Greenhornes Avoid Jealousy Over Jack White

Posted on Oct 25th 2010 1:00PM by Kenneth Partridge
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Jo McCaughey

n the eight years since the Greenhornes last released an album, bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler have become Jack White's go-to sidemen. They joined the White Stripes mastermind in backing Loretta Lynn on 2004's 'Van Lear Rose' and cut two full-lengths with the Raconteurs, the first of two super groups White formed in the latter half of the last decade. Lawrence is also a member of the second, the Dead Weather, a voodoo-blues outfit that spent the summer touring behind its second album.

Now that the Greenhornes are back together and readying the release of '****,' their long-awaited fourth album, singer and guitarist Craig Fox finds himself fronting one of those rare rock groups whose rhythm section is more famous than its frontman. While one could imagine this being the source of some tension, Lawrence insists Fox harbors no ill feelings.

"Maybe some other young kid might feel that jealousy, but Craig, he doesn't," Lawrence tells Spinner. "He wouldn't even want that. There's nothing like that with him. Maybe if we were younger. I think at this point, we're older -- all that stuff is left behind. At least he hasn't said anything to me about it. He's fine with everything. You're happy for each other. I think I'd be happy for any one of my friends that do well, or gets the opportunity to play music."

'Four Stars' certainly doesn't sound like the work of a fractured band. Picking up where 2002's 'Dual Mono' left off, the album finds the Greenhornes immersed in their usual '60s influences, reenacting the British Invasion with nods to the Yardbirds and Animals, as well as the many American bands they inspired.

"There's something about playing with someone for 14 years," Lawrence says. "We've been together since we were kids. I was 19 when we started the band. It's almost like we're brothers at this point. It goes even beyond being musicians in a band together."

If Lawrence enjoyed the added exposure that came with playing in the Dead Weather -- which also featured Kills frontwoman Alison Mosshart and Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Dean Fertita -- he's glad to be back with the old gang.

"I missed them," Lawrence says. "I played with Patrick here and there, besides the Raconteurs ... and I hadn't played with Craig in a while, and I missed playing with him. He's a great songwriter and a great guy to be around."