Jack White “Frozen Charlotte” 2026, limited edition blue vinyl. Third Man Records. We picked up this album pretty close to its release back in July but I’ve been sitting on it with the anticipation of maybe seeing Jack White in concert. That happened last night (thanks to WMSE for hooking us up with free tickets!) at the Landmark where he ripped through a massive set of old and new material plus a few covers. My favorite moments of the night: Jack and his band playing a chunk of The Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog” in the encore – part of a medley that eventually morphed into “Ball and Biscuit” and WMSE dj Christreater spinning the now defunct but always number one in my heart Milwaukee band Slow Walker’s “Weed Out the Squares” before the show. (Sadly this did NOT weed out the squares as we had a woman who was either very drunk or completely ignorant of show etiquette. Maybe both) I have zero show pictures because everyone’s phones were locked up as we entered the venue (BOO! I hate it mostly because meeting up with friends becomes impossible unless you want to attempt a loud, tipsy game of Marco Polo) but we snapped a couple before/after; we also picked up the show poster to add to our rather beefy Von Munz collection.

Frozen Charlotte is Jack White’s 7th studio solo LP and like most of his work, it’s fantastic with even more nods to old-school blues but put through a hard garage rock buzzy blender. The band on the record is the same as his touring band which includes keyboardist Bobby Emmett (who I just learned was in The Sights, one of my favorite late 90’s/early aughts garage bands – we saw them at Cactus Club a million years ago; I still have my shirt from that show); drummer Patrick Keeler (The Greenhornes, The Raconteurs,  The Afghan Whigs); and bassist Dominic Davis. Frozen Charlotte went to #32 on the main US charts but to #3 on the indie chart; it hit #29 in the UK. They performed one of my top tracks from the album last night  “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” (also released as a single). I’m fairly positive they also played “Neighbors Blues” and it’s possible snippets of more were blended into other songs but the morning after is hazy and I didn’t have my damn phone to take notes. Other top tracks include “Dollar Bill” (also released as a single), the Zeppelinesque “There’s Nobody There” and the bendy blues of “Raising the Grain.” But really the whole record is fantastic, as good or better than No Name from 2024.