For over 40 years, his voice has romanced us; his songwriting has transported us to the rich loam of Louisiana. His signature sound is unforgettable and there ain't nobody who even comes close. His first contract, to Monument Records, was signed in 1967. His music has lived in all the "and" categories: Rock and Roll, Country and Western, and Rhythm and Blues. Tony Joe White is an early Americana pioneer, but this past decade has been particularly fruitful with the releases One Hot July, The Beginning, and his duets album Heroines featuring Shelby Lynne, Emmylou Harris, Jessi Colter, and Lucinda Williams. Then that was followed by a live Austin City Limits performance, Live from Austin, TX, then Take Home The Swamp, and Uncovered, which featured JJ Cale, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler. Whew!
Tony Joe White has a new CD out called The Shine, and that is cause for celebration. It is a swampy, southern soul stew; raw, stripped-down and intimate, allowing his sultry delivery to take center stage. And he is on tour, oh yeah. If you haven't seen him perform, you owe it to yourself to get to one of his shows. I met up with Tony Joe for an interview just south of Nashville in the late 90's, when I was an editor at The Gavin Report, and doing the syndicated weekly radio show This Week In Americana. His manager took me out the back door at the end of our session, and showed me a plant. Tall, stalky and leafy. He said it was polk salad. And that wherever Tony Joe goes, they find it growing...we're talking Japan, Australia...and utterly magical. We are pulling one out of the Johnny Cash Show archives, a version of that song from the first of two appearances Tony Joe made on that iconic and ground breaking television series. "Polk Salad Annie" with Johnny from 1970.
- Jessie Scott
