After last year’s collaboration with Insane Clown Posse, nothing should ever surprise us about Jack White, but here we are again. The latest in the series of Jack White pairings nobody ever could have hoped to imagine is a cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Evil” by none other than Tom Jones. Of course, Jones is no stranger to unusual match-ups himself, having played with the likes of Portishead and The Cardigans back in 1999 for his cross-generational and genre album of duets and covers Reload.
The stylings of Jack White and Tom Jones may seem disparate at first, or at least on paper, but on “Evil” they are like old chums that only get together once in a while because the town couldn’t handle any more. White’s whiskey-soaked sound really brings out the soul to Jones’ croon, transporting the listener to that vision of a rowdy down in the Delta blues bar so often idealized but rarely actualized by garage rockers. The latest contribution to Third Man Records’ Blue Series is a romping stomper of a good time.
