Originally a raw, visceral blues-rock outfit inspired by the likes of such juke joint rockers as Junior Kimbrough, the Black Keys have expanded their purview after mastering their garagey roar with Rubber Factory in 2004. Making the leap to the major-label Nonesuch, the duo of guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney dove into heady psychedelic territory, sometimes assisted by producer Danger Mouse. The band’s collaborations with the adventurous hip-hop producer opened the doors to a variety of sounds, colors, and textures, a broadened palette they’d channel onto sharp songs on their platinum-selling albums Brothers and El Camino, both arriving in the early years of the 2000s. After the trippy 2014 album Turn Blue, the Black Keys took an extended hiatus through the back half of the 2010s, during which time Auerbach set up his Easy Eye Sound studio and label. The duo returned with renewed vigor on 2019’s Let’s Rock, maintaining that momentum with the blues covers album Delta Kream in 2021 and the hard-grooving, guest-heavy Ohio Players in 2024.
Natives of Akron, Ohio, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney formed the Black Keys in 2001. They released their debut, The Big Come Up, in 2002, receiving strong reviews and sales, and leading to a contract with Fat Possum by the end of the year. That label released Thickfreakness, recorded in a 14-hour session, in the spring of 2003, and the Keys supported the album with an opening tour for Sleater-Kinney. Their momentum escalated considerably with their 2004 album Rubber Factory, which not only received strong reviews but some high-profile play, including a video for “10 A.M. Automatic” featuring comedian David Cross. The band’s highly touted live act was documented on a 2005 DVD, released the same year that Chulahoma — an EP of blues covers — appeared.
The Black Keys made the leap to the major labels with 2006’s Magic Potion, a moodier record that continued to build their fan base. The band capitalized on that moodiness with 2008’s Attack & Release, whose production by Danger Mouse signaled that the Keys were hardly just blues-rock purists. Salvaged from sessions intended as a duet set with Ike Turner, who died before the record could be finished, the album was the Black Keys’ biggest to date, debuting in the Billboard Top 15 and earning strong reviews. Following the duo’s second live DVD, they spent 2009 on side projects, with Auerbach releasing his solo album Keep It Hid in the beginning of the year, and Carney forming the band Drummer, in which he played bass. At the end of 2009, Blakroc, a rap-rock collaboration between the Keys and producer Damon Dash, appeared.