The Black Keys - Delta Kream

I look forward to hearing it. I like the band. I like what they have done with and for a number of blues men. Loved their last album but my favorite is still Chulahoma.

Just listened to Crawling Kingsnake........sounds just like Auerbach's take on Junior Kimbrough......which is what I like so much about Chulahoma. I think I'm going to love this album.

I love the song but it sounds terribly compressed to me. All of their other stuff is too.

For those interested, check out Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, a modern blues man from Mississippi. Auerbach plays some on his latest album. Maybe produces it as well?

And when I say modern I should have said current. His blues are raw, simple and traditional.

Listening to the album now. I knew it had Junior Kimbrough covers but there are also R.L. Burnside covers. Awesome! I have not researched titles I don’t recognize and don’t know if some of these songs are originals.

I don’t really care.

The Black Keys play hill country blues as authentically as anyone outside of the Mississippi hill country I have ever heard. And they do it without it being note for note covers. (There is no need for that in the blues anyway.) They add their own flair and style while remaining hardcore, raunchy and raw. That is a rare achievement. You can tell that Auerbach has done his homework.

I will buy this CD. I still cringe at the level of compression in their recordings but it is what it is. I don’t expect or need high levels of studio production for raw country blues. But nothing sounds good overly compressed.

Great article. Thanks for the link. I never saw Junior or RL but I've seen some of their kids and grandkids play at the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi. (I lived in Clarksdale as a child). My wife and I go to the Juke Joint Festival whenever we get a chance. Its amazing.

I've got several Fat Possum Kimbrough LPs. The label's motto is "We're Trying Our Best". Love it.


I'm still digging Delta Kream. Ordered the CD directly from the label a week or so ago. Got an email saying they were way behind on orders and couldn't tell me when it would be shipped.