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Brian Muldoon and Jack White (right) of The Upholsterers on the cover of the Makers of High Grade Suites 7".

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Brian Muldoon and Jack White (right) of The Upholsterers on the cover of the Makers of High Grade Suites 7".

We've been chatting with Jack White about been putting out a series of spoken-word 45s on his Third Man Records label — namely, those two focusing on accents and auctioneering. But back in his Detroit days, he re-upholstered furniture, and even hid copies of his records inside.

In this conversation, White talks about his love of craft and his rarest records.

Jack White: I wanted to be able to talk to people with trade jobs and make records with them. I want to do more records with carpenters, electricians, people who specialize in even more bizarre traits that are off the beaten path.

Bob Boilen: Tell me if this is a true story, now, because I've carried this around in my head and it makes me smile — and this may explain your attraction to craftspeople, as well: You were a craftsperson. You did furniture, you did upholstery. Your furniture place was — what? Was it Third Man...?

White: Third Man Upholstery.

Boilen: Its slogan was?

White: "Your furniture's not dead."

Boilen: And Third Man Records' slogan is?

White: "Your turntable's not dead." I don't know what I'll do if I open up a funeral home.

Boilen: "Your brother's not dead."

White: "Your mom's dead, man."

Boilen: Well, don't do that, then.

White: Okay.

Jack White is an astonishing guitar player, songwriter, producer and craftsman. Last week, I spoke to White about his passion for the work of another craftsman: auctioneer Jerry King.

Today on The Flipside, we talk with White about his love-hate relationship with accents and a new 45 by Amy Walker.

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Amy Walker, an expert on accents, is featured on a new 45 on Third Man Records.

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Amy Walker, an expert on accents, is featured on a new 45 on Third Man Records.

Jack White: Say hello, Amy.

[We sample a bit from Amy Walker's Discourse on Accents]

Bob Boilen: Did you ever have records like that?

White: Yeah. That was her idea. She was like, "I love those books." When we were recording — that's what it reminds me of — the narrator of children's books. So we had to find that sound effect [and] put it in there. But what happens next on the record, I said, "Can we just hand you the newspaper today. and can you read an article — off the top of your head, do each sentence in a different accent?"

Boilen: Let's hear a little of that and when we come back, tell us who Amy Walker is.

[We sample another bit from Amy Walker's Discourse on Accents.]

Boilen: That's the perfect accent for that line.

White: Yeah!

Boilen: Who's Amy Walker?

White: Amy Walker — I found her on YouTube. She has made this viral video called "21 Accents." She's an actress; she was doing an acting exercise about accents where you would just over and over again say the exact same phrase and say it into a mirror or into a camera and say the phrase each time in a different accent. And I think she thought it'd be just some little thing actors would be interested in, but it went viral [and has] 5 million hits now. People loved it and it got passed around. I saw it and [thought], "Ah this is great. [I] wonder if she'd be willing to talk about that on a record, and we can explore the idea of accents and the prejudices associated with them — good or bad, and see if we can get somewhere with it."

Boilen: Did you ever have an accent? Or do you think you have an accent?

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The news about Jack White recently has been all about the break-up of The White Stripes, but White's life hasn't been about that band for a long time.

These days, White lives in Nashville and spends much of his time on Third Man Records, his record store and label. He's also getting a shop together to do upholstery work again, something he did long ago in Detroit when he had a company called Third Man Upholstery.

Today, we begin a series of conversations with Jack White, called The Flipside. You can hear the interview using the link above or read a transcription here. The Flipside is all about a side of an artist you don't know much about. For example, did you know that White loved the sound of auctioneers?

[We sample a bit of Jerry King from his 45 "The Auctioneer"]

Bob Boilen: Tell us about Jerry King.

Jack White: Jerry King. He's incredible. He's one of the best auctioneers in the world. His son had bumped into the engineer at my studio, and one thing led to another. He just mentioned him while we were recording something else and I said, "Oh, that would be incredible. I would love to talk to him and maybe do an interview and see if we could show people how auctioneers do what they do, because it's such a bizarre language, such a bizarre way to communicate. Human beings — some people are standing there, silent in the crowd with someone in front of them talking a thousand miles an hour. It's just something we could talk a lot about, and Jerry was really into it. He came out from Carolina to Nashville. And we started talking — in the first 10 minutes I had to say, "Stop man, hold on, let's turn the microphone on. Let's get in the other room and turn the microphone on."