The Raconteurs formed at the moment the White Stripes began to fade, at first seeming like little more than a casual diversion for Jack White. Their 2006 debut Broken Boy Soldiers quickly dispelled that notion, establishing the quartet as a self-contained unit whose sound rested on the complementary pop instincts of White and Brendan Benson and on the rhythm section supplied by Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler of the Greenhornes. Lawrence and Keeler injected garage-rock drive while White and Benson both celebrated and twisted classic-rock conventions, a balance that reached fuller expression on the band’s second album, Consolers of the Lonely. After its 2008 release the group entered a lengthy hiatus, returning nearly a decade later with Help Us Stranger in 2019.
The band’s foundation was laid when Brendan Benson and Jack White wrote “Steady, As She Goes.” The song lacked a home until the pair, pleased with the result, asked drummer Patrick Keeler and bassist Jack Lawrence to complete the lineup; White had earlier produced the Greenhornes. The four musicians convened at Benson’s East Grand Studio and spent 2005 shaping the material that became Broken Boy Soldiers. They adopted the name the Raconteurs (though an existing Queensland band forced them to operate as the Saboteurs in Australia), issued the album in May 2006, and toured in support for most of the year. By year’s end Broken Boy Soldiers had reached number seven in the U.S. and number two in the U.K., earning Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album and for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for “Steady, As She Goes.”
The Raconteurs followed with Consolers of the Lonely in March 2008, releasing “Salute Your Solution” as its companion single. Extensive touring that included multiple festival appearances supported the record, which again peaked at number seven in the U.S. and reached number eight in the U.K. The album collected Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Engineered Non-Classical Album, ultimately winning the latter award.
Once the Consolers of the Lonely tour concluded, the Raconteurs entered a quiet hiatus. Occasional one-off performances continued over the following years, including a handful of festival dates in 2011. Rumors of new material surfaced in 2013 but produced no release. In 2015 Benson and Lawrence appeared during the encore of a Jack White concert in Nashville, the band’s adopted hometown, to perform “Steady, As She Goes” and “Salute Your Solution.”
Third Man Records reissued Consolers of the Lonely as a deluxe vinyl edition in its Vault series during the final quarter of 2018. A 7" single coupling “Sunday Driver” and “Now That You’re Gone” accompanied the set, marking the first new Raconteurs music in ten years. Those two tracks anchored Help Us Stranger, released in June 2019, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
