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April 13, 2008 - Jack White is the colorfully clad frontman of the fiery hard-rock duo The White Stripes. Brendan Benson is a songwriter with three full-length solo albums to his credit.

Together, the old friends lead a quartet that both insist isn't just a side project. The Raconteurs recently awakened the rock world with the surprise release of a second album, called Consolers of the Lonely. It represents a new identity for both musicians.

"Well, it gets tough," White says. "I thought it would be a little easier to switch gears like that, and it wasn't as easy as I thought it was. It was totally changing my entire attitude towards how to perform. But it's really worth it, because it's pushing me to learn more about what I do."

White and Benson sat down with Lynn Neary to explain their musical ideas.

"The name of the band is The Raconteurs," White says. "And that means a really good storyteller. And I have always been somebody who's — in regular life, just socially — I'm not good at telling stories. So it's always been a struggle to try to figure out a way to do that, and I guess on stage is the only place I feel I can actually get away with it."