Every great rock ‘n roll story goes through extreme highs and lows. For every platinum album or Grammy night sweep, disappointment and disaster often awaits right around the corner. The Black Keys experienced a year like that in 2024, with an entire U.S. tour cancelled and an album it was meant to promote, Ohio Players, losing momentum as a result.
Even so, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney tends to prefer it when things aren’t going too well.
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“When things were going really, really well for us, it was the hardest time, and I think that’s typically so for bands,” says Carney. “When you’re flying high, the pressure’s high, egos are high – it’s a dangerous time. But every band I’ve liked for the most part, most of their careers were a struggle, whether it’s the Velvet Underground or the Stooges or whoever. Ultimately, all that stands at the end of time is the music, you know?”
For the Black Keys, 2025 will be the year this multiplatinum, Grammy-winning duo works to reclaim their place as popular creators of explosive rock and blues with a new album, No Rain, No Flowers, and international tour. Another sign of their renewed purpose is today’s release of the single “Babygirl” on Easy Eye Sound/Warner Records.
The track is bristling, hook-filled and romantic rock, with dramatic piano melodies from acclaimed producer Scott Storch, known for his records with a long list of hitmakers, from Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake to Dr. Dre and the Roots. And singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach purrs the breathless opening lyrics: “Babygirl, you came along and then you opened my eyes/Babygirl, you make me stronger than I realize.”
The song was co-written by the band with Storch and Daniel Tashian, known for his work with Kacey Musgraves, co-writing and co-producing her 2018 Grammy-winning album Golden Hour. On the track, Storch performs on piano and Moog bass.
“He’d always been kind of a hero of ours,” says Auerbach. “We used to [obsessively watch] his videos on YouTube playing all his parts from his productions on piano. He showed up and he was so excited to be in the studio because it’s filled with keyboards here. He said he’d never really recorded with real instruments before—like harpsichords, vibes, tack pianos and stuff. So he was like a kid in a candy shop. We hit it off, man, and we had a lot of fun.”
Longtime musical partners Auerbach and Carney, who formed the Black Keys in 2001 in Akron, Ohio, are on the phone from the guitarist’s Easy Eye Sound studio and label in Nashville. The duo is in the late stages of completing the album, aiming for a final 12 songs.
“We worked really hard on this album, maybe even more so than we did on Ohio Players,” says Carney. “I think it’s representative of all kinds of stuff that we’re into. It’s a fun listen.”
The new single follows the release of “The Night Before,” a groove-based rock tune and the first clue that the Black Keys had been working up a new album of songs. It was also co-written with Tashian, who Carney first met after moving to Nashville 15 years ago at a party with Harmony Korine and David Berman, of the Silver Jews. The album’s first single emerged as Carney, Auerbach and Tashian played drums, guitar and bass in a circle at Easy Eye.
“It came together so quickly that we overlooked it,” says Auerbach. “When we were playing the songs we had for people, it was the very last one we played to the record label. As soon as we played it, everyone unanimously said that should be the first single.”
The new music amounts to some positive fallout surrounding the release of Ohio Players and the canceled tour. “We put a lot of time into the album, and then it came out and some bullshit happened and we had to pivot,” says Carney. “So we pivoted to where we feel most comfortable, which is back in the studio—make more music and just do it again.”
Auerbach adds, “Ultimately, the reason why we have new music is because we weren’t able to tour. The tour getting canceled definitely fired our creativity up. It was our way to get through that.”
The title of No Rain, No Flowers is an indication of the duo’s state of mind, taking charge following a bumpy year. And it comes much quicker than most fans might have expected, but the Keys see the release schedule as a return to their DIY roots, which began by recording their raw 2002 debut The Big Come Up in Auerbach’s basement. Carney insists the band has always sought to retain that same hands-on approach ever since. Only more so now.
“Music is designed to be made and released quickly. I don’t think it benefits from sitting on shit for like Chinese Democracy-level. No one’s ever benefited from taking three years to make a fucking album,” Carney says with a laugh. “When we first started, we were making a record a year. That’s how often a healthy band should be putting out records.”
The Black Keys begin their first proper U.S. tour in three years, trading the arenas that were planned for last year’s aborted tour for amphitheaters and theaters, which happen to be some of the best spaces for music in the U.S. (Red Rocks near Denver, and L.A.’s Greek Theatre). The No Rain, No Flowers Tour begins May 23rd in Oklahoma.
“The fact we didn’t get to tour last year, we hated it,” says Carney. “It sucks for us, sucks for the fans. Also, the circumstances were bullshit. But at the end of the day, we did get to make another album. And it’s something that we’re proud of, and that will be a document that will exist long after we’re gone.”
Aside from the tour, Auerbach and Carney continue to host their frequent “Record Hangs,” where the musicians get into a small club and spin their favorite pop, soul and rock records from the Sixties, Seventies and beyond. They’ve taken these all-vinyl nights to different cities around the world, but are currently spinning close to home in Nashville. Their next two monthly Record Hangs are March 22 and April 19 at Flamingo Cocktail Club.
The DJ sets include a spontaneous playlist that mixes classic hits from the past with the gorgeously obscure, from Al Green and Sam Cooke to the Hombres and Devo’s twitchy version of the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” The events unfold in intimate settings, with the turntables very close to the fans dancing all around them, a much different scene than the big rooms the Black Keys typically perform in.
“It’s all about loving music and discovering records and dancing,” Auerbach explains. “It’s kind of why we started playing music in the first place. It’s really amazing to be able to share that with fans. It’s been really nice. We’ve met some great people.”
There is also a real connection between those old 45s and the music they’re making now.
“We’re learning a lot from spinning records, and seeing the audience reaction, feeling it,” says Auerbach. “You can feel it when you spin the record. You know instantly, once you start playing it in the room, if it’s working or not. And it’s just been very interesting. And not all songs that we record have to be like Record Hang songs. We still like album tracks, too.”
Carney adds, “I do think it is interesting when you’re playing a song in front of a room full of people, if there’s any kind of waste of time in that song, it becomes something you might not play again. That comes to mind when we’re working [on Black Keys songs].”
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