Delta Kream, released in May on Nonesuch Records, celebrates the band's roots and features eleven Mississippi hill country blues songs by Burnside and Kimbrough, among others. The album takes its name from William Eggleston's iconic Mississippi photograph that is on its cover. Delta Kream is available on all formats now.
The music from northern Mississippi, which came to life in juke joints, has long left an imprint on the band's music, from their cover of R. L. Burnide's "Busted" and Junior Kimbrough's "Do The Romp" on their debut album, The Big Come Up; to their subsequent signing to Fat Possum Records, home to many of their musical heroes; and to their EP of Junior Kimbrough covers, Chulahoma.
In addition to paying homage to these Mississippi blues legends with Delta Kream, The Black Keys are working with VisitMississippi, the state's tourism organization, to sponsor new individual markers for R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough on the Mississippi Blues Trail, which tell the stories of the state's blues artists both renowned and obscure through words and images. (Both musicians are currently acknowledged on a group marker in Holly Springs entitled "Hill Country Blues.") The new markers will be erected in the proposed locations of Holly Springs and Chulahoma, MS, places closely associated with Burnside and Kimbrough - a fitting tribute to these architects of Hill Country Blues and further recognition of their enduring contributions to American music.
