Anybody who has ever met me and had a conversation that lasted longer than ten minutes, knows that I am a huge fan of Jack White and mostly all his work. When I was twelve years old, I never wanted to grow up, I wished to remain a twelve year old forever. Listening to The White Stripes for the first time, I felt their music connected with me and that feeling of wanted to remain a child. The simplistic drumming style of Meg White, the use of three colors; Red, White and Black. Dressing up stages and even the littlest item being themed, just sparked something inside of me and I have kept up with this love of Jack White's music ever since.
I came to Nashville mainly to see Third Man Records, Jack's headquarters for all his artistic output. Back at the very start of 2012, when i found out i would be coming to Nashville, White had just announced he was putting out his debut solo album "Blunderbuss". My excitement levels shot up again as i anticipated the fact I would soon be hearing new music for my favorite artist and also the possibility of seeing him perform live again. In April, a week before the launch of Blunderbuss, it was announced Jack White would be playing a show in London's Kentish town forum. For me it was a must purchase as I didn't think I would have another opportunity to see him in the year. All his dates that were announced went against my plans of going to America. So I pulled the trigger, with some help from my own personal travel agent (My Father) and off I went to see Jack White live again.
Fast forward to the summer and I am sitting in the Music City Hostel, here in Nashville, when I read "New UK tour dates" on jackwhiteiii.com, these dates were for November 2012, meaning I would be home for them. So I bought two tickets and then the following week another one which The Kills will be the support act.
Shortly after this it was announced Jack would be touring the bible belt regions again, these were set for October, meaning I could go to some of them. I decided just to get the one ticket as I had travel cost to pay for too. I ended up with tickets to the show in Jackson, Tennessee.
On 10/10/12 I woke up and headed to the Greyhound station, with my backpack on and filled with food for the day. Now the Greyhound station is an interesting place, lots of strange characters appear there. People who seem to be homeless, young travelers and often people who just seem quite odd. I ended up sat next to a women who was friendly enough but seemed to me as if she were bordering on the mentally ill, she sat and muttered to herself often, in the end I decided to stick my headphones on to drowned the sound of her voice out. Two hours later, the bus pulled up in a very decrepit looking station in the middle of Jackson. I had been informed there wasn't a lot to do in Jackson but I had read about the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame and wanted to visit.
As I made my way up the road to the Hall Of Fame, I noticed some stone benches and tables, I figured this would be a nice place to eat my ham and cheese sandwiches. The sun was out and warm against my black jacket but there was hint of a cool wind. All this made for a pleasant lunch as I sat and looked at the giant mural on the Hall Of Fame building. After I finished, I had a look into the window of the building, it seemed empty and I couldn't decide if it were open or not, instead of going in, I made my way to the civic center to check the line for the show. It was already ten people long at 1pm, I was a little shocked at how hard core these American fans were but they obviously wanted a good position at the show. I didn't fancy queuing up for six hours so decided to head back to the Hall Of Fame. I rang the buzzer on the door and around the corner came an older man. He opened the door and greeted me with a warm smile "Are you here for a tour" I replied yes, noticing my accent he responded "And where are we from?"
The man introduced himself as Henry Harrison. He is one very interesting character and has so many stories to tell about the likes of Carl Perkins, Elvis, Johnny Cash, Wanda Jackson and many others. He seemed to have known most of the stars that were inducted to his Hall Of Fame. The tour was only $10 which is a bargain in my opinion as it lasted well over two hours. I was joined on the tour by a lovely couple and their eleven year old daughter and a couple of women, all were in town for Jack White. We saw video tapes of Brenda Lee, Wanda Jackson and Johnny Cash, we got to play D.J Fontana's drum kit, (drummer for Elvis) using drum sticks signed by W.S Holland (drummer for Johnny Cash) and view tons and tons of merchandise and records. The fact I could talk about Jack White with the fellow members of the tour just added to the experience and we also told Henry about Jack White, who he did not know of. We explained how Jack White is a pioneer of vinyl and how he produced Wanda Jackson's 2010 album "The Party Ain't Over" and also how Jerry Lee Lewis played at Third Man Records last year. Henry was over joyed to learn about this from us.
As the tour ended Henry bid us all farewell and told us to enjoy the show and I certainly did.
Part II to follow soon.
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