White Stripes’ Jack White cuts solo albu...

White Stripes’ Jack White cuts solo albu...

Jack White uses keyboards as much as guitar on his new CD “Blunderbuss.”

Many words could be used to describe Jack White. But clumsy wouldnt be one of them. So why did the ex-leader of the White Stripes decide to title his first solo CD after something that refers to either a blundering oaf or a gun from the 17th century that fires scattershot?

A clue may lie in the albums 12th song, On and On and On, which refers to his indecisiveness and confusion. The stars in the sky never worry/they move in their own way, White sings. But I have to choose what to do/what to think, what to say/on and on.

Critics would say he has chosen brilliantly. Since sidelining the Stripes, White has formed two other, acclaimed bands (the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather), produced notable works for scores of artists, from Loretta Lynn to (no lie) Insane Clown Posse, and collaborated with stars from Alicia Keys to Danger Mouse. The guy would seem to have it all. Of course, too much freedom can become its own trap. Regardless, the first CD released under Whites own name makes clear that his privilege hasnt sated his hunger and neurosis, two qualities that help makedisc a thrill.

Its yet another departure for the ravenously curious White and a return, too. Several cuts have the garage-rock roar of the White Stripes. But White has switched up his instrumentation and drawn from other genres. Theres as much piano on the dis c as guitar, either from Brooke Waggoner or White himself, often tricked up to sound rickety. Theres also a lot of stand-up bass, adding jazz and warmth.

In the single, Missing Pieces, the pillowy cool of the Fender Rhodes piano defines the song. In Trash Tongue Talker, the keyboard has the chunky funk of an Elton John song, circa Honky Chateau. In Love Interruption, a piano finds an unexpectedly ideal ally in a clarinet, a wallflower instrument White manages to make cool.

Theres periodic influence from country, reflecting Whites home base: Nashville. Mandolins flicker in some tracks, as does a fiddle. One foray into jazz, Take Me With You When You Go, pivots on the play of a Dave Brubeck-like piano riff. Still, White always contrasts, and augments, those influences with a classic rockers punch.

He does so most strikingly in Sixteen Saltines, whose thick guitar line sounds so much like mid-60s Who, Pete Townshend may want to call up to ask for his rif f back. The albums only cover song, Im Shakin, brings things straight back to the blues-rock mania of prime Stripes, as do many of Whites vocals. He continues to wail and rage with the be-bop-a-lula mania of vintage rockabilly. Ultimately, thats the connection to excitement that keeps the aim of this scattershot star straight.