Over at the Metro Times, Michael Hurtt tells the story of how Jack White acquired his two pick-up, red-and-white Airline guitar:

There was something special about this garish fiberglass git-box, says the Memphis, Tennessee-based Jack Yarber — otherwise known as Jack Oblivian — who White eventually convinced to sell the guitar. Its gnarled tone was the essence of Yarber’s dual guitar and drums blues punk trio, the Oblivians, a band that influenced White as much as such similarly iconoclastic roots-shredding groups of the era as the Gories, ’68 Comeback and the Flat Duo Jets.

“I found a white three-pickup version with gold trim and a Bigsby whammy bar,” says Yarber, “so I sold Jack my old one for a couple hundred bucks. But the white one just wasn’t the same; it wouldn’t stay in tune.”

Jack Oblivian: MySpace

MP3s: (courtesy of Crypt)

• Oblivians – “Christina” from Popular Favorites

• Oblivians – “I Don’t Wanna Live Alone” from Play 9 Songs With Mr. Quintron

• Oblivians – “No Reason To Live” from Soul Food

Via MCR.