There was a black and white photo on the front cover. It was of an old man seated by a jukebox. He was playing an electric guitar while some women, frozen in time, swayed to the music he seemed to be making. I was away at college, in that little Ohio town. There, alone in my room, I was transformed. It was by this man and the music on that CD. I've heard people say this before, that they were forever changed by so and so, by this or that, but I have to tell you truthfully, fuck all that. Nature, humanity, my feet on the floor, the fake wood laminated desktop, the moon and stars, the heat from my body, my reflection in the mirror, my whole existence was flipped on its head and back around twice. I was in a trance for days and didn't even know it. Very suddenly, I was skipping class to play guitar. Shortly thereafter, I'd be dropping out of college altogether. Setting out to find my own way. The bar had been set impossibly high and there was nothing more those professors could help me with. I'd found a new teacher.
Well, I'm a musician now. It says so on my passport. Though, it's gotta be more than just that. I feel like a man blessed with some sort of mind and heart connection to the vibrations I find in the music I love. Junior allowed my to feel that way, to open the once hidden doorway. My family had steered me in the right direction and pushed me when I needed it but the walls came tumbling down and the earth shook when I locked into Junior's groove. I'll be forever grateful, forever in awe, and forever indebted to Junior Kimbrough. Someday, I 'm gonna meet him in the city and I'll shake his hand and maybe he'll play a few songs for me.
-Dan Auerbach
When this CD came out, nobody knew about the Black Keys. Last week, they won a few Grammys. Last night they played Conan. And they still make real f***ing music and bullshit the interviewers and publications just like any person with any real sense of perspective should. Truthfully those dudes are my heroes. At least as close a thing to heroes that a 23 year-old can have, anyway.
