ABC/Nicole WilderThe Recording Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing honored Jack White during its annual Grammy Week event, held Wednesday night in Los Angeles. You can watch his acceptance speech now via Yahoo.
After opening with a joke about how Donald Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway had written a speech for him, White discussed his own method as a producer.
"I agree with something that Michael Jackson said once: You're an antenna, and it's all about letting God in the room," White said. "And I also believe, personally, that you let the music tell you what to do. You don't tell music what to do, it's not an ego trip. You're not in control. You sit there and you set up the scenario, and the music tells you what your actions should be -- especially when you’re helping other people."
"Producers are not just supposed to tell people what to do, they're supposed to bring out the best in them," he adds. "If you can't bring out anything in them, if there's nothing you can add to it, then you shouldn't take the job."
White also thanked guitar legend Les Paul and The Stooges producer Don Galluci for inspiring him, as well as classic singer Bing Crosby, who, as White explained, "took money out of his own wallet and contributed to the production of making analog tape machines, to progress this entire industry forward."
"That's about building bridges and carrying on for the next generation," White concluded. "I think we should build bridges instead of walls, especially right now!"
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