The Black Keys are getting back to their grimy, basement-blues roots with their newly announced covers album, Delta Kream, their first album since 2019's Let's Rock.

The 11-track album features songs from the Mississippi hill country blues artists who inspired the Black Keys when they were still cutting their teeth as an indie blues-rock duo in Akron, Ohio. Guitarist and singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney will pay tribute to the likes of John Lee Hooker, R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and more.

The duo previewed Delta Kream with album opener and lead single "Crawling Kingsnake," their take on Hooker's version of the blues standard, which he recorded for producer Bernard Besman in 1949. You can listen to the song by registering for the Black Keys' free fan site.

After banging out a series of fuzzed-out, lo-fi blues-rock albums in the mid-'00s, the Black Keys achieved a commercial breakthrough with 2010's Brothers, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and went double platinum. A series of increasingly successful and radio-friendly albums followed, including 2014's chart-topping Turn Blue.

Following Turn Blue, the group went on a five-year hiatus, during which Auerbach and Carney worked on solo and extracurricular projects. Their latest album, Let's Rock, found the duo partially stripping back their sound after their two previous, slickly produced studio efforts. Carney called the album "a homage to electric guitar" and said, “We took a simple approach and trimmed all the fat like we used to.”

The Black Keys will head even further in that stripped-down direction on Delta Kream, which comes out May 14. The album will be available for preorder on  April 15. You can view the track listing below.

The Black Keys, 'Delta Kream' Track Listing 
"Crawling Kingsnake" (John Lee Hooker)
"Louise" (Mississippi Fred McDowell)
"Poor Boy A Long Way From Home" (R. L. Burnside)
"Stay All Night" (Junior Kimbrough)
"Going Down South" (R. L. Burnside)
"Coal Black Mattie" (Ranie Burnette)
"Do the Romp" (Junior Kimbrough)
"Sad Days, Lonely Nights" (Junior Kimbrough)
"Walk with Me" (Junior Kimbrough)
"Mellow Peaches" (Big Joe Williams)
"Come on and Go with Me" (Junior Kimbrough)

 

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