Ever since his White Stripes days, Jack White has been busy doing a lot of very different things, whether it’s making baseball bats, driving with Kermit The Frog, or sending vinyl records to outer space. One of his more recent endeavors is American Epic, a PBS documentary about the early American recording industry that’s already produced a clip of White performing with Nas. Ahead of the program’s premiere, another performance video has been released, and this one features White improvising a new blues song with Elton John.
The tune they come up with is called “Two Fingers Of Whiskey,” and like blues itself, the setup is simple, with John on piano, White on guitar, and both of them on vocal duty. While the melody was improvised, the lyrics, about the “devil living in [John],” come from Bernie Taupin, who has written the words to accompany John’s music since his first album in 1969.
The song was recorded and pressed to a vinyl record live using vintage equipment, which makes sense given White’s affinity for things neat and old. White’s Third Man Records offers a similar service at its Nashville location, allowing anybody to record up to two minutes of audio in a small booth and have it immediately immortalized on vinyl.
Watch John and White perform “Two Fingers Of Whiskey” above. American Epic premieres June 3 on PBS.
