I don’t really remember when I first heard Tony Joe White, but probably sometime during the 1970s as he appeared on Dutch television in 1977 with Soulful Eyes.
Definitely I heard Elvis singing his Polk Salad Annie and much later some version of Rainy Night in Georgia…
But what really set me off were his 2 Meter Sessions performances, lean and mean solo performances of Tunica Motel and (You're Gonna Look) Good In Blues.
Over the years I bought several ‘swamp fox’ albums and downloaded more, he certainly was a prolific recording artist.
Between 1969 and 2018 he released 30 albums, not to mention various live albums and multiple ‘best of’ collections.
In 2021 a posthumous Smoke from the Chimney (Easy Eye Sound) came out as well, thanks to the smart production of Dan Auerbach.
As his son Jody discovered boxes of reel-to-reel tapes filled with hundreds of demos that no one had ever heard, expect more to come I guess.
His career has had ups and downs, he recorded 3 albums in 1969-70 (produced by Billy Swan) and had a surprise hit with Polk Salad Annie.
During 1976 - 1983 more albums were released but without much success, combining his classic swamp rock sound with disco didn’t do the trick.
1989 was a turning point due to his contributions (4 songs, incl. Steamy Windows & Undercover Agent for the Blues!) to Tina Turner’s Foreign Affair album, both as a songwriter and guitar player.
After that his career started picking up, his 1991 album Closer to the Truth I still consider a must-have!
However what many people don’t realize is the huge number of songs he wrote and a significant number of those were covered by loads of more well-known artists (besides Elvis and Tina) such as Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield, Rory Gallagher, etc.
A thorough check on the Net revealed that surprisingly enough there never has been a Tony Joe White Songs Covered collection released officially, and to the best of my knowledge, nothing similar appeared on any music blog either…
Lo and behold, another candidate for the full JOKONKY treatment had appeared.
However, selecting a varied collection of covers wasn’t easy, Rainy Night in Georgia alone has been covered over a hundred of times!
Therefore I opted for a 2 Volume Song Book which at least tackles most of the classic covers, plus quite a few not that well-known ones…
In the end I settled for these artists covering 36 tracks:
Brook Benton, Clarence Carter, Elvis Presley, Link Wray, Rory Gallagher, Roy Head, Wilson Pickett, Joe Dassin & Tony Joe White, Johnny Adams, The Celibate Rifles, Tina Turner, John Mayall, Sleepy LaBeef, Buddy Guy, Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood, Elkie Brooks, Robert Cray, Johnny Ray Jones, Dusty Springfield, Carmen McRae, Christine Perfect, Ray Charles, Joe Dassin & Tony Joe White, The Cruel Sea, Luke Walter Jr, B.B. King, Greg "Fingers" Taylor, Jimmie Van Zant, Ten Cats Laughing, Ana & Milton Popovic, Chuck Berry, Willie Nelson with Tony Joe White, Leon Russell & Jamey Johnson, Colin James, & Tom Jones.
Link: https://mega.nz/file/GFd3TRLa#PLhqupaLjaobxunmn72PuXtKxrG9MI2wkb7ErxIpeW0
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Do you know any other artist that deserves/needs a 'song book' tribute?
Note that ACE records already covered many artists: https://acerecords.co.uk/various-artists-songwriter-series
Great stuff, thanks .DW
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it DW.
DeleteHad no idea...WoW! Bullzeye Mate!
ReplyDeleteThere you go!
DeleteThanks. How about Arthur Alexander?
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought 'Nah, he has been done before', but after some checking it turns out that the only album released was 1994's Adios Amigo: A Tribute To Arthur Alexander and those tracks were newly recorded... Therefore he'd be a perfect candidate to appear here, thanks lemonflag!
DeleteIs there a David Gates tribute album? Me and my older brother had a brotherly moment, some time ago. I was talked into a period of doing gym/fitness. Nice group of people, and even some nice fitness-coaches. All very jolly, But the music played there was awful. Hip-hop military 1-2-3-4 drill, Terrible terrible, black eyed peas with some miserlou rip off, awful, rag n bone man, ah the shite. Once they asked me, as one could see the music was driving me to early quiting, what I wanted to hear. Immediately I said "If by Bread", look it up. A few weeks later, my older brother was on a videocall with me and told a similar story. With the same song. He is my brother, and we are heavy.
ReplyDeleteNow I think of it is there a Paul Simon songbook? I know quite good bands outside the mainstream doing his songs, and making it seem like paul Simon isn't as terrible a songwriter than a (whatever)
Joni Mitchell?
The joys of modern background music, most of the time I can't relate to that either, or worse, it's played just too loud and makes any conversation a struggle...
DeleteBut it looks like you found 2 more candidates!
In case of Paul Simon, these is a concert tribute: https://www.discogs.com/release/12626756-Various-Hommage-%C3%80-Tribute-To-Paul-Simon?srsltid=AfmBOorQLdZp-dXosgdg-_MI4noTXXx_Lux6DkRpZTWvbyosGhNX5XSl
I just remembered this label: https://samplerinfos.de/serie/7619/Songbook_%28Connoisseur_Collection%29
They released Paul Simon Songbook in 1992!
David Gates.., nope, couldn't find anything either!
I always enjoy The Sound Of Silence with the radio off. And The Modern Lovers with the radio on. There must be a Jonathan Richman songbook, is there?
DeleteI found just one Jonathan Richman tribute album, from 1993 (which Richard should remember, because the Four One And Only's are on it). Jonathan has written many songs since then, and he deserves another tribute! I shared a Simon & Garfunkel songbook here not long ago...
DeleteOops, how could I forget that one Jonder...
Deletehttps://jonderblog.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-new-york-dolls-simon-garfunkel-and.html?m=1
Do we agree that I'll start working on a Jonathan Richman Song Book as well?!
DeleteYes, I should, and to my shame I didn't remember and it is a great songbook album. Thank you Jon
DeleteTony Joe White was said to know and understood things most of us do not, like some great mystic, forever in search of the “wrong-eyed Jesus,” a phrase I believe I first heard him use on stage when I was pretty young. No idea what he meant then or now, but it seemed authentic, and he said it in a way that made me think he KNEW THINGS. Truer than true, realer than real. He knew what it was all about, knew things which were true and not true, everywhere and nowhere.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that!
Deletewrong eyed jesus. and where I heard that, also look here https://archive.org/details/the-wrong-eyed-jesus
DeleteYup, I even have that album: https://www.discogs.com/master/308257-Jim-White-The-Mysterious-Tale-Of-How-I-Shouted-Wrong-eyed-Jesus
DeleteRecommended!
A weird series of connections: Tony Joe White shouting "wrong-eyed Jesus"; his eldest son being Jim White, just not the Jim White who made the movie / soundtrack; that Jim White is really Michael Davis Pratt but he makes music as Jim White. By the way, Jim's album No Such Place is top-shelf with some crazy collaborations (Morcheeba & Sade keyboardrew Hale).
DeleteThat should read "Sade keyboardist Andrew Hale". Sorry, dropped a few letters on the way to the mail.
DeleteCoincidence or ....?!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am cosigning the earlier request for a Jonathan Richman/Modern Lovers tribute, being a big Jonno fan.
ReplyDeleteNoted Anonymous...
Deletehttps://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2025/06/texas-international-pop-festival-dallas_77.html
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard.
Delete