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"Welcome to&amp;#xA0;Young Guns,&amp;#xA0;our series exploring the most notable guitarists from the next generation of six-string legends. For more interviews with the guitarists inspiring us right now,&amp;#xA0;click here.\r\nWHO: Guitarist James Petralli has been helping the Texas quartet White Denim churn out ear-shattering psychedelic blues rock for nearly a decade &amp;#x2013; and in 2010, new guitarist Austin Jenkins came on board. On albums like last year&amp;apos;s Corsicana Lemonade, the band has nailed a heady fusion of jazz, punk, stoner rock, experimental noise and Seventies-style arena pomp (check out their Jimmy Page-biting steez in &amp;quot;At Night in Dreams&amp;quot;). Jenkins credits their chops to lots of fiddling around during free time: &amp;quot;I practice be-bop or western swing,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;Jazz is one of the most rhythmic vocabularies out there &amp;#x2013; there&amp;apos;s a lot to be mined.&amp;quot; Back in 2005, White Denim were gigging in Austin clubs and recording in drummer Joshua Block&amp;apos;s converted 1950s-era Airstream trailer, but their national profile is finally rising &amp;#x2013; in March, they had a hometown heroes&amp;apos; welcome with a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live during his South by Southwest residency.\r\nSee the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time\r\nTOUCHING ALL THE BASES: Frontman Petralli comes from a remarkable lineage of baseball players. His brother plays in the minor leagues; his grandfather Gene Petralli had stints with the Yankees and White Sox in the Forties and Fifties; and his father, Geno Petralli, was a catcher for the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays in the Eighties. While Petralli&amp;apos;s dad didn&amp;apos;t understand his son&amp;apos;s musical ambitions at first, he&amp;apos;s come around. &amp;quot;He&amp;apos;s seen me play a couple of times,&amp;quot; the junior Petralli says. &amp;quot;Baseball is so big for him, like music is for me. So we try to make comparisons to our crafts when we talk.&amp;quot; (Cool fact: Block&amp;apos;s grandfather was also a pro baseball player, for the Washington Senators.)\r\nAWKWARD INTRODUCTION: Though Jenkins was &amp;quot;totally a fan&amp;quot; before joining, his entry into White Denim was preceded by an embarrassing encounter. &amp;quot;I got totally trashed at a show and said to them, &amp;apos;You guys are the only band playing music anymore! You&amp;apos;re not afraid!,&amp;apos;&amp;quot; he now recalls with a laugh. &amp;quot;I felt ridiculous but I meant it.&amp;quot; When first asked to join, he was reluctant. &amp;quot;I thought about saying no, not because I didn&amp;apos;t want to do it, but because the trio was such a ferocious thing. Since I&amp;apos;ve joined, James has some room to stretch out in a different kind of way.&amp;quot;\r\nTWEEDY&amp;apos;S TUTELAGE: During the sessions for their most recent album, White Denim sought Jeff Tweedy to produce. The group holed up at Wilco&amp;apos;s Loft studio in Chicago and had a blast messing around with the impressive collection of vintage gear there. &amp;quot;He encouraged this group dynamic that made for a lighthearted atmosphere,&amp;quot; says Petralli. Perhaps too lighthearted: &amp;quot;We were super unprepared.&amp;quot; The band only ended up keeping two tracks for the final album, but Petralli hopes the rest will eventually get released. &amp;quot;We had this 20-minute kraut-rock thing,&amp;quot; he notes. &amp;quot;We&amp;apos;ll definitely put that stuff out one day.&amp;quot;\r\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/white-denims-james-petralli-and-austin-jenkins-psych-it-to-you-20140527>