Her first full-length album was written, for the most part, in secret without letting her then-husband Jack White hear what she was doing. "At home I would hide—I would play my songs really in isolation. I would lock the bathroom door and hide. Eventually he was like, 'Why are you hiding this from me?'". Elson released her debut solo album "The Ghost Who Walks" in May 2010, via White's label, Third Man Records. It received generally favourable reviews. "Spin" magazine gave it 7/10 and compared her voice to both Jenny Lewis and Loretta Lynn. Elson and her band performed on the "Late Show with David Letterman" in September 2010.