Sans entourage, Jack White entered the room in a noticeably cheerful mood, dressed in all black and accented only by his hat and the eyeball ring on his right hand.

White, one of the busiest men in rock today, sat down with Stryker, a DJ from L.A. radio station KROQ, in a posh Beverly Hills hotel to discuss his debut solo album, Blunderbuss, its title track, and a piano riff he’s held onto for over ten years.

White has spent years as a member of various groups (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather), but freedom from his bands wasn’t the impetus for his solo record. Rather, it was his role producing one-off singles for his label, Third Man Records. When Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA failed to show up for a scheduled session at Third Man, White started working on some of his own songs with the musicians he’d hired for the session.

Most of the songs were relatively new, “some written on the spot, some the day before” recording, White says – with the exception of one piano riff. “There was only one thing that had been around for a long time,” says White. “The opening piano line to the song ‘Take Me With You When You Go.’ It’s a piano thing I’ve been playing for like ten, twelve years… every time I sit down at the piano I play this thing. I always thought it was some song that I heard somewhere, a big band radio station from the 40s. I hadn’t heard it in ten years so I figured maybe it’s mine and I finally recorded it.”

Jack White is touring in Europe this month, but returns to the states in August for Lollapalooza and a handful of festival appearances.

Listen to the entire interview with Jack White:

-Jay Tilles, CBS Local

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-Jay Tilles, CBS Local