Artist: Dan Auerbach
Album: Keep It Hid
File Under: Vintage Blues Rock
Recommended if You Like:  The Black Keys, Heartless Bastards, The Raconteurs
Featured Tracks: “The Prowl”

If Clapton is God, then Dan Auerbach is Jesus Christ.  That’s what all the comments on my YouTube video say anyway, about a posting I made of a recent live performance of him covering The Animals “Inside Looking Out”. “Dan Auerbach is the Jesus Christ of all musicians….the man is THE KING……JESUS CHRIST, WHAT A VOICE!”   

And the comments just keep coming. I’ve been a longtime fan of The Black Keys so word of Dan’s new solo effort had me hot and bothered for months. But you never know how these solo gigs are going to go.  I had to see it, touch it, feel it to believe it.  Fortunately I had the chance to do so, right after his debut album (Keep It Hid) released, at Bimbos in San Francisco.  Without a doubt it was one of the best live shows of the year. One that has fueled my first, full-fledged musical obsession for 2009.  So much so that I have officially baptized myself to the Church of Dan.  

Is Jesus Christ going too far?  I don’t know, but it is Easter Sunday and he’s certainly a legend in the making. And quite frankly with the impressive body of work he’s generated recently, it’s hard to argue. In early 2008 he gave us the acclaimed album Attack & Release with The Black Keys, later that year they released a DVD Live at The Crystal Ballroom, then just months later his solo album Keep It Hid was unveiled – followed by an extensive tour that rolls right into another Black Keys tour.  Whew!  Call him whatever you want, but Dan is most definitely the man right now.

The Black Keys perform at the new Fox Theater in Oakland, Saturday April 18.