There is array of influences that have been stirred up in the melting pot to create Jack White’s frenzied rock’n’roll-meets-garage-rock-meets-blues-meets-punk guitar sound. There’s a whole lotta Jimmy Page, some rattling riffs reminiscent of the Stooges, nods to Mississippi Delta Blues dons such as Son House and Howlin’ Wolf, a bit of George Harrison here and some Dick Dale there.
But none of those guitar visionaries are the one that White pinpointed as the six-string player that he has learned the most from when asked the question in a Q interview in 2019. Instead, the Seven Nation Army star bestowed that honour upon cult US rockabilly musician Dexter Romweber.
Indiana native Romweber, who died earlier this year, was most well-known for fronting the punk-blues pair the Flat Duo Jets, a huge influence on The White Stripes and their singer-guitarist to the point that White went on to reissue their 1991 album Go Go Harlem Baby on his Third Man imprint in 2011.
Explaining why Romweber was his top-choice guitarist, White said, “It wasn’t the notes he was playing, I’ve never copied that, it’s just the wild abandon of how he attacked his guitar. And it was a cheap Silvertone guitar that doesn’t stay in tune. The idea of attacking an instrument like that appealed to me a lot. More important than virtuosity and learning notes.”
White wrote a heartfelt eulogy when news was announced of Romweber’s death back in February:
“He wasn’t a Rock N’ Roll musician, he WAS Rock N’ Roll inside and out, without even having to try, he couldn’t help himself. People toss that around a lot, but in Dex’s case it was actually true. To call him Punk would be like calling the Great Pyramid a sand castle. He was the type that don’t get 3 course dinners, awards, gold records and statues made of them because they are too real, too much, too strange, too good. Dex was a true tortured romantic, unfairly treated and broken hearted at all times but still hopeful… They don’t make them like Dex anymore, not till we get our act together as humans. I know your pain is over now Dex and you are living in true romantic bliss. You deserve it more than any of us.”
