue (2014) and, most recently, “Let’s Rock” (2019), plus and a tenth anniversary edition of Brothers (2020). The band has won six Grammy Awards and a BRIT and headlined festivals in North America, South America, Mexico, Australia, and Europe.    Delta Kream Track Listing: Crawling Kingsnake Louise Poor Boy a Long Way From Home Stay All Night Going Down South Coal Black Mattie Do the Romp Sad Days, Lonely Nights Walk with Me Mellow Peaches Come on and Go with Me     https://theblackkeys.com Twitter Instagram Facebook Youtube