SXSW 2024: The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney Are Keynotes

The Black Keys are heading to South by Southwest 2024.

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, founding members of the chart-topping blues-rock outfit, will take their positions on stage as keynote speakers, organizers announce today (Jan. 16).

Auerbach, the band’s singer and guitarist, and Carney, the Black Keys’ drummer, will lend their support to the new documentary, This is a Film About The Black Keys, which enjoys its world premiere at the SXSW Film & TV Festival. Directed by Jeff Dupre, the feature-length film is said to trace the band’s journey, which began nearly a quarter century ago as kids jamming in a basement in Akron, OH, and has seen the rockers complete the journey to the biggest stages on the planet.

Along the way, they’ve soaked up commercial and critical success, including six top 10 titles landed on the Billboard 200 chart, with a No. 1 for 2014’s Turn Blue, and six Grammy Awards.

“The impact of artists has made music the foundation of SXSW,” comments Hugh Forrest, chief programming officer and co-president. “For this reason, we’re especially excited to welcome Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, one of the most compelling rock bands around, to the Keynote Speaker lineup for a discussion on their prolific career.”

The rockers are among the big names in the fourth round of featured speakers, a list that includes legendary actress and activist Jane Fonda; three-time NBA champion and Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade; Twitch CEO Dan Clancy; and Lord of the Rings actor and co-founder of indie production company  SpectreVision, Elijah Wood.

Conference sessions include the panel, “The Transformation of Music Sync: When the Songwriter Becomes the Screenwriter,” and “Death of the Follower & the Future of Creativity on the Web.”

Additional keynote speakers and featured sessions will be unveiled in the coming weeks, reps say.

Founded in 1987 in Austin, TX, SXSW has grown to encompass tech, film and TV, music, education and culture. The entirety of the 2024 conference and festival will run from March 8-16.

In April 2021, it was announced that SXSW signed a “lifeline” deal with P-MRC, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and MRC, making P-MRC a stakeholder and long-term partner with the Austin festival. P-MRC is the parent company of Billboard.

Visit SXSW.com for more.