Tony Joe White
Tony Joe White (born
July 23,
1943 in
Goodwill,
Oak Grove,
Louisiana) is 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. "Polk Salad Annie" was also recorded by
Elvis Presley.
Nicknamed "the Swamp Fox", he is regarded as an original exponent of the sub-genre
Swamp rock. His songs have been recorded by at least 25 major artists.
In 1969, Tony Joe White from
Louisiana had a
U.S. Top 10 hit with his classic
swamp rock song "Polk Salad Annie," followed in 1970, by Brook Benton's soulful rendition of White's timeless "
Rainy Night In Georgia."
In late September 1973, White was recruited by producer Huey P. Meaux to sit in on the legendary
Memphis sessions that became the landmark
Southern Roots album of
Jerry Lee Lewis.
By all accounts, 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, they also featured rockabilly icon
Carl Perkins,
Mark Lindsay (of
Paul Revere and the Raiders), and
Wayne Jackson and
The Memphis Horns.
Throughout the
1970s and
1980s White toured in support of artists including
Creedence Clearwater Revival and
James Taylor. In the
1990s Tina Turner recorded four of his songs for her multi-platinum selling album
Foreign Affairs, including the world-wide hit "Steamy Windows". With the advent of that project, White formed an alliance with Turner's manager,
Roger Davies and his career began to soar.
In
Europe White gained legendary status. In 1991 he signed with Remark, issued the
Closer To The Truth album and spent the next two years touring Europe in support of
Eric Clapton and
Joe Cocker, among others. He cut two more albums for Remark, 1993's
Path Of A Decent Groove and 1995's
Lake Placid Blues, the latter garnering the first of two nominations for "Best R & B Album" from the
Nashville Music Awards, (the second being,
The Best Of Tony Joe White, a 1996 retrospective of his work on
Warner Brothers).
French audiences eagerly embraced White as the ‘Swamp Fox' and in 1998, he became the subject of a French produced documentary:
Tony Joe White-The Man From Down South.
In 1999, White went back to his roots and recorded
One Hot July, in the swamps of Louisiana. He then toured
Australia and Europe once again in support of the critically acclaimed album. In 2001, Audium and
Koch Entertainment released
The Beginning - a stripped-down
acoustic album that received worldwide recognition and five star ratings in virtually every country.
Throughout the years, White has had songs recorded by dozens of major artists including Elvis,
Ray Charles,
Joe Cocker,
Etta James,
Hank Williams Jr.,
Tim McGraw,
John Mayall and
Waylon Jennings. More recently, he has worked with Marc Bryan of
Hootie & The Blowfish and
Michael McDonald. He has written and performed
jingles for
McDonalds and
Levis 501 Blues and been featured on movie soundtracks for
Millennium,
Selena and
Hotspot. His music has also been featured in two
HBO original films.
His most recent CD release is
Heros and Heroines, on his own label, Swamp Records. White says he created the company with his son Jody White, so that he could continue to produce music his way.
Rory Gallagher did a cover of his song "As The Crow Flies" on his live album
Irish Tour.
One of his latest performances was on July 14, 2006 in Magny-Cours, France, as a warm-up act for
Roger Waters'
Dark Side Of The Moon concert.
*2006 - Live from Austin, Tx.
*2005 - Hard To Handle
*2004 - Night of the Mocassin
*2004 - The Heroines
*2002 - Snakey
*2001 - The Beginning
*1998 - One Hot July
*1995 -
Lake Placid Blues*1993 - The Path of A Decent Groove
*1991 - Closer To the Truth
*1983 - Dangerous
*1980 - The Real Thang
*1976 - Eyes
*1973 - Home Made Ice Cream
*1972 - Live in Europe
*1972 - The Train I'm On
*1971 - Tony Joe White
*1971 - Tony Joe
*1969 - Black And White
*1969 - ... Continued
*1968 - Polk Salad Annie
*1968 - Roosevelt And Ira Lee
* http://www.tonyjoewhite.com/
* http://www.leocort.nl/index_t.html
* http://home.arcor.de/martin.doppelbauer/main.htm
