Recorded by the band in their own Akron, OH studio The Black Keys epitomize DIY. Chulahoma is a collection of songs that were originally written by the late Junior Kimbrough, reworked and recorded, The Keys capture the very essence of Juniors style better than any other musician today. Roomy and sparse in production the drums/guitar duo fill out every inch of these songs with distorted guitar, drums, and Dan's soulful vocals.
Review:
Chulahoma is a stopgap EP from the Black Keys, a collection of six covers of
songs by cult bluesman Junior Kimbrough, whose “Do the Rump” they covered on
their 2002 debut, Big Come Up. Considering that this is the first time the
blues-rock guitar-n-drums duo has devoted an album to nothing but straight-ahead
blues songs, it wound seem logical that Chulahoma would be the bluesiest
recording in their catalog, but the Black Keys aren't that simple. The six songs
on this 28-minute EP are hardly replications of Kimbrough's gritty originals,
nor do they have the dirty, punch-to-the-gut feel of any of the duo's three
proper albums. Instead, this is the weirdest set of music the band has done to
date, a trippy, murky excursion into territory that floats somewhere between the
primal urgency of the duo's best work and the dark, moody psychedelia of
late-'60s blues-rock. Take “Have Mercy on Me” – its winding, narcotic
blues groove settles into a bed of droning organ and bongos, but the interplay
between guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney prevents it
from sounding as affected as psychedelia, while infusing it with a real sense of
danger. That unsettling undercurrent flows throughout this brief EP, and it
makes Chulahoma an album that's ideal for pitch-black nights, where the music
can worm its way into your imagination and then run wild. That alone would make
it a unique, noteworthy detour for the Black Keys, but when this is compared to
Kimbrough's original recordings, it becomes an instructive listen since a
side-by-side listen reveals how Auerbach drew inspiration from
Kimbrough's stripped-down, idiosyncratic grooves and took it into some place
entirely different. And while that might mean that Chulahoma doesn't necessarily
sound like a kissing cousin to Kimbrough's originals, it does make it a
greater, richer tribute than most cover albums, and it certainly proves that
Auerbach's testimonial in the liner notes about how Junior Kimbrough changed
his life is no lie.
All Music Guide – Stephen Thomas Erlewine