Dan Auerbach

TD Garden GM Hugh Lombardi presented Dan Auerbach (no relation to legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach, as far as we know) and Patrick Carney of the Black Keys with a banner before their sold-out concert on Wednesday night. This was the first banner presentation to an act passing through and something the folks at the Garden hope to turn into a tradition - the Garden does lay claim to the most championship banners of any arena in the US, after all. The guys from Van Halen will get theirs when they come to town on Sunday.

"Locked Down" works on two levels. It's Dr. John's new album, but it's also a sly homage to the classic records he's been making since the late 1960s. His latest is the closest he has come to making a masterpiece in a very long time. As is often the case, it took new blood to rattle his cage and coax some inspired performances from the good doctor, whose given name is Mac Rebennack. Dan Auerbach, the Black Keys guitarist and singer, produced and played on "Locked Down. " His approach to recording Dr. John obviously came from a place of respect but also curiosity.

"Locked Down" works on two levels. It's Dr. John's new album, but it's also a sly homage to the classic records he's been making since the late 1960s. His latest is the closest he has come to making a masterpiece in a very long time. As is often the case, it took new blood to rattle his cage and coax some inspired performances from the good doctor, whose given name is Mac Rebennack. Dan Auerbach, the Black Keys guitarist and singer, produced and played on "Locked Down. " His approach to recording Dr. John obviously came from a place of respect but also curiosity.

TD Garden GM Hugh Lombardi presented Dan Auerbach (no relation to legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach, as far as we know) and Patrick Carney of the Black Keys with a banner before their sold-out concert on Wednesday night. This was the first banner presentation to an act passing through and something the folks at the Garden hope to turn into a tradition - the Garden does lay claim to the most championship banners of any arena in the US, after all. The guys from Van Halen will get theirs when they come to town on Sunday.

The word on Jessica Lea Mayfield’s acclaimed 2008 debut, “With Blasphemy So Heartfelt,’’ was simple: What a talented young singer-songwriter. That was true — Mayfield was 19 when it was released — but the compliment tended to deflect her potential to grow. It’s refreshing, then, to see her blossom on her seductive new sophomore album. Working again with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who produced her debut, Mayfield opens her music to a broader landscape in everything from her songwriting to the arrangements.

Now that the Black Keys have graduated to arena status, singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach jokes that he and drummer Patrick Carney have become divas, and are looking forward to putting the Coachella grounds on "lockdown" next month - like Eminem allegedly did at Bonnaroo a few years back. "It was awesome," Auerbach recalls with a laugh of the rapper's reportedly extensive security measures. "I wasn't allowed to go to my dressing room because Eminem was somewhere around. " It seems highly unlikely that the hard-working duo, who come to TD Garden on...

Nothing Black Keys singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach does is obvious. He's a 29-year-old dude from the suburbs of Ohio who, with drummer Patrick Carney, cut his teeth playing ancient hill-country blues in the vein of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough but reserved the right to cover a Beatles tune or two. In town Sunday night as part of a two-week tour for "Keep It Hid," his new solo album (which actually sounds more like a fleshed-out group effort...

Rare as it is to come across a band in its prime, at the flaming maximum of its powers, there's no mistaking it when it happens: A sense of inevitability, of necessity even, converges with a sense of surprise, and a fierce, ancient gladness. Wednesday night at Avalon, Ohio's Black Keys reminded a packed house what it means to be on . The duo of Patrick Carney (drums) and Dan Auerbach (guitar/vocals) has rewired the blues of the Mississippi Delta with the increased voltage of garagey fuzz-rock, and the intensity with which they drive this risky piece of...

CAMBRIDGE — If the Dixie Chicks were a little less country, a lot more drunk, and had taken their fashion cues from Johnny Thunders and Joan Jett, they might look and sound something like Those Darlins. The Tennessee foursome, led by a female frontline of bassist Kelley, guitarist Jessi, and Nikki on baritone ukulele — all of them sporting the stage surname Darlin — play a gleefully amateurish mash-up of fuzzed-out garage-punk and Southern-fried twang that was all but invented for Friday nights.

The sun had finally, suitably, set when Black Keys singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach strode onstage Saturday and greeted the sold-out crowd with the quintessential query of a seasoned rocker: “How you feelin’ tonight!?’’ Without waiting for an answer, Auerbach bowed deeply into the hard, humid chords of “Thickfreakness,’’ the dinosaur-heavy title track from his group’s 2003 album, and the Bank of America Pavilion seemed to become instantly electric, totally alive. Right on cue, drummer Patrick Carney commenced to match those chords —...

Now that the Black Keys have graduated to arena status, singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach jokes that he and drummer Patrick Carney have become divas, and are looking forward to putting the Coachella grounds on "lockdown" next month - like Eminem allegedly did at Bonnaroo a few years back. "It was awesome," Auerbach recalls with a laugh of the rapper's reportedly extensive security measures. "I wasn't allowed to go to my dressing room because Eminem was somewhere around. " It seems highly unlikely that the hard-working duo, who come to TD Garden on Wednesday, will be emulating...

The word on Jessica Lea Mayfield’s acclaimed 2008 debut, “With Blasphemy So Heartfelt,’’ was simple: What a talented young singer-songwriter. That was true — Mayfield was 19 when it was released — but the compliment tended to deflect her potential to grow. It’s refreshing, then, to see her blossom on her seductive new sophomore album. Working again with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who produced her debut, Mayfield opens her music to a broader landscape in everything from her songwriting to the arrangements.

CAMBRIDGE — If the Dixie Chicks were a little less country, a lot more drunk, and had taken their fashion cues from Johnny Thunders and Joan Jett, they might look and sound something like Those Darlins. The Tennessee foursome, led by a female frontline of bassist Kelley, guitarist Jessi, and Nikki on baritone ukulele — all of them sporting the stage surname Darlin — play a gleefully amateurish mash-up of fuzzed-out garage-punk and Southern-fried twang that was all but invented for Friday nights.

The sun had finally, suitably, set when Black Keys singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach strode onstage Saturday and greeted the sold-out crowd with the quintessential query of a seasoned rocker: “How you feelin’ tonight!?’’ Without waiting for an answer, Auerbach bowed deeply into the hard, humid chords of “Thickfreakness,’’ the dinosaur-heavy title track from his group’s 2003 album, and the Bank of America Pavilion seemed to become instantly electric, totally alive. Right on cue, drummer Patrick Carney commenced to match those chords —...

Nothing Black Keys singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach does is obvious. He's a 29-year-old dude from the suburbs of Ohio who, with drummer Patrick Carney, cut his teeth playing ancient hill-country blues in the vein of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough but reserved the right to cover a Beatles tune or two. In town Sunday night as part of a two-week tour for "Keep It Hid," his new solo album (which actually sounds more like a fleshed-out group effort...

Rare as it is to come across a band in its prime, at the flaming maximum of its powers, there's no mistaking it when it happens: A sense of inevitability, of necessity even, converges with a sense of surprise, and a fierce, ancient gladness. Wednesday night at Avalon, Ohio's Black Keys reminded a packed house what it means to be on . The duo of Patrick Carney (drums) and Dan Auerbach (guitar/vocals) has rewired the blues of the Mississippi Delta with the increased voltage of garagey fuzz-rock, and the intensity with which they drive this risky piece of...

British singer Michael Kiwanuka's retro-soul sound evokes memories of Bill Withers and Otis Redding, yet the 24-year-old Londoner is hailed as one of the musical hopes of this year. The son of Ugandan immigrants took to the stage at Islington town hall in London ON Thursday after a 2011 that saw him support Grammy-winning singer Adele on tour. Fresh from winning the BBC Sound of 2012 in January, Kiwanuka is playing a series of warm up gigs around Britain before the release of his first album "Home Again" in March.

Right in the middle of the first song, "Howlin' for You," when the guitar riffs caromed off the heavy crash of drums, the unthinkable came to mind: The Black Keys weren't always this big. Not their songs, their popularity, or even their stage presence. At the TD Garden last night, where more than 14,000 roaring fans sold out the house, it was clear singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney have shed their indie status; they're newly crowned superstars. Now a decade into their career, it's hard to imagine why it took so long.