The Dead Weather - Horehound

There may be a recession going on, but Jack White’s never been busier. The American singer-guitarist performs in three bands, including the best-selling White Stripes and the critically acclaimed Raconteurs. He also produces records and has won a pair of Grammy Awards for his work on country legend Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose album.

Married to former model Karen Elson, with whom he has two children, the occasional actor co-starred in the movie Cold Mountain and will soon appear in It Might Get Loud, a film with Jimmy Page and U2’s the Edge, and White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights, a documentary about his 2007 tour of Canada. Earlier this year, Jack opened an office in Nashville for his company Third Man Records. “There’s a studio, a vinyl record label and a pressing plant a few blocks away,” he said. “Things can happen very quickly. Music will be in your hands quickly. That’s the whole point.”

Now, to prove it, Jack has released Horehound, the debut album by his latest band the Dead Weather, formed just a few months ago with musicians including lead vocalist Alison Mosshart. A new White Stripes album is also coming soon. In the meantime, fans of Jack’s raw, bluesy rock can thrill to such primal, Led Zeppelin-like songs as “I Cut Like a Buffalo” and “Treat Me Like Your Mother,” in which he sings and plays drums, not guitar. While the music industry seems defeated, versatile Jack is acting like a victorious one-man army.

July 2009