Akron-born Black Keys new album offers a nod to Ohio and Dayton's Ohio Players band
It doesn't get much more Ohio than this.
A popular Ohio band from Akron is releasing a new album named for another iconic band from Dayton.
The Black Keys on Friday announced the release of their new single "Beautiful People (Stay High)" that will be part of the band's 12th album "Ohio Players" that will come out on April 5.
The song, along with the rest of the album, is being billed as a collaboration of Black Keys founders Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney along with friends, including Dan “The Automator” Nakamura, Beck, Noel Gallagher and Greg Kurstin.
"We had this epiphany: ‘We can call our friends to help us make music.’ It’s funny because we both write songs with other people – Dan all the time (as a solo artist and producer), me when I'm producing a record," Carney said in a statement. "That’s what we do.”
The Black Keys traces its roots back to 2001 in Akron and has gone on to sold-out shows across the globe along with winning awards and the accolades of critics.“No matter who we work with, it never feels like we're sacrificing who we are," Auerbach said in a statement. "It only feels like it adds some special flavor. We just expanded that palette with people we wanted to work with. We were there to support them and their ideas, to do whatever we could to see that moment flourish. But when it came time to finish the album, it was just Pat and me.“We'd never worked harder to make a record. It's never taken us this long to make an album. We took our time and did it right.”
The album's title is a nod to the Ohio Players ? the funk band from Dayton.“What we wanted to accomplish with this record was make something that was fun,” Carney said. “And something that most bands 20 years into their career don’t make, which is an approachable, fun record that is also cool.”The band will be featured at SXSW this year with the premiere of the new documentary "This is a Film About The Black Keys" that looks at Auerbach and Carney's journey "from two neighborhood kids jamming in a basement in Ohio to rock ‘n roll superstardom."
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Black Keys release new single from album that honors Dayton Ohio band
