*UPDATE* Raconteurs to Hit the Road

After topping the bill at Third Man Records’ 10th anniversary celebration on the grounds of their Nashville headquarters, The Raconteurs intend to keep the rock and roll party going all summer long.

The supergroup featuring Third Man head honcho Jack White, singer-songwriter BFF Brendan Benson, Patrick Keeler and “Little Jack” Lawrence of the Greenhornes on drums and bass respectively (plus Queens of the Stone Age’s Dean Fertita as a touring keyboard player and third guitarist) have announced a North American tour around the Woodstock 50 love-in.

Starting July 12th in Detroit at the world’s largest Masonic Temple – where Jack White has a theatre named after him – the tour will snake west to Vancouver (July 19th at Queen Elizabeth Theatre) and then swing back to the Great Lakes and an appearance at Toronto’s Sony Centre September 12th. By that time the 60 year-old venue will have been renamed Meridian Hall, which White graced with his music presence for a memorable double-shot in 2012.

Presales start as early as Wednesday, April 10th (see TheRaconteurs.com/tour for more, including live photos). While it hasn’t been explicitly stated yet, it looks like any non-festival shows will be phone-free like White did last year to relative positivity. Oh, and the band also previewed all of their highly anticipated third album Help Us Stranger during an intimate, media blackout performance in Third Man’s “Blue Room”. However, quite a few videos have surfaced from TMR x 10 where new material was first debuted, including some awesomely high-quality ones of a dozen songs from YouTube uploader VideoGremmie.

*UPDATE* Third Man Records has shared their own recap video of what went down at TMR x 10 hosted by Ben Blackwell, Jack White’s nephew and now co-owner of the company he helped found. He also wails on the drums in The Dirtbombs but alas, he did not do so still wearing his jet-black suit and yellow tie.

And in ever MORE Third Man news, the label has officially joined popular online music streamer Bandcamp. The first song they’ve made available to purchase is The Raconteurs’ cover of “Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)” by Donovan, which will be on Help Us Stranger when it is released June 21st.