One of the best surprises of the new year so far has been the excellent new album from The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, Keep It Hid.Although it's chock full of that fuzzy blues (bluesy fuzz?) guitar he's best known for with The 'Keys, Keep It Hid also features some surprising departures from that signature sound.
To help you understand just how cool this album is, here's a video of Dan and his uncle, James Quine, playing "Trouble Weighs a Ton," the first track on Keep It Hid, in Dan’s Akron studio. It’s not an official video, just a little peek inside Dan’s studio, where he recently recorded Jessica Lea Mayfield’s record and the record for the band Hacienda, who will be Dan’s backing band on his upcoming tour:
To celebrate the release of Keep It Hid, extrawack! wants to give one lucky reader a copy of the album on vinyl, which is actually a single LP disk in a gatefold jacket with the complete album on CD included in the package. To win the swag, be the fifth correct answer to the question, "How many people are in The Black Keys?". Send your answer with "Dan Auerbach" in the subject line to extrawack@gmail.com. Contest open to U.S. residents only...sorry Greenland!
And speaking of the tour, here are the dates:
Feb 28 - 9:30 Club - Washington DC, Washington DC
Mar 1 - Paradise Club - Boston, Massachusetts
Mar 2 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, New York
Mar 3 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, New York
Mar 5 - Beachland Ballroom - Cleveland, Ohio
Mar 6 - Metro - Chicago, Illinois
Mar 7 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 10 - The Showbox - Seattle, Washington
Mar 11 - Wonder Ballroom - Portland, Oregon
Mar 13 - Bimbo’s - San Francisco, California
Mar 14 - El Rey Theatre - Los Angeles, California
