Blanche is an American

alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...

band from

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. Their music is based in

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

, early

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

, and

folk blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in ...

, with a touch of haunting

Southern Gothic Southern Gothic is an artistic subgenre of fiction, country music, film and television that are heavily influenced by Gothic elements and the American South. Common themes of Southern Gothic include storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing or ...

stylings and

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

mentality. Blanche is known for wearing

vintage fashion Vintage (design), Vintage clothing is a generic term for Clothing, garments originating from a previous era, as recent as the 1990s. The term can also be applied in reference to second hand retail outlets, e.g. i''n vintage clothing store''. W ...

of the early to mid-20th century. The origins of Blanche can be traced back to the early '90s band Goober & the Peas. Led by Dan "Goober" Miller, the band was devoted to

cowpunk Cowpunk (or country punk) is a subgenre of punk rock that began in the United Kingdom and Southern California in the late 1970s - early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New wave music, new wave with country music, country, folk music, folk, and b ...

, and dressed in honky-tonk attire. After the break-up of Goober & The Peas, three of the band's members—Dan Miller,

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...

, and Damian Lang—formed the garage rock band Two-Star Tabernacle with Miller's wife Tracee Mae Miller. The band split in 1999, after releasing one 7-inch vinyl with

Andre Williams Andre Williams may refer to: * Andre Williams (musician) * Andre Williams (American football) * Andre Williams, British DJ better known as Shy FX {{hndis, Williams, Andre ...

. White went on to form

The White Stripes The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums with ...

, Lang joined

The Detroit Cobras The Detroit Cobras were an American garage rock band from Detroit, Michigan, which was formed around 1994 by vocalist Rachel Nagy and guitarist Mary Ramirez, with a constantly changing assortment of (mostly male) sidemen. Nagy died on January 14 ...

, and Dan and Tracee Mae formed Blanche. Since 2003, Blanche has performed at several international music festivals, including

Lowlands Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

Pukkelpop Pukkelpop is an annual music festival that takes place near the city of Hasselt, Belgium, in mid- to late August. It is held within a large enclosure of fields and woodland—adjacent to a dual carriageway called ''Kempische Steenweg''—in the ...

and the

CMJ Music Marathon CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

. The band opened for and toured with

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as " You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My M ...

, Ditty Bops,

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (keyb ...

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently dur ...

Calexico Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Diego ...

The Kills The Kills are an English-American rock duo formed by American singer Alison "VV" Mosshart and English guitarist Jamie "Hotel" Hince. They are signed to Domino Records. Their first four albums, '' Keep On Your Mean Side'', ''No Wow'', ''Midni ...

, and

Brendan Benson Brendan Benson (born November 14, 1970) is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, and drums. He has released eight solo albums and is a member of the band The Raconteurs. Recording career ''One Missi ...

, among others. Blanche has also appeared on several radio stations for live performances and interviews in the United States and Europe, including

WFUV WFUV (90.7 FM) is a non–commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned by Fordham University, with studios on its Bronx campus and its antenna atop nearby Montefiore Medical Center. WFUV first went on the air ...

in New York and XFM in London.

Members

Dan John Miller Dan John Miller is an American singer-songwriter and actor from Detroit, Michigan. He is currently the guitarist and lead vocalist for the gothic country-garage band Blanche (band), Blanche. He made his major film acting debut in the film ''Wa ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

* Tracee Mae Miller - bass, vocals * Lisa 'Jaybird' Jannon -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, vocals * "Little Jack" Lawrence -

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, vocals, keyboards * David Feeny -

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

, keyboards, clarinet, melodica, vocals, percussion ;Former Members * Brian "Patch" Boyle - banjo, autoharp

Discography

Albums

* ''If We Can't Trust the Doctors'' (2004),

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to IASin 2013. In the Benelux, V2 operates separately from PIAS, as the label bought itself out from ...

/Cass Records/

Loose Loose may refer to: Places *Loose, Germany *Loose, Kent, a parish and village in southeast England People * Loose (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Loose'' (B'z album), a 1995 album by B'z * ''Loose'' (Crazy Horse album), ...

* ''Little Amber Bottles'' (2007), Loose

EPs

* ''Demo EP'' (2003), self-released * ''America's Newest Hitmakers'' (2004), Loose * ''What This Town Needs'' (2006), V2 Records/Loose

Singles

* "Who's to Say/Superstition" 7" (2004), Cass Records

Other appearances

* "Never Again" (demo, ''Comes with a Smile'' No. 14, spring 2004)

Other Projects

In addition to Blanche, the band members have been involved in various other music and arts: * In the 2005 biopic of

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

, ''

Walk the Line ''Walk the Line'' is a 2005 American biographical musical romantic drama film directed by James Mangold. The screenplay, written by Mangold and Gill Dennis, is based on two autobiographies authored by singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, 1975's '' M ...

'', Dan Miller played the major supporting role of

Luther Perkins Luther Monroe Perkins (January 8, 1928 – August 5, 1968) was an American country music guitarist and a member of the Tennessee Three, the backup band for singer Johnny Cash. Perkins was an iconic figure in what would become known as rockabilly ...

, Cash's guitarist. Perkins' wife, Margie, was portrayed by Tracee Mae. Miller also appeared on the film's

T-Bone Burnett Joseph Henry "T Bone" Burnett III (born January 14, 1948) is an American record producer, guitarist and songwriter. He rose to fame as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band during the 1970s. He has received multiple Grammy awards for his work in fil ...

-produced soundtrack. * Tracee Mae Miller is a
established painter
and also makes many of her own dresses. For a short time, she ran a popular

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

store, where she sold revamped vintage clothing. * Feeny was in the '80s garage band The Hysteric Narcotics as well as the

Orange Roughies {{Infobox television , image = Orange Roughies tv title.jpg , genre = ActionCrime Thriller , creator = Rod Johns & Scott McJorrow , starring = Nicholas Coghlan Zoe NaylorMark RukaCaroline Craig Stephen Hall Nick Kemplen , country = New Zealan ...

, and is currently also in the ban
American Mars
Feeny was fortunate enough to play pedal steel guitar and engineer on the grammy award winning Loretta Lynn record 'Van Lear Rose'. He also run
Tempermill Studios
* Little Jack Lawrence has been the long-time bassist for

The Greenhornes The Greenhornes were an American garage rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in 1996 by vocalist/guitarist Craig Fox, bass guitarist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler. They released their debut album '' Gun For You'' in 1999, follo ...

, and has been known to play with both bands on the same night. He is also a member of

's bands

The Raconteurs The Raconteurs (, also known as The Saboteurs in Australia) is an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 2005. The band consists of Jack White (vocals, guitar), Brendan Benson (vocals, guitar), Jack Lawrence (bass guitar), and ...

and

The Dead Weather The Dead Weather is an American rock supergroup, formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2009. Composed of Alison Mosshart (of The Kills and Discount), Jack White (of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs), Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age) an ...

. Lawrence's stand-ins for live performances with Blanche have included former member Patch Boyle, Detroit musicians

Dean Fertita Dean Anthony Fertita (born September 6, 1970) is an American rock multi-instrumentalist.Brian McColluMetro Detroit musician Dean Fertita moves to the front lines with the Dead Weatherfreep.com Retrieved: 2009-07-25 He is best known as a member of ...

and Steve Nawara, and Goober & the Peas member Tom Hendrickson Jr. * Lawrence, Miller, and Feeny briefly played in the Do-Whaters (along with the Greenhornes' drummer

Patrick Keeler James Patrick Keeler is an American rock music drummer from Cincinnati, who is best known for playing in The Greenhornes, The Raconteurs, and The Afghan Whigs. He plays with both traditional and matched grips. Recording career Keeler has play ...

), the backing band for

's 2004 album, ''

Van Lear Rose ''Van Lear Rose'' is the forty-second solo studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn. It was released on April 27, 2004, by Interscope Records. The album was produced by Jack White. The album was widely praised by criti ...

''. The album was produced by Jack White, who also led the band. * Patch Boyle has drifted out of the music business, and is the co-founder of the Detroit web magazin
Model D

References

External links

Official website

MySpace page

Facebook page

July 2005 Interview
with

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanche American alternative country groups Musical groups from Detroit Musical groups established in 2002 2002 establishments in Michigan