The Guitar Advice Prince Once Gave to Jack White
Jack White recently recalled some memorable advice Prince once offered him backstage.
The two guitarists crossed paths some years ago at a show featuring White's then-wife Karen Elson and her group, the Citizens Band, plus Zoe Kravitz.
"The show started and the lights went down and somebody bumped me and said, 'That's Prince sitting right behind us,'" White remembered in an interview with Apple Music‘s Zane Lowe.
The pair got to talking later in the evening. “The phrase he had said to me was like, ‘No one is going to tell you how to play your guitar, Jack,'" White recalled. "And he talked about the [2008] James Bond song ["Another Way To Die"] I had just done."
“And he said, ‘I really like it.’ And I said, ‘Oh, that’s great. Because some people, it’s like making a song for Star Wars fans or something. You’re throwing yourself into the sea of… It’s a very divisive track.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, I thought it was real strong.’”
Listen to Jack White and Alicia Keys' 'Another Way to Die'
White's record label, Third Man, recently announced they had obtained the rights to Prince's long-shelved 1986 album, Camille, and they would be responsible for releasing all eight tracks of the LP. A release date has not yet been revealed.
"We're finally going to put it out," Ben Blackwell, co-founder of Third Man, told Mojo. "Prince's people agreed — almost too easy."
White, who is currently slated to release two new albums this year, Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive, also offered some of his own advice from his years working in the music industry. "There'd be times where people made mistakes," he said. "So what? Who cares? They are human beings. But the whole point is you're the artist, you're going to do it. And if you're writing powerful things, nothing is going to stop it."