Written by: Ian Saint
Photos and cover image by Andrew Sherman
This fall, millions of people formed memories of “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes playing in stadiums; whether for baseball’s World Series, American football games, or soccer matches. My autumn memory of “Seven Nation Army” is having a blonde moment when Jack White unexpectedly called on me in Nashville — in what felt like I was living in a comedy movie starring John C. Reilly — then watching Jack spend several minutes thoughtfully answering my question about his most famous composition.
My impromptu Q&A with Jack White — who’s only done a few interviews in the last couple years — is Buddy Magazine’s cover story for November, 2025. It’s the month The White Stripes are being inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the hallowed museum in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.
Let’s first rewind to when our cover story’s photo by Andrew Sherman was taken. On November 13, 2024, Jack White played a pop-up show at Trees, the legendary club in Dallas’s Deep Ellum entertainment district, as part of his tour playing last-minute shows at small clubs in support of his No Name album that White quietly dropped on July 19 (my birthday) in his Third Man Records stores and Third Man Vault vinyl subscription service.
Trees’ posted capacity is 550 people. Sherman hailed it as “the concert of the year” in his review for the Dallas Observer, which is a bold proclamation for the “Dallas Famous” Deep Ellum Radio host who photographs hundreds of shows per year.
The Deep Ellum gig was remarkable enough to earn one of five spots on White’s subsequent No Name Live EP, which ends with “Rough On Rats (If You’re Asking) — Live at Trees.” Below is a YouTube widget of the track.
I was lucky to be at Trees, too, and was blown away by the experience. White and his bandmates blazed through 27 songs from across his discography — his solo albums, The Raconteurs (drummer Patrick Keeler was playing with him), The Dead Weather, eight White Stripes songs — plus a few covers to boot, and the audience was enthusiastic throughout. Of course, the response was deafening when White ripped into the “Seven Nation Army” riff.
Fast forward to Americanafest 2025 in September. Americanafest is the Americana Music Association’s annual five day business conference in Nashville. Dozens of educational forums are held during the day, artists perform musical showcases at venues throughout Music City in the evening, and the Americana Honors & Awards Show is staged at the Ryman Auditorium for broadcast on NPR. (A telecast of program highlights airs on PBS in December.)
This year, Americanafest announced a keynote discussion between Jack White and John C. Reilly, the legendary actor in blockbuster films ranging from Chicago to Gangs of New York to Step Brothers. White portrayed Elvis in the 2007 biopic parody Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story starring Reilly as the titular character; and Reilly stars as a raucous preacher in the new music video for White’s “Archbishop Harold Holmes.” Today, the multi-hyphenate Reilly is touring as Mister Romantic, a vaudevillian crooner of love songs from the Great American Songbook.
White and Reilly’s hourlong keynote session was open to Americanafest’s silver wristband holders. After about 40 minutes of their captivating conversation, Reilly and White unexpectedly welcomed questions from the audience.
With hundreds of people in attendance, I did not expect to get called on when I impulsively raised my hand. Then Jack White called on me, but I figured he’d called on somebody else. I literally turned around in my seat, to find rows of people staring at me in befuddlement; then I turned back around and Jack said “Yeah, you, dude!” Oh, okay, then. (And yes, all of this is on video.)
Reilly then called me out by name, having recognized me from our Red Carpet interview at the previous night’s Americana Honors. (Our interview for NPR and PBS affiliate WOUB Public Media will drop around the award show’s PBS telecast in December.)
A transcript of our Q&A follows.
John C. Reilly: Hey, it’s Ian! What’s up? How are you?
Ian Saint: Hi, John! I enjoyed speaking with you last night, and I love what you’re doing with the Great American Songbook. I’m certain Jack has songs that will join it. Jack, I live in Deep Ellum, where you have your Warstic business.
Jack White: (smile) Oh, yeah, yeah!
Ian Saint: I enjoyed your show at Trees, a small club in Deep Ellum. And I was very struck by how you’ve got this wide catalogue, but you still did “Seven Nation Army” even though you don’t have to. (laugh) But it was so wonderful to see the reaction to that. Can you expound on why you still choose to do a song like that, even though it’s such a small venue and demand was high to see you do anything you’d like to play?
Jack White: Hmm. Well, you have a choice in how you want to turn people on. Bob Dylan could come out at the Ryman, and I’m sure that he could stop the music and have everybody in the crowd sing “Blowin’ in the Wind” along with him — Pete Seeger style. If he wanted to do that, absolutely, everybody would join in. He does *not* want to do that. (audience laughs) He’s doing the exact opposite of that to turn you on, and to get you to think. (Author’s note: Dylan hasn’t performed “Blowin’ in the Wind” since 2019; and, to Jack’s point, Dylan hasn’t played “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” since 2003.) It’s hard for a lot of people to get involved in that; on the other side of that, it’s a harder route to take — but there’s a lot of beauty there.
The easier route to take is to figure out ways to sort of… (pause) some would call “pandering,” you know, but what are you doing on stage? You’re trying to share with other people. And if a song is connecting with people in any way, if you’ve got their attention, it’s a miracle. (repeats) It’s a miracle! I mean, the artists that we love, we say “Oh, I love this album; I love this song” — we remember all the best parts. There are also hundreds of attempts that they’ve made, that did not connect with people. [We] just cleverly forget about them. It’s not important; the important part is, you should always expand on the things where you can connect with people.
If you have so many songs that you can do — like, say, Bob does — it’s real interesting, because now you can go even deeper with peoples’ consciousness; you might just be upsetting people that aren’t getting to hear their favorite jam when they come to a show. But “Seven Nation Army,” like you said, it’s become its own beast — its own folk music, in a way, worldwide. (audience applauds) Well, I wasn’t looking for that. (laugh) But to the point of answering his question…
What’s interesting to me about it is, when people sing [Queen’s] “We Will Rock You” at a stadium, they’re chanting the words “we will rock you” in English. But they’re chanting the melody of “Seven Nation Army.” There’s no (chorus) — they’re chanting a melody! When do you hear people chanting a melody? That’s very strange to me. So there’s something magical, that I have nothing to do with. That is interesting, when we play a song like that, to see what they’re going to do with it. Thanks for that question, too.
John C. Reilly: You know, Jack… First of all, I have to say, it was a huge honor that you did this [keynote discussion], Jack. The White Stripes are going to be inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year. (audience applauds) It must’ve been a unanimous vote. [Author’s note: the Rock Hall does not disclose vote tallies.] But they interviewed me about it in preparation for that night. They asked, “What is it that’s special about the White Stripes?”
I was like, “Well, how many other musicians in the history of music can you sing three notes, and you know what song it is?” (Sings first measure of “Seven Nation Army” riff.) I mean, that’s like “DUH-DUH-DUH dummm!” (Sings first two measures of Beethoven’s fifth symphony.) I mean, you, Beethoven, like… John Williams? (Sings first two notes of Jaws theme.) You’ve done good, Jack, that’s what I’m saying.
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Below is my partial clip of the aforementioned “Seven Nation Army” performance at Trees in Deep Ellum. A longer video can be played on my TikTok.
Here is the music video for Jack White’s “Archbishop Harold Holmes,” starring John C. Reilly, from No Name.
Might Jack also have a future in the Country Music Hall of Fame? After all, he produced Loretta Lynn’s 2004 Van Lear Rose album, which resulted in Lynn’s highest Billboard Top 200 Albums chart ranking to date at age 72; and won two Grammys, including Best Country Album and Best Country Vocal Collaboration for Lynn’s “Portland, Oregon” duet with Jack.
“Seven Nation Army” was covered by Country Music Hall of Fame inductees, The Oak Ridge Boys, as the lead single of their 2009 The Boys Are Back album produced by Dave Cobb. Their performance on SiriusXM is below. (Catch my recent Buddy Magazine interview with William Lee Golden, ahead of their January 21 show at The Kessler in Dallas. You can also catch my interviews with the late tenor singer Joe Bonsall and bass singer Richard Sterban for NPR and PBS’ Ohio affiliate WOUB Public Media.)
The White Stripes recently posted a video of “Seven Nation Army” being performed on the streets of Tehran, the capital city of Iran, on their Instagram.
At the Rock Hall induction, “Seven Nation Army” will be performed by Twenty One Pilots, the genre-bending millennial duo from Ohio.
Mum’s the word on whether The White Stripes will reunite in song, or even in appearance, at their Rock Hall induction. Meg White has not made a public appearance since The White Stripes’ performance of “We’re Going to be Friends” on “The Conan O’Brien Show” on February 20, 2009. Below is their performance of “Seven Nation Army” on that same program on April 22, 2003. (Notice Meg mouthing along to the second verse.)
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will stream live on Disney+ beginning at 7 PM Central Time on Saturday, November 8. It will be available for playback afterwards. A primetime special of program highlights will air on ABC at 7 PM Central Time on New Year’s Day, available for streaming on Hulu the next day.
