What follows is a lesson in respecting the greats: offering tributes with subtle tonalities instead of full-out cover songs. The overtones are all there, and the band is still having a lot of fun, but Dan gives it just enough weight that it doesn’t feel like just a collection of singles.

In that way, the record feels like a celebration of the album as a timepiece of culture — very fitting for a band known for their bouncy and jangly records and a producer known for reviving the blues and seventies psychedelic rock. While I’m not sure that Tell Me I’m Pretty will ultimately go down as a classic among the stars, it might be Cage the Elephant’s best record.

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*Chulahoma* is a lesser-known record because, as it turns out, it doesn’t have a single original recording. Each track is a cover of a Junior Kimbrough. Kimbrough himself was a bluesman that The Black Keys called a primary influence at one point. He and The Black Keys shared a label together at one time.

The Black Keys do play these “covers” pretty fast and loose, so while they’re recognizable, they could be considerd homages more than anything. In blues, that feels appropriate: it’s more important to riff off ideas than it is to exactly represent something, and’s what The Black Keys have always been good at. If you’re a fan and you haven’t heard this record, you’ve got no clue what you’re missing.

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