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JUDY WOODRUFF: The band The
Black Keys debuted its first
album in five years recently at

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the number one spot of
the U.S. album chart.

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Its vocalist and guitarist,
Dan Auerbach, has also been
making a name for himself in

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recent years in another setting.

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Jeffrey Brown visited
him in Nashville recently
as part of our ongoing
arts and culture series,

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Canvas.

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DAN AUERBACH, The Black Keys:
The idea here is to be able
to see everyone and kind of

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make eye contact.

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I can even see the singer in
the other room over there.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Eclectic,
functional, and intimate,
it's a space that seems
to sum up Dan Auerbach's

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philosophy for making music.

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Auerbach is best known as
one half of the two-man rock
band The Black Keys, as well

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as for his solo work.

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But he's also made a mark as
a record producer as head of
the label Easy Eye Sound, based

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here at his studio in Nashville.

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It's a nondescript building,
a former call center, but now
the source of nearly a dozen

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albums in the past two years.

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DAN AUERBACH: That drum booth,
the way it's set up, I set it
up after Muscle Shoals Sound.

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JEFFREY BROWN: It combines
features of famed recording
studios Auerbach loves, such as

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Muscle Shoals Alabama, a 1970s
mecca for soul, blues, and rock.

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DAN AUERBACH: I did a
lot of investigating.

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I went to Memphis, and New York
City, and L.A., and visited
the classic rooms, and talked

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to the classic console makers.

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And so this studio is
hand-picked down to the wire.

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You know what I mean?

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Every little part of it.

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And it's completely unique,
and there's no other studio
in the world like it.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Every piece
of vintage gear works.

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It's fully wired, ready
to record, multiple
keyboards, four sets of
drums, dozens of guitars.

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DAN AUERBACH: I used this one
on of the very first Black
Keys recordings we ever made.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Oh, yes?

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DAN AUERBACH: An old Stratotone.

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JEFFREY BROWN: So, each one of
these has got some history, huh?

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DAN AUERBACH: Each one of these
has some history and each one
of these has its own sound.

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It's like having a toolbox
full of different tools.

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JEFFREY BROWN: But tools alone,
Auerbach says, aren't enough
to replicate what he calls the

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famous music factories.

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DAN AUERBACH: I think when you
start, you are attracted by
all the lights, and all the

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faders, and all the knobs, and
then when you get down to it,
you realize it's mostly just

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the musicians.

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JEFFREY BROWN: But then -- but
I'm -- I mean, we're in a studio
surrounded by instruments...

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DAN AUERBACH: Yes.

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JEFFREY BROWN: ... and gear.

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DAN AUERBACH: Well, this
is a city where the people
know how to play them.

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JEFFREY BROWN: That's why
Auerbach started Easy Eye
here in 2017 by hauling
some of Nashville's

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best session musicians out of
retirement, including Billy
Sanford, who created one of

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the most famous riffs
in rock history for Roy
Orbison's hit "Pretty Woman."

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BILLY SANFORD, Musician:
That was one of them.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Yes, I
think everybody knows that.

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BILLY SANFORD: Yes.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

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Yes.

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But that's you, huh?

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BILLY SANFORD: That's me and
two other guitar players.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

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Yes.

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The Easy Eye house band
now includes Sanford and
keyboard player Bobby
Wood, renowned session

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musicians who can improvise,
collaborate, learn a part
quickly, and record six to eight

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songs in a day.

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BILLY SANFORD: You never
know what's coming next.

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But that's good.

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That keeps you on your toes.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Here, everyone
sits side-by-side, Sanford says,
like the old days of recording,

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very different from the way many
studios now record vocalists
and musicians, in isolation,

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mixing it all together
in post-production.

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BILLY SANFORD: The main thing
is, all the players are here.

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You're not looking at some guy
doing some guitar work here
in Nashville, and then sending

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it off to L.A. or somewhere
else, or -- I think you missed
the heartbeat of a record

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unless everybody's playing
together at the same time.

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JEFFREY BROWN: I asked Auerbach
if he'd set out to preserve
something important being

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lost.

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DAN AUERBACH: I don't feel
like a preservationist.

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I feel like everything
we're doing is new.

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I don't want to cut -- we
don't cut old songs here.

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We cut new songs.

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I just want to make something
I'm proud of and make something
that feels like the records

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that I love, the records that I
just want to live with forever.

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JEFFREY BROWN: That's meant a
variety of genres and a growing
portfolio of rising artists,

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including Yola, Shannon
Shaw, Robert Finley, and
21-year-old Dee White.

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White, who is from
Slapout, Alabama, had
barely started singing
when he was brought in by

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a mutual acquaintance.

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He and Auerbach clicked, and
that led days of intensive
songwriting, followed quickly

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by a recording session,
with special guests like
Alison Krauss stopping
by to sing harmony.

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DEE WHITE, Musician: Part of
the reason that this is such a
blessing for me is there hasn't

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been any kind of molding
or shaping of what I
should be doing musically.

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I feel like that is something
that a lot of people
who come to town face.

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JEFFREY BROWN: You mean
trying to put you into
a certain box, or...

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DEE WHITE: Yes.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Yes?

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DEE WHITE: You know, as
far as a sound or whatever.

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And I feel like a lot of people
have to compromise in some ways,
and I never had to do that.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Easy Eye Sound
has signed 10 artists so far,
with several high-profile

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announcements expected
in the coming months.

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And for a long time Black Keys
fans, the band's new album
was recorded here recently.

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Is this like the long-term
sustainable way of life?

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Is that you -- what
you're building?

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DAN AUERBACH: Well, I mean,
if you talk to my accountant,
he'd probably tell you no,

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but...

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JEFFREY BROWN: Really?

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DAN AUERBACH: ... I mean, in my
heart, I believe that this is
what I'm supposed to be doing.

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JEFFREY BROWN: A blend of old
and new, one song at a time.

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For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm
Jeffrey Brown in Nashville.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Jeff gets
all the good assignments.