The Run That Back series is a deep dive into some of music’s most popular or underrated projects. Whether it’s been 5 years or 50, there’s never a wrong time to run that back.
Listen to music from throughout Jack White’s career on The White Stripes Radio
It’s not often that an artist opts to go solo after being an integral part of three massively successful bands. Then again, there’s few artists like Jack White.
April 23, 2022 marks the ten year anniversary of White’s debut solo album Blunderbuss, a record that marked a turning point in his career. Just a year earlier, The White Stripes officially announced they were disbanding. The Raconteurs hadn’t been heard from in several years while The Dead Weather was seemingly on hiatus.
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Blunderbuss is one of those albums that was never really intended to be made. White initially had a 12-piece band booked for a recording session with RZA from Wu-Tang Clan at Third Man Records. They were going to do a blues series single, but RZA had to cancel at the last moment.
“I had all these musicians in the studio who did not have anything to do, and I did not want to send them home—some of them had come from out of town,” White told Paul Tingen in an interview. “So I said, ‘well, let’s record some of my songs.’ I only had a couple of things kicking around, so we started and we did three songs that day and that was the beginning of the album.”
White said that after “six or seven songs it started to click that it was all becoming something.” The songs didn’t fit in the catalog of any of his previous bands, so he decided to make it his own. During recording sessions, White would alternate by using an all-male and an all-female backing band, a process he would utilize while touring behind the album.
The record is full of sounds that inspired White, Country, Rock, R&B, Folk, Soul, Blues, and more. The diversity of musical styles meshes so well with White’s unique sound that the album stands up just as well a decade later.
There’s something for everyone on this record. Whether it’s the Americana Folk tinged “Love Interruption,” the groovy Hip Hop laden beats of “Freedom At 21,” the driving Blues of “I’m Shakin’,” or the more traditional Rock of “Sixteen Saltines,” White provides listeners with a journey across the musical spectrum.
The album was a commercial success for White as it became his first record from any project to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 chart.
At the 55th GRAMMY Awards, the album received nominations for Album of the Year and Best Rock album while “Freedom at 21” grabbed a Best Rock Song nomination. The following year, “I’m Shakin’” received a pair of nominations for Best Rock Performance and Best Music Video.
As you celebrate the 10th anniversary of Blunderbuss, dive deep into the world of Jack White and check out several Audacy stations featuring his music including Alterna 00s, Arena Rock, Drivin Alt, Tailgate Rock, The White Stripes Radio, and Troy Hughes’ Stadium Anthems.
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