With danceable new songs, Black Keys should have legs shaking at Shaky Knees

Since the childhood friends founded the band in 2001, the Ohio natives have dabbled in psychedelic rock (2014’s “Turn Blue”), recorded a platter full of hill country blues songs (2021’s “Delta Kream”) and collaborated on a hip-hip project with Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash featuring performances by Mos Def, Q-Tip and Ludacris (2009’s “BlakRoc”).

The band’s new album, “No Rain, No Flowers,” finds the Black Keys drawing inspiration from their record hangs — dance parties where Auerbach and Carney take turns spinning rare vinyl 45s that are the fuel for the groove-driven, danceable vibes that infuse this latest collection of songs.

Fans should hear a strong sampling from the album when the Black Keys play Shaky Knees Music Festival on Sept. 20, the middle day of the three-day fest being held this year in Piedmont Park.

“We both have a similar work ethic and tastes,” Carney said in an interview. “With this album, it’s an intentional four-on-the-floor (approach). We’ve never done much intentional four-on-the-floor type of stuff (meaning a rhythm in 4/4 time in which the bass drum is played on every beat) or an up-tempo dance kind of thing. How do we contextualize this? The reference point is listening to the Giorgio Moroder-produced Sparks album (1979’s “No. 1 in Heaven”) and watching the band evolve through the years.”

As has been the case in recent years (the Black Keys have worked with Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Beck and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, to name a few), collaboration was a key component throughout “No Rain, No Flowers.” This time around, those partnerships came via songwriters Rick Nowels (Stevie Nicks, Adele) and Scott Storch (the Roots, Snoop Dogg, the Game). It was an effort to keep the creative process interesting.

“We wrote about half this album with Rick Nowels, who is a guy we became acquainted with through Dan’s work with Lana Del Rey (on her 2014 album “Ultraviolence”),” Carney said. “Rick had written a bunch of songs with Lana. We’d never actually gotten in the studio before with a ‘songwriter.’ We’ve worked with other musicians and we were curious to see what Rick was all about.”

With 13 studio albums under their collective belts, the Black Keys are amid a U.S. tour, only the band’s third such outing since 2014.

In addition to all the recording and touring the Black Keys have done in the nearly quarter century, Auerbach and Carney have been musical partners who run their own recording studios, Easy Eye Sound and Audio Eagle Studio, respectively. And while both musical workaholics lean into the grind, Carney is amused by how much of what and he and his creative partner do flies under the radar for most people.

“It’s funny talking about how this is our 13th album but aside from that, Dan has probably produced 50 to 60 albums in the past 15 years and I’ve probably done another 15 myself,” he said. “Then you mention my projects, Dan’s solo stuff and the Arcs (an Auerbach side project), I think we’re always trying to make something a little bit different and it makes our career way harder to not be making the same thing over and over.