Jack White // Modern Day Bluesman
“It’s quite possible that I’m your third man girl
But it’s a fact that I’m the seventh son
And right now you could care less about me
But soon enough you will care, by the time I’m done
Let’s have a ball and a biscuit sugar
And take our sweet little time about it”
When I was putting together my Sunday Blues post two weeks ago, I ran across The White Stripes’ version of Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breakin Down Blues”. Which in turn led me to his scorching cover of Son House’s “Death Letter“. Continuing on the Jack White discovery trail, I found tracks from his side project, The Upholsterers. It’s amazing what you find buried in your iTunes library.
The band was comprised of Jack White and Brian Muldoon. They released the three songs listed below on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label in 2000; they only pressed 100 copies. The recording is a little banged up, but definitely worth downloading. “Pain (Gimme Sympathy)” is my favorite track of the three.
Download (Right-Click Save As):
MP3: The White Stripes - Stop Breaking Down (Robert Johnson Live)
MP3: The White Stripes - Death Letter (Son House Cover Live)
MP3: The White Stripes - Ball and Biscuit
MP3: The Upholsterers - Apple Of My Eye
MP3: The Upholsterers - I Ain’t Superstitious (Willie Dixon Cover)
MP3: The Upholsterers - Pain (Gimme Sympathy)
MP3: Loretta Lynn - Portland Oregon (With Jack White)
Download:
The White Stripes - Elephant (iTunes)
Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose (iTunes)
November 13th, 2008 at 2:32 am
Jack White and Loretta Lynn - I never wudda thunk that would work but it does!
November 13th, 2008 at 3:03 am
I refuse to listen to the Alicia Keyes duet.
November 14th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Nice! I didn’t know that brilliant Johnson-Cover. My favourite Modern Bluesmen beside the Stripes are the Red Devils, who also did some good recordings with Jagger and Johnny Cash.
December 24th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
The alicia keys duet was good, but he should have let her take over the vocals completely since her vocal range dwarfs his, his production was great. She always talked about how badly she wanted to work with him as a fan, so when he takes her up on it, he displays a total lack of pretension that one would expect from someone of his stature. Check out the Baby Blue cover performed for the late John Peel at maida vale studios.