TONY JOE WHITE

Swamp Music: The Complete Monument

$79.98 CD

An individually numbered, limited edition of 5000 copies from Rhino Handmade.

Tony Joe White was raised on a cotton farm in Goodwill, Louisiana. Swamp country. His parents played country and gospel at church, but the blues were Tony Joe's calling. Years later, White's "Rainy Night In Georgia" would be immortalized as a hit by Brook Benton. But let's not forget the magical material he recorded under his own name...

"One day my brother brought home an album by Lightnin' Hopkins, and that was it for me," says White in the liner notes to this release. "That's when I started grabbing dad's guitar and shutting myself in the bathroom or bedroom, just playing for hours on end until it started to sound like something… I started singing when Elvis came along, a year or two after this blues thing got to us."

After playing around Goodwill, White headed for Memphis, changing his mind en route and settling in Nashville. He soon caught the ear of Bob Beckham, who ran Monument Records, home to Dolly Parton, Ray Stevens, and Roy Orbison. Monument signed White and assigned him Ray Stevens' "Georgia Pines" as his first single. Live, White was performing with a drummer and making use of a newly discovered wah-wah pedal.

Recorded with such Muscle Shoals musicians as David Briggs, Norbert Putnam, and Jerry Carrigan, White's first album, 1969's Black And White, featured such originals as "Willie And Laura Mae Jones" and "Polk Salad Annie," along with such covers as Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman." The album's boldly arranged blues didn't make much of a splash, except in France, where "Soul Francisco" became a huge hit. "Polk Salad Annie" took off domestically as the album's third single.

Released later that year, White's second album, ...Continued, featured the same Muscle Shoals players, along with Mike Utley, Tommy McClure, and Sammy Creason. Tony Joe came out in 1970, revealing an absence of the horns that had been so dominant on the previous records, and anchored by White's acoustic guitar. Following an electrifying performance at the legendary Isle Of Wight festival, White moved to Warner Bros. Records, ending this first chapter. He has continued to write and record.

This remastered four-CD Rhino Handmade boxed set contains all three of White's Monument albums in their entirety. Also included are a slew of unreleased tracks, including ten 1969 Paris sessions and seven live performances from the Isle Of Wight.

Swamp Music: The Complete Monument Recordings is available as an individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies.

Selection # 7731