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Tony Joe White

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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.

Biography

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.



Discography



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