Tony Joe White | |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | Swamp Fox |
| Born | July 23, 1943 Louisiana, U.S. |
| Origin | Oak Grove, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | October 24, 2018 (aged 75) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres | Swamp rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, vocals, harmonica |
| Years active | 1967–2018 |
| Labels | Monument, Warner Bros., Polydor, Yep Roc, Easy Eye Sound |
| Website | tonyjoewhite |
Tony Joe White (July 23, 1943 – October 24, 2018), nicknamed the Swamp Fox,[1] was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie" and for "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but which was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970. He also wrote "Steamy Windows" and "Undercover Agent for the Blues", both hits for Tina Turner in 1989; those two songs came by way of Turner's producer at the time, Mark Knopfler, who was a friend of White. "Polk Salad Annie" was also recorded by Joe Dassin, Elvis Presley, Joe Bonamassa and Tom Jones.
Tony Joe White was the youngest of seven children who grew up on a cotton farm near Oak Grove, West Carroll Parish, Louisiana, United States.[2] His song "Old Man Willis" takes place in West Carroll Parish. He first began performing music at school dances, and after graduating from high school he performed in night clubs in Texas and Louisiana.[3]
In 1967, White signed with Monument Records, which operated from a recording studio in the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, Tennessee, and produced a variety of sounds, including rock and roll, country and western, and rhythm and blues. Billy Swan was his producer on his first three albums.[2]
Over the next three years, White released four singles with no commercial success in the U.S., although "Soul Francisco" was a hit in France. "Polk Salad Annie" had been released for nine months and written off as a failure by his record label when it finally entered the U.S. charts in July 1969.[2] It climbed to the Top Ten by early August and eventually reached No. 8, becoming White's biggest hit.
White's first album, 1969's Black and White,[4] was recorded with Muscle Shoals/Nashville musicians David Briggs, Norbert Putnam, and Jerry Carrigan, and featured "Willie and Laura Mae Jones" and "Polk Salad Annie", along with Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman". "Willie and Laura Mae Jones" was covered by Dusty Springfield[2] and released as a single, later added to reissues of her 1969 album Dusty in Memphis.
Three more singles quickly followed, all minor hits, and White toured with Steppenwolf, Anne Murray, Sly & the Family Stone, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Carpenters and other major rock acts of the 1970s, playing in France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and England.
In 1973, White appeared in the film Catch My Soul, a rock-opera adaption of Shakespeare's Othello. White played and sang four songs and composed seven for the musical.
In late September 1973, White was recruited by record producer Huey Meaux to sit in on the Memphis sessions that became Jerry Lee Lewis's Southern Roots: Back Home to Memphis album.[5] These sessions were a three-day, around-the-clock party, which not only reunited the original MGs (Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn and Al Jackson, Jr. of Booker T. and the MGs fame) for the first time in three years, but also featured Carl Perkins, Mark Lindsay (of Paul Revere & the Raiders), and Wayne Jackson plus The Memphis Horns.
From 1976 to 1983, White released three more albums, all on different labels. Trying to combine his own swamp-rock sound with the popular disco music at the time, the results were not successful and White gave up his career as a singer and concentrated on writing songs. During this time frame, he collaborated with American expat Joe Dassin on his only English-language album, Home Made Ice Cream, and its French-language counterpart, Blue Country.
In 1989, White produced one non-single track on Tina Turner's Foreign Affair album, the rest of the album being produced by Dan Hartman. Playing a variety of instruments on the album, he also wrote four songs,[4] including the title song and the hit single "Steamy Windows".[2] As a result of this he became managed by Roger Davies, who was Turner's manager at the time, and he obtained a new contract with Polydor.
The resulting album, 1991's Closer to the Truth, was a commercial success[citation needed] and put White back in the spotlight. He released two more albums for Polydor: The Path of a Decent Groove and Lake Placid Blues, which was co-produced by Roger Davies.
In the 1990s, White toured Germany and France with Joe Cocker and Eric Clapton, and in 1992 he played the Montreux Festival. During the late 1990s, White also toured with Waylon Jennings.
In 1996, Tina Turner released the song "On Silent Wings" written by White.
In 2000, Hip-O Records released One Hot July in the U.S., giving White his first new major-label domestic release in 17 years. The critically acclaimed The Beginning appeared on Swamp Records in 2001, followed by Heroines, featuring several duets with female vocalists including Jessi Colter, Shelby Lynne, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and Michelle White, on Sanctuary in 2004, and a live Austin City Limits concert, Live from Austin, TX, on New West Records in 2006. In 2004, White was the featured guest artist in an episode of the Legends Rock TV Show and Concert Series, produced by Megabien Entertainment.
In 2007, White released another live recording, Take Home the Swamp, as well as the compilation Introduction to Tony Joe White. Elkie Brooks recorded one of White's songs, "Out of The Rain", on her 2005 Electric Lady album. On July 14, 2006, in Magny-Cours, France, White performed as a warm-up act for Roger Waters' The Dark Side of the Moon concert. White's album, entitled Uncovered, was released in September 2006 and featured collaborations with Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald, Eric Clapton, and J.J. Cale.
The song "Elements and Things" from the 1969 album ...Continued features prominently during the horse-racing scenes in the 2012 HBO television series "Luck".
In 2013, White signed to Yep Roc Records and released Hoodoo.[6] Mother Jones called the album "Steamy, Irresistible"[7] and No Depression noted Tony Joe White is "the real king of the swamp".[8] He also made his Live...with Jools Holland debut in London, playing songs from Hoodoo.[9]
On October 15, 2014, White appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman alongside the Foo Fighters to perform "Polk Salad Annie". Pointing to White, Letterman told his TV audience, "Holy cow! ... If I was this guy, you could all kiss my ass. And I mean that."[10]
In May 2016, Tony Joe White released Rain Crow on Yep Roc Records.[11] The lead track "Hoochie Woman" was co-written with his wife, Leann.[11] The track "Conjure Child" is a follow-up to an earlier song, "Conjure Woman".[11]
The album Bad Mouthin' was released in September 2018 again on Yep Roc Records. The album contains six self-penned songs and five blues standards written by, amongst others, Charley Patton and John Lee Hooker. On the album White also performs a cover of the Elvis Presley song "Heartbreak Hotel". White plays acoustic and electric guitar on the album which was produced by his son Jody White and it has a signature Tony Joe White laidback sound.[12]
The posthumous album Smoke from the Chimney was released May 7, 2021, on Easy Eye Sound. The album features nine vocal and guitar demo recordings of White, fully realized and arranged by producer Dan Auerbach. The tracks feature many top Nashville session players, including drummer Gene Chrisman, keyboardist Bobby Wood, bassist Dave Roe, guitarist Marcus King, and others.[13]
White died of a heart attack on October 24, 2018, at the age of 75.[14][1] "He wasn't ill at all. He just had a heart attack...there was no pain or suffering", said his son, Jody White. He died at his home in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee.[15]
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Main article: Tony Joe White discography |
