Tag: Blues

Remembering the Swamp Fox

Tony Joe White burst onto the national music scene in 1969 with “Polk Salad Annie,” a top 10 hit inspired by Bobby Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe,” drawing on his real life experiences in rural Louisiana. Over the course of an uncompromising six decade career, Tony Joe kept it down home in both minimal bluesy recordings and gutsy live performances on guitar/harmonica and whomper stomper – his name for a Gibson distortion pedal.
His 1967 composition “Rainy Night in Georgia” was included on his second album Continued in 1969 only at his wife’s behest. Six weeks later, Atlantic Records super producer Jerry Wexler shipped White a new rendition by Brook Benton. As White put it in an interview with BC’s Ric Stewart in 2002, “It was like hearing the perfect voice sing those words back to me. I must have played it a 50  times in a row…” It shot to #1 in the R&B chart and #4 on the Pop chart in 1970 and Tony Joe was suddenly on top of the business.

Tony Joe White with author Ric Stewart, 2002

Tony Joe White went on to record 16 studio records in a career packed with one great song after another. On September 28, 2018, White released Bad Mouthin’ (his first all-blues album) on Yep Rock Records, just a one month before his demise at age 75 from a heart attack.  The Oak Grove, LA native’s songs were often picked for covers by musical luminaries such as Tina Turner, Joe Cocker and Elvis Presley. Presley cut three Tony Joe White tracks and the two bonded. White related that Elvis would sometimes find him during sessions at Stax asking for a few guitar pointers – ‘bluesy licks.’ “He’d probably forget them in 2 minutes, but I’d show ’em to him.” As the King was reinventing his sound in the early 1970’s, his stage shows featured “Polk Salad Annie” replete with Kung Fu stage moves.
White’s socially conscious “Willie and Laura Mae Jones,” from 1969 album Black And White, was covered by Dusty Springfield on her definitive work, Dusty In Memphis. His appearance duetting on Johnny Cash’s TV show in 1970 was loose, full of laughs and captured the Man in Black’s appreciation for the Swamp Fox. For a moment, everyone wanted to be Tony Joe!

The respect from on high was to continue albeit after decades of a low profile solo career. On his long-awaited final release Chuck Berry covered Tony Joe’s “3/4 Time (Enchiladas).” The rock and roll pioneer described Tony Joe White to Rolling Stone in 2017 as “vastly underrated,” especially such songs as “Polk Salad Annie,” “Rainy Night in Georgia,” and “The Train I’m On.”
With the top talent offering such effusive praise, imitation and admiration, it’s inevitable that more fans will connect with White’s brand of authenticity. Quite possibly the greatest songwriter that not everyone knows, Tony Joe White’s unfiltered take on swamp rock and funky country blues already stands the test of time.

Community Partnership

Thanks once again to the New Orleans Jazz Festival & Foundation, Inc for a community partnership grant that will help build the archives of oral histories. These archives are part of the budding exclusive content collection serviced by Save the Blues and the Blues Center, a future interactive museum in downtown New Orleans.
Catch glimpses of the Blues Center in the interview series with founder Ric Stewart at bluescenters.com.

John Oates – BCI #12

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Oates talks and plays the blues in this recap of his Arkansas album and his dedication to roots music. Find out how the riff for “Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” came together at Electric Lady Studios in NYC. John plays “Stack O’ Lee” (Mississippi John Hut) and “That’ll Never Happen No More” (Blind Blake) showing off the bumble bee pick. John gives a shout out to Arif Mardin for inspiring his producing style. Subscribe to catch the series.

 

Joe Krown – Blues Center Interview #10

Pianist/organist Joe Krown plays and talks about his wide range of blues, boogie woogie, jazz, ragtime and rock and roll with Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Chuck Berry and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown in BCI #10. Shot at Pinecohn this oral history gives a bit of the feel of playing in the band, when to improvise and when to adhere to structure. Also Joe Krown Trio w/ R&B legend Walter “Wolfman” Washington hammers on some blues and funky old soul to round out the program.

 

Peter Case – Blues Center Interview #9

Peter plays and talks thru his years with the Plimsouls and the Nerves in BCI #9 with Ric Stewart. We detail his solo debut on Geffen with T-Bone Burnett producing. He recounts Elvis Costello playing him “Pair of Brown Eyes,” inspiring a Byrds-like electric folk re-cut with Roger McGuinn, Van Dyne Parks, Jim Keltner and T-Bone backing him. “Old Blue Car” gets a revamp and a 1996 version of “Walk in the Woods” provides the backdrop for an awesome encounter with Bruce Springsteen.

Walter “Wolfman” Washington: Blues from New Orleans

Ahead of his India debut, the American bluesman looks back on his eventful career.

Walter “Wolfman” Washington is a musician of unparalleled versatility. The American blues vocalist-guitarist’s roots might be in the blues—he’s been performing it for over half a century—but in the past three decades, he has also whipped up some wholesome funk and R&B. It can be heard best on his 1997 record, Blue Moon Risin’.

It is but only natural for Washington to glide between different styles of music effortlessly—he grew up in New Orleans within a family that breathed music. “It was all around me. My whole family was involved in music, including two of my uncles, [the veteran guitarists] Guitar Slim [Eddie Jones] and Lightnin’ Slim [Otis Verries Hicks].”

Next month, Washington will perform for the first time in India, at the Mahindra Blues Festival. “We want to share some of our special brand of New Orleans music with the people,” says the 74-year-old, who started his career as a teenager, playing with pop and R&B singer Lee Dorsey’s group.

Read the full story at: http://rollingstoneindia.com/walter-wolfman-washington-blues-from-new-orleans/

 

Walter “Wolfman” Washington: Blues from New Orleans

Ahead of his India debut, the American bluesman looks back on his eventful career

Walter “Wolfman” Washington is a musician of unparalleled versatility. The American blues vocalist-guitarist’s roots might be in the blues—he’s been performing it for over half a century—but in the past three decades, he has also whipped up some wholesome funk and R&B. It can be heard best on his 1997 record, Blue Moon Risin’.
It is but only natural for Washington to glide between different styles of music effortlessly—he grew up in New Orleans within a family that breathed music. “It was all around me. My whole family was involved in music, including two of my uncles, [the veteran guitarists] Guitar Slim [Eddie Jones] and Lightnin’ Slim [Otis Verries Hicks].”

Next month, Washington will perform for the first time in India, at the Mahindra Blues Festival. “We want to share some of our special brand of New Orleans music with the people,” says the 74-year-old, who started his career as a teenager, playing with pop and R&B singer Lee Dorsey’s group.
Read the full story at: http://rollingstoneindia.com/walter-wolfman-washington-blues-from-new-orleans/