Dan Auerbach moved to Nashville from his native Akron, Ohio in 2010 and with his new release, Waiting On A Song, his first solo album in eight years, it is clear that he has made the Music City his home.
During the summer of 2016, taking a break from the non-stop touring he’d done with The Black Keys and the Arcs, he finally got acquainted with the city he loves so much, as well as the world-class musicians who live there, and subsequently collaborated with some of Nashville’s heavyweights. Of the process Dan says, “They’d come over, and we’d be in a little room in my house with the door closed, and we’d just write. Monday through Wednesday we’d write, and then Thursday through Sunday we’d record, every week.” Mark Knopfler’s immediately identifiable guitar elevates “Shine on Me,” which a perfectly crafted power pop tune, while the more anthemic "Waiting On A Song," co-written with John Prine exudes Auerbach's signature retro-soul fetishism. Iconic guitarist Duane Eddy is featured on “Livin’ in Sin” and the cinematic “King of a One Horse Town.”
Waiting On A Song is the debut release, and marks the launch of Easy Eye Sound, Dan Auerbach’s new record label, which will feature soon-to-be-announced releases from other artists and is distributed by Auerbach's longtime label Nonesuch Records. The label is built equally around Auerbach’s Easy Eye Studio in Nashville, where The Black Keys recorded their last two albums, as well as the collection of famous session musicians that have come to call the studio home. Auerbach says, “Sometimes I feel I created my own Field of Dreams. I built the studio because I knew something was going to happen. I built it to accommodate live musicians playing, and then all of a sudden the best musicians in Nashville show up, and it’s happening.”
Watch the video for the title track above, and be sure to give Auerbach's new album a try, you might just realize how fitting it is for the impending, easy going summer times.