Jack White Interruption

I have a vision of myself in 35 years, forking out big bucks to go watch Jack White perform at a casino. I can see it now: a doddering Jack leads his band of grey-hairs through lifeless boogie-woogie renditions of back catalogue highlights -- the White Stripes' "Fell in Love with a Girl," the Raconteurs' "Steady, as She Goes," the Dead Weather's "I Cut Like a Buffalo" -- while me and the other grandpas in the audience lap up every minute of it and dutifully call our hero back for a second encore.

My point is this: years from now, we'll still care about Jack White. If he never matches his past glories, or even if he pulls a Lou Reed and churns out drivel for decades, it won't matter, since we'll still keep coming back to those old classics. He's this generation's contribution to the rock pantheon, and if you don't believe me, just watch the guitar-centric 2009 documentary It Might Get Loud, in which Jack spends a day hanging out with Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and U2's The Edge and makes them look boring by comparison.

On Tuesday (April 24), the Third Man Records boss made the inevitable solo leap with the release of Blunderbuss, his first full-length album under his own name. As you may have already guessed, it's hardly his best album. There's nothing here that's destined to be chanted in European soccer stadiums like "Seven Nation Army," nor anything as ferociously passionate as the White Stripes' first couple of albums. Even its lovesick lyrical content -- presumably inspired by his recent divorce from model-turned-singer Karen Elson -- can't give Blunderbuss the urgency of White's finest work.

Then again, it's hardly a dud either. Blunderbuss is a mature and confident record that finds Jack taming his squalling garage rock tendencies in favour of a restrained blend of rootsy Americana and vintage R&B. It's only natural that a man who grew up in Detroit and now makes his home in Nashville should end up making music that sounds like a cross between Motown and the Grand Ole Opry. "Love Interruption" makes the most of these influences, pairing acoustic guitar with electric piano and Ruby Amanfu's soulful harmonies, while opener "Missing Pieces" shifts from a funky groove into a barn burning, Jerry Lee Lewis-style jam.

What makes Blunderbuss all the more intriguing is the offbeat instrumental touches that White gives many of these songs, which prevent his revivalism from ever getting too hokey or derivative. The folksy waltz "I Guess I Should Go to Sleep" might sound positively quaint were it not for the cabaret piano breaks and peculiar vocal harmonies, and "Take Me with You When You Go" has its tumbling rhythms interrupted by twitchy keyboard fills and a completely unexpected buzzsaw electric guitar. Best of the batch is "Freedom at 21," which matches hauntingly twangy licks with half-rapped vocals and a brilliantly echoing drum beat that's thrilling in the way it threatens to fall completely out of time (but never does).

These songs make Blunderbuss a worthy addition to the Jack White canon. He might not be quite at the top of his game here, but he's still inventive enough to give us an album full of solid songs with one or two welcome curveballs along the way. Hell, we might not even complain if he throws in a couple of these tunes amongst the old classics when he's on the revival trail a few decades from now.