Tony Joe White was the youngest of seven children who grew up on a cotton farm near Oak Grove, Louisiana. He first began performing music at school dances, and after graduating from high school he performed in night clubs in Texas and Louisiana.
In 1967, White signed with Monument Records, which operated from a recording studio in the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, Tennessee, and produced a variety of sounds, including rock and roll, country and western, and rhythm and blues. Billy Swan was his producer.
Over the next three years, White released four singles with no commercial success in the U.S., although "Soul Francisco" was a hit in France. "Polk Salad Annie" had been released for nine months and written off as a failure by his record label, when it finally entered the U.S. charts in July 1969. It climbed to the Top Ten by early August, and eventually reached No. 8, becoming White's biggest hit.
White's first album, 1969's Black and White, was recorded with Muscle Shoals/Nashville musicians David Briggs, Norbert Putnam, and Jerry Carrigan, and featured "Willie and Laura Mae Jones" and "Polk Salad Annie", along with a cover of Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman". "Willie and Laura Mae Jones" was covered by Dusty Springfield on her album Dusty in Memphis also recorded in 1969.
Three more singles quickly followed, all minor hits, and White toured with Steppenwolf, Anne Murray, Sly & the Family Stone, Creedence Clearwater Revival and other major rock acts of the 1970s, playing in France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and England.
In 1973, White appeared in the film Catch My Soul, a rock-opera adaption of Shakespeare's Othello. White played and sang four and composed seven songs for the musical.
In late September 1973, White was recruited by record producer Huey Meaux to sit in on the legendary Memphis sessions that became Jerry Lee Lewis's landmark Southern Roots album.[citation needed] By all accounts,[citation needed] 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, but also featured Carl Perkins, Mark Lindsay (of Paul Revere & the Raiders), and Wayne Jackson plus The Memphis Horns.
1980s
From 1976 to 1983, White released three more albums, each on a different label. Trying to combine his own swamp-rock sound with the popular disco music at the time, the results were not met with success and White gave up his career as a singer and concentrated on writing songs.
1990s comeback
In 1989, White produced one non-single track on Tina Turner's Foreign Affair album, the rest of the album was produced by Dan Hartman. Playing a variety of instruments on the album, he also wrote four songs,[2] including the title song and the hit single "Steamy Windows". As a result of this he became managed by Roger Davies, who was Turner's manager at the time, and he obtained a new contract with Polydor.
The resulting album, 1991's Closer to the Truth, was a commercial success[citation needed] and put White back in the spotlight. He released two more albums for Polydor; The Path of a Decent Groove and Lake Placid Blues which was co-produced by Roger Davies.
In the 1990s, White toured Germany and France with Joe Cocker and Eric Clapton, and in 1992 he played the Montreux Festival.
In 1996, Tina Turner released the song "On Silent Wings" written by White.
2000s
In 2000, Hip-O Records released One Hot July in the U.S., giving White his first new major-label domestic release in 17 years. The critically acclaimed The Beginning appeared on Swamp Records in 2001, followed by Heroines, featuring several duets with female vocalists including Jessi Colter, Shelby Lynne, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and Michelle White, on Sanctuary in 2004, and a live Austin City Limits concert, Live from Austin, TX, on New West Records in 2006. In 2004, White was the featured guest artist in an episode of the Legends Rock TV Show and Concert Series, produced by Megabien Entertainment.
In 2007, White released another live recording, Take Home the Swamp, as well as the compilation Introduction to Tony Joe White. Elkie Brooks recorded one of White's songs, "Out of The Rain", on her 2005 Electric Lady album. On July 14, 2006, in Magny-Cours, France, White performed as a warm-up act for Roger Waters' The Dark Side of the Moon concert. White's album, entitled Uncovered, was released in September 2006 and featured collaborations with Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald, Eric Clapton, and J.J. Cale.
The song "Elements and Things" from the 1969 album ...Continued features prominently during the horse-racing scenes in the 2012 HBO television series "Luck".
In 2013, White signed to Yep Roc Records and released Hoodoo. Mother Jones called the album "Steamy, Irresistible" and No Depression noted Tony Joe White is "the real king of the swamp." He also made his Live...with Jools Holland debut in London, playing songs from Hoodoo.
On October 15, 2014, White appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman alongside the Foo Fighters to perform "Polk Salad Annie". Pointing to White, Letterman told his TV audience, "Holy cow! ... If I was this guy, you could all kiss my ass. And I mean that."
In May 2016, Tony Joe White released Rain Crow on Yep Roc Records.[8] The lead track "Hoochie Woman" was cowritten with his wife, Leann. The track "Conjure Child" is a follow up to an earlier song, "Conjure Woman."
The album Bad Mouthin' was released in September 2018 again on Yep Roc Records. The album contains six self-penned songs and five blues standards written by, amongst others, Charley Patton and John Lee Hooker. On the album White also performs a cover of the Elvis Presley song Heartbreak Hotel. White plays acoustic and electric guitar on the album which was produced by his son Jody White and has a signature Tony Joe White laid back sound.
In 1969, deep voiced southern songsmith Tony Joe White had a U.S. Top 10 hit with his classic swamp rock tune "Polk Salad Annie". His bluesy songs have been covered by dozens of artists ranging from Elvis Presley and Tim McGraw, to Dusty Springfield and Tina Turner. His latest release in a forty plus year career is 2013's "The Gift".
Born in 1943, White was the youngest of seven children in a part-Cherokee family raised on a cotton farm, and first showed an interest in music at the age of 16 when he heard an album by Lightning Hopkins. He later began performing at school dances and night clubs, first as Tony and the Mojos and then as Tony and the Twilights.
After moving to Memphis in the late 1960's, White was signed to Monument records and his first single release was a Ray Stevens song "Georgia Pines".
White's 1969 debut album, Black And White, featured originals such as "Willie And Laura Mae Jones" and "Polk Salad Annie," and psychedelic ode to the west coast "Soul Francisco" which became a hit in France. The album also featured a cover of Jimmy Webb's "Wichita Lineman". His follow up record for Monument was "...Continued" followed by Tony Joe in 1970, his last for Monument.
By 1970 he released The Train I'm On marking the fifth album in Tony Joe White's career, and his second recorded for Warner Bros. it was produced by Jerry Wexler and recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama. Johnny Cash had White as a guest on his tv show twice, and in Europe White gained legendary status following a successful debut at the historic Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. White's 2nd record on Warner Bros. in 1971 was a self titled disc recorded in Memphis with The Memphis Horns.
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 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, John Mayall, and Waylon Jennings. Brook Benton had a huge hit with Rainy Night In Georgia, and Rory Gallagher did a cover of White's song "As The Crow Flies" on his live album Irish Tour. More recently, White has worked with Marc Bryan of Hootie & The Blowfish and Michael McDonald. He has written and performed jingles for McDonalds and Levi's 501 Blues and been featured on movie soundtracks for Millennium, Selena and Hotspot. His music has also been featured in two HBO original films, and has a DVD out entitled Live from Austin, TX. in 2006 Rhino records compiled all of White's late 60's Monument albums into a deluxe ltd edition 40 CD boxset called "Tony Joe White - Swamp Music: The Complete Monument Recordings"
Another recent CD release is Heroes 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. His "Uncovered" came out in 2006 and features collaborations with Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald, Eric Clapton, Waylon Jennings & Shelby Lynne.
White has played recent high profile slots including the 2008 New Orleans Jazz Fest and on In July 14, 2006 in Magny-Cours, France, as a warm-up act for Roger Waters' Dark Side Of The Moon concert.
www.tonyjoewhite.com
The Other Side
Tony Joe White Lyrics
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Got to be on guard
Bad news across the land
Rumors of war
And all along the border lines
You can feel the strain
And looking back through the years
They shook the redman's hand
And forever changed his destiny
Put him on some Godforsaken land
And took away his dignity
Now he floats in dreams where eagles fly
Sinking in the stream of wasted lives
They're just standing by
Until they reach the other side
Homeless people shuffle alone in the dark
With everything they own in a grocery cart
And still the lines are drawn between colours of skin
Just a broken wing that never mends
They took their heavy load
With discrimination on the run
Marching down the dusty roads
Singing we shall overcome
Standing up for all they believe was right
They knew that God was on their side
Will we ever see the light
Before we reach the other side
Far across the sea
Young people gather on the square
Trying to set their spirits free
There was revolution in the air
Singing songs of freedom through the night
Who could know they would have to lay down their lives
And never know the reason why
Until they reach the other side
" The Other Side" by Tony Joe White is a powerful song that delves into the struggles of different groups of people throughout history. The song describes the present times as dangerous and we need to be on guard as there are rumors of war and bad news across the land. Along the border lines, there is a feeling of strain, and this pressure can be felt by the people in the area. Despite the passage of time, nothing has changed, as the borders remain lines of division and conflict.
The song then talks about the struggles of different groups of people, starting with Native Americans. The lyrics describe how the red man's destiny was forever changed when colonizers put him on a Godforsaken land, taking away his dignity. Today, Native Americans still struggle and merely drift in dreams where eagles fly while sinking in the stream of wasted lives. Homeless people also suffer in the dark, carrying all their possessions in a grocery cart. Despite everything, there are still lines drawn between colors of skin, avoiding broken wings and causing more damage in the process.
The song then goes on to describe the struggles of those who rose up for their rights, the battle against discrimination and for equal rights. They marched down the dusty roads, singing "We Shall Overcome," knowing that God was on their side. However, White leaves the final question of whether society will ever see the light and not continue fighting until we reach the other side.
Line by Line Meaning
They say these are dangerous times
The present times are dangerous and people need to be careful.
Got to be on guard
People have to be cautious and alert.
Bad news across the land
There is a lot of negative news everywhere.
Rumors of war
There are speculations and gossips going on about warfare.
And all along the border lines
At the borders, there is a sense of tension and unease.
You can feel the strain
The stress and pressure can be sensed.
And looking back through the years
Reflecting on the past.
Ain't nothing changed
Nothing seems to have improved.
They shook the redman's hand
When the natives were still around, they made agreements with them.
And forever changed his destiny
Those agreements had a lasting impact on the native people's future.
Put him on some Godforsaken land
They displaced natives to areas that were deemed unfit and undesirable.
And took away his dignity
The way natives were treated was degrading and disrespectful.
Now he floats in dreams where eagles fly
Natives now have imaginary freedom where they can soar and fly like eagles.
Sinking in the stream of wasted lives
The natives are submerged in a lifestyle that is spiraling downwards.
They're just standing by
People are watching and not taking any action.
Until they reach the other side
Until changes take place or until they come out of the dark and enter a better future.
Homeless people shuffle alone in the dark
Homeless individuals are isolated in the darkness.
With everything they own in a grocery cart
They own only the essentials and their belongings are carried in a shopping cart.
And still the lines are drawn between colours of skin
People are divided by complexion.
Just a broken wing that never mends
A never healing fracture.
They took their heavy load
Individuals encountered discrimination regularly.
With discrimination on the run
Discrimination tried to hide or escape, but still existed.
Marching down the dusty roads
Individuals marched despite the harshness, oppression and inequality that surrounded them.
Singing we shall overcome
The song is symbolic of hope for a future without prejudice and discrimination.
Standing up for all they believe was right
They fought for what they believed was just and proper.
They knew that God was on their side
They believed that approving forces were supporting their cause.
Will we ever see the light
Will something better ever happen?
Before we reach the other side
Before change comes.
Far across the sea
In a far-off land.
Young people gather on the square
Youth congregates in large numbers in public spaces.
Trying to set their spirits free
Attempting to liberate themselves from the repressive conditions that they exist under.
There was revolution in the air
The societal climate was disruptively charged.
Singing songs of freedom through the night
They sang songs devoted to liberty, during the darkness of the night, possibly to avoid capture by authority figures.
Who could know they would have to lay down their lives
No one could have predicted that they had to pay the supreme price in the course of the fight for freedom.
And never know the reason why
The question of why they died went unanswered.
Until they reach the other side
Until the goals for which they died were realized.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Harry Casey, Nicholas Hallam, Robert Birch
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind