The Black Keys Peaches!

Jason Landry, contributor 

 

Recorded, mixed and mastered in the heart of Music City—Nashville, TN, Peaches is not a syrupy mess, it’s a genuine blues rock album by The Black Keys that showcases their ability to create punchy covers of tracks from the past with the raw grit that they are known for. It’s similar in nature to their 2021 album of covers, Delta Cream. Yet Peaches is a little more juicy—it’s soaked to the bone throughout in over-driven guitars backed by a hard rock drum beat.

 

“Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire” starts off like a lowdown blues track before you become aware of the tight groove of Patrick Carney’s signature drum beat. Big Lucky Carter’s “Stop Arguing Over Me” showcases Dan Auerbach’s familiar vocals singing over lead lines that repeat, 
 

Woman, you better stop arguin' now

You better stop arguin' now

Stop arguin' over me.

 

The tempo and attack on the Ike Turner song, “You Got To Lose” brings a new sense of urgency as if you’re looking through a rear-view mirror at a muscle car rapidly approaching as the lyric, “I see trouble coming down the line” crunches through the speakers.

 

RL Burnside’s, “Fireman Ring The Bell” has a slide guitar sound so raunchy you can taste it. Junior Kimbrough’s “Nobody But You Baby” closes out the album with a pulsating beat. The guitar and bass play a familiar rhythm while Auerbach creates these swampy psychedelic lead lines over the top.

 

Large-bodied hollow 335 style Gibson guitars were brought to the forefront of blues music from the likes of B.B. King and Freddie King. While those legends made them cry through their signature vibrato and feedback, Auerbach takes them to a whole nother level—about an arm hair away from a deafening scream!

 

For this album, Auerbach and Carney enlisted a supporting cast consisting of Kenny Brown on guitar, Jimbo Mathus on guitar, and Eric Deaton on bass to round out their sound.

 

Side note: I genuinely gravitate toward blues music before most other genres. I guess that’s because when I was learning to play the guitar, that’s what I was listening to the most and trying to understand and emulate. I appreciate bands like The Black Keys, and other musicians and bands like G. Love, GA-20, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joe Bonamassa who keep the genre alive by bringing a renewed interest to contemporary blues while also infusing new life back to the classics.

 

And, for all you fine art photography folks, the cover art is a classic William Eggleston photograph (same artist whose image appears on their album Delta Cream)and who was born in Tennessee. I love when two great art forms collide. It’s just another nod to those who are gone but not forgotten.