Jack White has been on a roll over the past couple of years since the release of 2024’s rip-rocking No Name album. Extensive touring followed to bring the incendiary music to the people, with the new songs blending so well alongside older classics. Frozen Charlotte ups the ante with another scintillating collection of charged bluesy rockers, inspiring guitar freakouts, and another big tour. White has also stepped up over the past two years in the much-needed role of culture worker to spar in the press with neo-fascist President Donald Trump.
It became clear that Jack White was getting under the Donald’s skin last year when the corrupt Swine-in-Chief and White House comms flak Steven Cheung tried to dismiss White’s righteous critiques in defense of liberty by claiming that the guitarist was “a washed-up, has-been loser” with a “stalled career”. Such clueless nonsense contained as much truth as Trump’s denials of climate change. White responded by going right back to calling out Trump’s “blatant fascist manipulation of government”, providing a patriotic service with his public dissent in a foul era when such dissent from celebrity influencers is needed more than ever.
White threw down the gauntlet again earlier this month with an Instagram post on the 4th of July, explaining that “MAGA doesn’t own our flag and never will, and definitely not on this anniversary of a nation currently in peril that was founded on the indelible human right, duty, and endeavor to fight against tyranny and the current tyrant we suffer under today.”
Calling out Trump’s tyranny at a time when the corporate press is too scared and/or compromised to do so makes Jack White a heroic voice for the Rebel Alliance, coupled with his ongoing ability to back it up with kick-ass new music. Frozen Charlotte demonstrates once again that Jack White remains a high-level blues rock maestro and tone scientist still in the prime of his career.
White took the band right from the road into his Third Man Studio in Nashville to record the new album and keep the momentum going. He also served as producer again on Frozen Charlotte, maintaining the vintage sound he dialed in so well on No Name. There’s an additional modern rock edge that comes from the fresh vitality of a quartet that’s become one of hottest bands in the land. Drummer Patrick Keeler, bassist Dominic Davis, and keyboardist Bobby Emmett form a classic rock quartet behind White, who wields his guitar like a sonic lightsaber against the forces of darkness.
The first two tracks, “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” and “Derecho Demonico”, were released earlier in the year, lighting up indie rock radio with their massive grooves and Jack White’s wicked sonic attack on guitar. The album’s title comes from a line in “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs”, apparently referencing a 19th-century folk tale about a young lady who froze to death on an open sleigh ride to a New Year’s ball since she was overly eager to show off her dress. The subtextual warning against the deadly sin of pride and vanity certainly seems to fit the 2020s.
Both songs were featured in the band’s spring appearance on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, providing a welcome blast of electrifying blues rock power for the nation. “I got one rule, I don’t start nothing that I can not finish,” White sings on “Derecho Demonico”, throwing down a gauntlet to signify that he’s still in it to win it and won’t back down.
Part of Frozen Charlotte‘s edge comes from zeitgeisty lyrics in songs like Side A closer “Nobody Knows” and Side B opener “Dollar Bill”, the third single released in June. “Nobody Knows” features some Led Zeppelin-style chord changes recalling Jimmy Page’s mastery on Physical Graffiti, along with deep lyrics like “Are the homosapiens the future aliens? Nobody knows…”
Then there’s “Dollar Bill”, a screed against the pervasive greed that threatens American democracy and the planet’s climate. White keeps it simple when he sings, “You can’t control me / Unless you owe me / And you don’t own me / Unless I owe you.” There’s killer slide guitar to amplify the message, and there are very few who can dial in that vintage slide tone these days as exquisitely as Jack White does.
The record has a unifying sound blending heavy blues power with a fiery garage rock energy, yet there’s ample variation in how the songs are arranged. “There’s Nobody There” features sonic spacing where less is more, yet Keeler is killing it on drums, Emmett rips vibrant organ runs, and there’s a cool scatting section into a dynamic bridge and mad scientist riffage. “Raising the Grain” is another tune where the syncopated groove gets more room to breathe, building with a satisfying power that will get arena dance floors rocking.
There’s more killer riffage on “You’ll Never Fix Me”, as White keeps on doing what he does best, which is throwing down killer guitar-driven riff rock. Pulsing bass by Davis bubbles up too, and it’s fascinating to read that White and Davis have been jamming since they were grade school kids.
There’s an up-tempo high-energy romp on “Thick as Thieves”, followed by a master class of mid-tempo grooving on “All Alone Again”. White throws down some of the album’s most electrifying guitar here, slows down for an old school blues section, then cranks it back up as he sings of how “There ain’t no obstacles stronger than greed”, before concluding in existential fashion with “We are all alone together ain’t it true.”
White aims the oligarchs again on “Making Contact” as he name drops “JP Morgan and Rockefeller”, before snarling “Start a lie and make sure other people buy it, Come on and try it.” In a corrupt era where lying, cheating and stealing have become par for the course in America’s political system, it’s refreshing to hear a rock ‘n’ roll titan like Jack White calling out the powers that be. Because if not now, when? Closing song “Neighbors Blues” cracks five minutes to make it the album’s longest track, featuring a simmering tone as the band syncs behind White before he cuts loose with frenetic lead guitar that feels like it could slay some demons.
The other star of the album is Jack White’s tone science mastery as a modern rock guitar hero whose influences go deep into the blues well that birthed rock ‘n’ roll. The guitar solos are typically short, yet White makes every note count with his dynamic attack and sensational tones. Frozen Charlotte is further proof that rock can never die, as the sonic possibilities remain ever endless for those who study the craft as the cathartic religion for the soul that rock and blues have always been.