The Black Keys return with ‘Peaches!’, a covers-driven fourteenth album, alongside a new visual for ‘She Does It Right’ that reconnects the band with their earliest influences
by Paul Cashmere
The Black Keys have released their fourteenth studio album Peaches! today, May 1, 2026, alongside a new video for She Does It Right, marking a renewed focus on the raw blues and R&B foundations that shaped their earliest recordings.
Issued through Easy Eye Sound and Warner Records, Peaches! arrives as a covers album, with Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney revisiting material from artists including R. L. Burnside, Arthur Crudup and Wilko Johnson. The video for Stop Arguing Over Me, directed by E.J. McLeavey-Fisher and produced by Sheree Shu through Good Hustle Productions Inc., serves as the primary visual introduction to the project.
The release is positioned as a deliberate return to the band’s formative aesthetic, echoing the stripped-back approach of their 2002 debut The Big Come Up. For a duo that built a global following through albums such as Brothers and El Camino, both of which expanded their sound into broader rock and pop territory, Peaches! reflects a conscious recalibration.
At its core, the album is an archival exercise in influence. Tracks such as When There’s Smoke, There’s Fire and Fireman Ring The Bell are interpreted with minimal studio intervention, foregrounding live instrumentation and analogue textures. The newly released video for Stop Arguing Over Me follows that ethos, avoiding heavy narrative construction in favour of performance-driven imagery that emphasises the immediacy of the recording.
The album’s first single, You Got To Lose, originally associated with Ike Turner and later recorded by George Thorogood and The Destroyers, was issued on February 6, offering an early indication of the project’s direction. That track, like much of Peaches!, leans into groove-based arrangements and unpolished vocal takes, consistent with the duo’s early catalogue.
From a production standpoint, Auerbach and Carney maintain full oversight, handling production and mixing across all tracks. Additional musicians, including Eric Deaton on bass and Jimbo Mathus contributing multi-instrumental layers, expand the sonic palette without diluting the duo’s central dynamic. Horn arrangements on select tracks, including contributions from Dave Guy and Cochemea Gastelum, introduce a Memphis soul inflection that broadens the album’s stylistic range.
The visual identity of Peaches! also reconnects with the band’s history. The cover artwork is designed by Michael Carney, Patrick’s brother, who was responsible for the band’s first ten album covers and received a Grammy Award for his work on Brothers. The image itself is sourced from photographer William Eggleston, whose work previously appeared on Delta Kream, the band’s 2021 covers album.
Within the broader context of The Black Keys’ discography, Peaches! sits alongside Delta Kream as a companion piece, both projects revisiting the blues traditions that informed the band’s early years. However, where Delta Kream focused specifically on Mississippi hill country blues, Peaches! casts a wider net, incorporating elements of Chicago blues, British pub rock and early rhythm and blues.
This approach aligns with a wider trend among legacy rock acts revisiting foundational influences in later career phases. For audiences, it offers a direct line between contemporary performance and historical source material, functioning as both homage and reinterpretation. For The Black Keys, it reinforces their identity as musicians rooted in American blues traditions rather than purely commercial rock structures.
There is, however, an ongoing discussion within the industry about the role of covers albums in an artist’s catalogue. While such projects can deepen appreciation of musical lineage, they can also be perceived as transitional releases between original works. In the case of Peaches!, the execution and historical framing suggest a deliberate artistic statement rather than a stopgap.
Looking ahead, the release of Peaches! and the accompanying Stop Arguing Over Me video signals a period of reflection for The Black Keys, reconnecting with the influences that defined their earliest recordings while maintaining the production clarity developed over two decades. Whether this direction informs future original material remains to be seen, but the album positions the duo firmly within the continuum of blues-derived rock.
Tracklisting: Peaches!
When There’s Smoke, There’s Fire
Stop Arguing Over Me
Who’s Been Foolin’ You
It’s A Dream
Tomorrow Night
You Got To Lose
Tell Me You Love Me
She Does It Right
Fireman Ring The Bell
Nobody But You Baby
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