Jack White says he only met Prince once, but the guitarist had a key piece of advice for him — and it was something he was already ardently doing.
Aside from their shared love of Telecasters, the pair have plenty in common, with White likely drawing on the Purple One with his perpetual sonic and aesthetic reinventions. Case in point: when he revealed this anecdote to Stephen Colbert, he was sporting striking blue hair to match the look and feel of his fourth studio album, Fear of the Dawn.
White’s Third Man Records had pressed an unreleased Prince album, Camille, in 2022. The album, recorded in 1986 but kept a secret for another 36 years, represents the kind of artistry White can deeply relate to.
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“It’s a record he made under a feminine avatar,” White had told Colbert of the record. “He sped his voice up on a tape machine to sound feminine, and he was going to release the whole album under the guise of Camille. It got on the presses, it had labels, and it was done. At the last second, he changed his mind and told Warner Brothers to cancel.”
It’s fitting then that Prince’s lesser-known alter ego — or alter alter ego, to be more precise — would be brought to light by White, a fellow lover of the weird and a defender of artistic expression. That led Colbert to ask if they’d ever crossed paths.
“I met him one time,” he replies. “It was at an after-party. He was incredibly nice. We talked about guitars a little bit. He told me, ‘No one will ever tell you how you play your guitar, Jack,’ and that was solid advice.”
“Have you ever let anyone tell you how to play your guitar?” Colbert responds.
“No,” is his answer. White’s career has been underpinned by a desire to make cheap guitars cool again, with his red 1964 JB Hutto Montgomery Ward Airline electric the jewel in the crown.
There is, however, a small caveat to White’s answer.
“One of your sound guys told me to turn down earlier,” he laughs. “So…”
Indeed, as Prince told Rolling Stone in 1981, “We do whatever we want, and those who cannot deal with it have a problem within themselves.” Neither artist is the type to be dictated to. And if you crossed Prince, as that magazine found out at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, he would make you regret it.
White, who has single-handedly helped shift countless Electro-Harmonix POG pedals throughout his career, recently discussed the differences between blues and rock guitarists, and his answers were incredibly illuminating.
He’s also added to his cluster of wild signature Fender gear by going to Van Halen’s favorite luthier for a guitar that combines the best of electric guitar and bass in a wholly unique way. It’s a beast.
