Jack White, known for his raw energy and unshakable presence on stage, isn’t someone you’d expect to be starstruck. After all, he’s the frontman of The White Stripes, a rock icon in his own right, and even Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner once defended his grit by asking, “You don’t think Jack White is hard?”—a rhetorical question in the rock world.
Standing over six feet tall and able to extract every ounce of sound from a guitar, White has a reputation for artistic intensity and musical dominance. With such credentials, it’s difficult to picture him being overwhelmed by anyone backstage. Yet, even a figure as formidable as White has his own musical heroes—those rare artists who radiate something beyond talent.
Among them, no one stands taller in his eyes than Bob Dylan. While White has long admired rock pioneers like Gene Vincent, who he credits with changing music history, and Iggy Pop, whose Funhouse he once called the essence of rock ‘n’ roll, it’s Dylan who he says carries a truly transcendent presence.
Speaking of the legendary songwriter, White admitted, “I can’t claim to be friends with Bob [Dylan], and maybe that’s an impossibility… He has the holy spirit around him. He’s sort of not from here.” White described Dylan as someone whose presence feels otherworldly, yet added that if people spoke with him solely about music, he might be more open. “He is an encyclopedia,” White explained. “He knows exactly what’s happening in music at any given time.”
Dylan’s encyclopedic knowledge was on display in the mid-2000s, when he surprised White by revealing that he and his band had been soundchecking with a White Stripes song. “He said to me, ‘We’ve been playing one of your songs lately at sound checks.’ I thought, ‘Wow.’ I was afraid to ask which one. I didn’t even ask. It was just such an honour to hear that,” White recalled.
That private moment of recognition turned public in 2004, during Dylan’s ‘Never Ending Tour’ stop in Detroit. In a move that stunned the audience, Dylan brought White onstage during the encore. Instead of returning to his acoustic roots, Dylan and White launched into a gritty performance of The White Stripes’ “Ball and Biscuit,” leaving fans with an unforgettable glimpse of musical synergy between two generations of rock legends.
Though White is known for his unflinching demeanor and powerful artistry, his reverence for Dylan speaks volumes. It’s a rare moment when one titan openly acknowledges another—especially when the aura around that figure is so intense that even rock royalty refers to it as the “holy spirit.”
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