swamp fox. IN MEMORY OF TONY JOE WHITE
By Michael Buffalo Smith Tony Joe White was an American treasure.
When he died on October 24, 2018 at the age of 75, America lost one of its true creative geniuses. In 1969, Tony Joe came bursting out of the
swamplands of Louisiana with his classic, “Polk Salad Annie,” a Top 10 Hit, followed in 1970, by Brook Benton’s soulful rendition of White’s time- less classic, “Rainy Night In Georgia.” Through- out the ‘70s and ‘80s Tony Joe White toured with some of the biggest artists of the decade including Creedence Clearwater Revival and James Taylor. The 1990s began with a bang, as Tina Turner recorded four of his songs for her multi-platinum selling Foreign Affairs album. While there was a certain “mystique” surrounding White in the United States, it was in Europe where he gained legendary status. During the 90’s he spent two years touring Europe with Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker, among others. French audiences eagerly embraced White as the ‘Swamp Fox’ and in 1998, he became the subject of a French produced doc- umentary: Tony Joe White-The Man From Down South. Throughout the years, White has had songs recorded by dozens of major artists includ- ing Elvis, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Etta James, Hank, Jr., Tim McGraw, John Mayall and Waylon Jennings, (who recorded numerous White covers- including the ’99 release, “Closing In On The Fire”). He has written and performed jingles for McDonalds and Levi’s 501 Blues and been fea- tured on movie soundtracks for Millennium, Se- lena and Hotspot. Back in 2003, I had the pleasure of speaking with White about his friends, his music and his new album at the time, The Heroines.
I have been wanting to speak with you for quite sometime, but with the new Hero- ines album, the time is just right. The album is great. Oh, my son Jody got in there and surprised
everyone with his ears and ideas and did a great job.
It’s a smooth thing. I want to go back and ask just a few questions about your past, nothing incriminating, (Laughs).... Let’s stay out of the swamps (Laughs)....
Just for the people that might not know, please tell us where you were born and raised. It’s a place called Goodwill, Louisiana on the
northeast end near Arkansas, Mississippi, in that Delta corner. We had a cotton farm.
When did you first become interested in music? Well my folks, mom and dad, five sisters and
one brother - they all played guitar and piano. I was the youngest and he was the oldest and the girls were in between us. Someone was playing something every day when we got through with work and picking cotton. Someone was always playing music, Daddy on guitar. I heard it all my life but didn’t really get into it. Then one day when I was about 16 my brother brought an album home by Lightnin’ Hopkins. I heard that old blues man with his one guitar and that micro- phone close to his foot and anyway we all got into it. We were heavily into the blues growing up in our teens in that area.
Do you remember the first song that you 17
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