The Raconteurs Finally Detail Help Us Stranger, Their First New Album Since 2008

It’s been over a decade since The Raconteurs—Jack White, Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler—released a new album, and nearly half a year since we learned they would be doing just that in 2019. Now, at long last, the Grammy-winning rockers have detailed their much-anticipated new studio album, Help Us Stranger, arriving via White’s own Third Man Records on June 21.

While White himself has likened the LP’s sound to “a World War,” a press release promises that it blends together “prodigious riffs, blues power, sinewy psychedelia, Detroit funk, and Nashville soul via Benson and White’s uncompromising songcraft and the band’s steadfast musical muscle.” Said duo wrote all of Help Us Stranger’s 12 tracks, with the exception of “Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness),” a Donovan cover. The quartet recorded their self-produced album at Third Man Studio in Nashville, with engineering from Grammy nominee Joshua V. Smith, and mixed it with Vance Powell at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios, using some unorthodox techniques they showed off in a recent teaser video. Keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita (The Dead Weather, Queens of the Stone Age), and Lillie Mae Rische and her sister Scarlett Rische contributed their talents to the album, as well.

Help Us Stranger follows the rock supergroup’s 2006 debut Broken Boy Soldiers and their 2008 second effort Consolers of the Lonely. The Raconteurs released the first two singles from their latest, “Sunday Driver” and “Now That You’re Gone,” back in December, remixed and remastered versions of which will appear on the album.

White, Benson, Lawrence and Keeler will return to the stage for their first live performance in eight years at Third Man’s 10-year anniversary celebration in Nashville this Saturday, April 6. Soon after, the band will embark on a world tour in support of their new album, playing their first-ever shows in Australia and New Zealand in addition to stops in the U.K., Europe and Japan, and various U.S. festival sets, including one at Woodstock 50, the new Watkins Glen, N.Y., festival from the co-founder of Woodstock’s legendary original iteration. The band will be announcing a North American headlining tour soon, too.

See the details of Help Us Stranger below, with The Raconteur’s current world tour slate further down. You can find preorder info on their new album over at thirdmanrecords.com.

Help Us Stranger Tracklist:
01. Bored and Razed
02. Help Me Stranger
03. Only Child
04. Don’t Bother Me
05. Shine The Light On Me
06. Somedays (I Don’t Feel Like Trying)
07. Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness)
08. Sunday Driver
09. Now That You’re Gone
10. Live A Lie
11. What’s Yours Is Mine
12. Thoughts and Prayers

Help Us Stranger Album Art:

The Raconteurs World Tour Dates:

April
06 – Nashville, Tenn. @ Third Man Records 10 Years
16 – Auckland, New Zealand @ Powerstation (SOLD OUT)
18 – Melbourne, Australia @ Regent Theatre (SOLD OUT)
20 – Milsons Point, Australia @ Big Top Sydney
22 – Byron Bay, Australia @ Bluesfest Byron Bay
24 – Minato City, Japan @ Akasaka Blitz
25 – Minato City, Japan @ Akasaka Blitz

May
25 – London, U.K. @ All Points East
26 – Paris, France @ L’Olympia (SOLD OUT)
27 – Brussels, Belgium @ Cirque Royal
28 – Köln, Germany @ E-Werk
30 – Berlin, Germany @ Verti Music Hall
31 – Kværndrup, Denmark @ Heartland Festival

June
01 – Warsaw, Poland @ Orange Warsaw Festival
02 – Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands @ Best Kept Secret Festival

August
10 – Lexington, Ky. @ Railbird Festival
16 – Watkins Glen, N.Y. @ Woodstock 50