Sun is shining, the spring is finally here for real. So it was more than welcome to get some Blues-Roots with the American rock duo THE BLACK KEYS and their new album "Delta Kream".
"Delta Kream" is the tenth album, released through Easy Eye Sound and Nonesuch Records on May 14, 2021.
"Delta Kream" is a cover album with their own rendition of the Mississippi artists who inspired them over the years. So this is an album full of hill country blues songs. Here you get some covers of songs by Kimbrough, Burnside, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and others. Each of its 11 tunes sounds like it's really handpicked from their stash of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney’s favorite tunes, with some nice company of the slide guitarist Kenny Brown, who is known to be playing on some of Kimbrough’s finest albums and the bassist Eric Deaton, a former sideman to R. L. Burnside.
The album opens up with the first single, a cover of "Crawling Kingsnake", a version of Big Joe Williams and John Lee Hooker, where they do an excellent rendition. "Mellow Peaches" is another nice one of Big Joe Williams's creations. Dirty hilly billy blues in the best possible way. Junior Kimbrough is the one who was the inspiration to all this started and his tunes are the most played in their own versions, like the tunes "Stay All Night" that turns out to be more lay back than Junior Kimbrough even if the soundscape is way bigger. The same goes with "Do The Romp", "Sad Days, Lonely Nights", "Walk With Me" and the very soulful and sensitive version of "Come And Go With Me". R. L. Burnside's tunes "Poor Boy A Long Way From Home" have a great stomp, while he sings with a light voice on "Going Down South". Mississippi Fred McDowell's tune "Louise" gets a sleek caress and the old Ranie Burnette's blues classic "Coal Black Mattie" with the marvelous lyrics gets a really dirty rendition. "Delta Kream" is an excellent blues honor record, even if this might feel like a collection of single b-sides and bonus tunes for many KEYS fans. But I do like what I hear and during these spring days it works brilliantly and I'm almost sure this will be played a lot in the upcoming months.
Patrick Carney – Drums
Dan Auerbach – Vocals, Electric Guitar
Sum: Excellent swampy blues roots to add to the collection!
Today's tune "Going Down South" is the second single out of "Delta Kream", enjoy!
"Five Long Years" is a song written and recorded by blues vocalist/pianist Eddie Boyd in 1952. Called one of the "few postwar blues standards, that has retained universal appeal", Boyd's "Five Long Years" reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart. Numerous blues and other artists have recorded interpretations of the song.
Eddie Boyd (November 25, 1914 – July 13, 1994) was an American blues pianist. He was born on Stovall's Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi
The tune is a moderate-tempo twelve-bar blues notated in 12/8 time in the key of C. It tells of "the history of the metal worker who, for five years, worked hard in a factory and who gave his check every Friday night to his girlfriend, who nevertheless dumped him". Backing Boyd (vocal and piano) are Ernest Cotton (tenor sax), L. C. McKinley (guitar), Alfred Elkins (bass), and Percy Walker (drums). "Five Long Years" was revisited by Boyd several times during his career, with additional studio and live recordings.
A variety of artists have recorded "Five Long Years", including Junior Parker, whose version reached number thirteen in the R&B chart (1959 Duke 306); Willie B. Huff and Johnny Fuller recorded it for Bob Geddins as I've Been Thinkin' and Thinkin', John Lee Hooker from his album The Folk Lore of John Lee Hooker (1961); THE YARDBIRDS from their album Five Live Yardbirds (1963); Muddy Waters in 1963; Long John Baldry from Long John's Blues (1964); Ike & Tina Turner from Outta Season (1968); Bobby "Blue" Bland from his album If Loving You is Wrong (1970); Freddie King from his album Getting Ready (1971); B.B. King from Guess Who (1972); and Buddy Guy from Damn Right, I've Got the Blues (1991), and Eric Clapton from From The Cradle (1994).
Accolades
In 2011, Eddie Boyd's original "Five Long Years" was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, who called it "a true-to-life blues in 1952 that hit home with many a working man"
Listen to "Eddie Boyd- Five Long Years" on Spotify