After country singer Morgan Wallen was dropped as Saturday Night Live‘s musical guest for breaking safety protocols, the show had to find a new performer at the last minute. Jack White was the person who stepped up to the plate.
White has some ties to country music himself, having produced and performed on Loretta Lynn’s Grammy-winning album Van Lear Rose.
Even though he produced an album for a country music queen, White is primarily known as a rock artist. So during his set, he made sure to honor another rock and roll musician the world lost earlier that week…Eddie Van Halen.
Van Halen passed away on October 6, just four days before White’s appearance on SNL. Rather than play one of Van Halen’s songs, White chose to pay tribute to him in a different way.
In a post on Instagram, White explained he would be playing his blue Eddie Van Halen model guitar for one of his songs on SNL. He said Van Halen actually designed the guitar for him and made sure it was exactly as he liked it:
“i thought it could be a nice gesture for me to use this blue eddie van halen model guitar for one of the songs tonight on SNL,” White said. “the guitar was designed by eddie (with a few customizations i had added). eddie was very kind to me and saw to it that this guitar was made for me to my specs.”
Read White’s full post about the guitar below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGLP0XmJuop/
White went on to say, “i wont even insult the man’s talent by trying to play one of his songs tonight. thanks again eddie for this guitar and rest in peace sir.”
Instead, White used the guitar to play one of his own songs, 2014’s “Lazaretto.” You can watch his performance below.
What a fitting way for White to honor a man and musician who clearly meant a lot to him.