Dan Auerbach on his non-existent relationship with Jack White

Jack White and Dan Auerbach have plenty in common.

White used to be the vocalist-guitarist in a band called the White Stripes. Auerbach is the vocalist-guitarist in a band called the Black Keys. Both bands are/were guitar-drum duos, working from a template of electric blues. And White and Auerbach each have moved from cities in the Midwest (Detroit for the former, Akron, Ohio, for the latter) to Nashville, Tenn.

Today, TMZ reported that White dragged Auerbach’s name into a series of emails related to White’s divorce from actress-singer Karen Elson. The TMZ headline sums it up — “Jack White slams Black Keys singer: He’s an a**hole rip-off.”

The messy news inspired me to revisit a 2012 Auerbach interview in which I tried to figure out the White/Auerbach dynamic:

Question: Are you and Jack White friendly?

Answer: No. I don’t know Jack.

Q: Never sought that out?

A: No. We have a lot of mutual friends. The person most responsible for me moving to Nashville is Patrick Keeler, the drummer from the Raconteurs (a band that includes White in its lineup). He’s one of my really good buddies. He showed me around town and I really fell in love with this city.

Q: You would appreciate why someone would ask if you were friends with Jack White?

A: I guess so. But not all musicians hang out. Not all writers hang out just because they’re writers.

At this point, I asked if Auerbach knows Carl Broemel — the Indianapolis native who plays guitar in My Morning Jacket and now lives in Nashville (and was enlisted by White to play on Wanda Jackson’s “The Party Ain’t Over” album issued on White’s label Third Man Records).

Auerbach said he’s acquaintances with Broemel, but added his closest friend in My Morning Jacket is Patrick Hallahan ... the drummer in Auerbach’s Fast Five side project.

Contact Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404 or @317lindquist on Twitter.