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Artist: Tony Joe White
Title: Swamp Music: The Complete Monument Recordings
Label: Rhino
Release Date: 2007
Format: MP3 @ 320 K
Although Tony Joe's sound is unmistakable, it's hard to put into words exactly what that sound is. Hailing from the town of Oak Grove in northeast Louisiana, he's from the part of the state that culturally and geographically has much more in common with the Mississippi Delta than with New Orleans. It's bayou country, a part of rural America that helped inspire the greatest works of John Fogerty, even though he had never spent any time living there. Consequently, White's oeuvre can be appreciated as a more authentic representation of the kind of roots-based music that helped make Creedence Clearwater Revival so successful. The big difference, of course, is the fact that Tony Joe had actually experienced the things about which he sang.
This digitally remastered four CD set contains all three of White's Monument Records albums in their entirety plus a slew of unreleased tracks, including ten 1969 Paris sessions and seven live performances from the Isle Of Wight. 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." 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.
Recording information: Barclay Studio, Paris, France; Isle Of Wight; Lyn-Lou Recording Studio, Memphis, TN; Monument Recording Studio, Nashville, TN; RCA Studios, Nashville, TN.
Track List:
Disc 1
01. Willie and Laura Mae Jones
02. Soul Francisco
03. Aspen Colorado
04. Whompt out on You
05. Don't Steal My Love
06. Polk Salad Annie
07. Who's Making Love
08. Scratch My Back
09. Little Green Apples
10. Wichita Lineman
11. The Look of Love
12. Willie and Laura Mae Jones
13. I Protest
14. A Man Can Only Stand Just So Much Pain
15. Toil & Trouble
16. Georgia Pines
17. It's Not What You Got
18. Prison Song
19. Hung Up on You
20. Ten More Miles to Louisiana
21. Let the Party Roll On
22. Watching the Trains Go By
23. Georgia Pines
24. Baby Please Don't Go
Disc 2
01. Elements and Things
02. Roosevelt and Ira Lee (Night of the Mossacin)
03. Woodpecker
04. Rainy Night in Georgia
05. For le Ann
06. Old Man Willis
07. Woman with Soul
08. I Want You
09. I Thought I Knew You Well
10. The Migrant
11. Watching the Trains Go By
12. Old Man Willis
13. Funky Fingers
14. Soul Britches
15. Dusty Marshmallow
16. Toil & Trouble
17. What Does It Take
18. This Guy's in Love with You
19. Woodpecker
20. Laying out All Night
21. I Want Your Sweet Love
22. Keep a Movin' Train
Disc 3
01. Stud Spider
02. High Sheriff of Calhoun Parrish
03. Widow Wimberly
04. Conjure Woman
05. Save Your Sugar for Me
06. Hard to Handle
07. What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)
08. My Friend
09. Stockholm Blues
10. Boom Boom
11. Groupy Girl
12. Prisoner
13. Do You Want My Love
14. Gospel Singer
15. I Hate to See You Cry
16. Dusty Marshmallow
17. I Can't Stand It
18. Mississippi River
Disc 4
01. Mississippi Delta
02. Chain of Fools
03. Woodpecker
04. The Ballad of Hollis Brown
05. Blue Monday
06. Tobacco Road/Dead End Street
07. Caress Me Babe!
08. Dusty Marshmallow
09. Just Look at You
10. Skinny Legs & All
11. Boom Boom
12. Roosevelt and Ira Lee (Night of the Mossacin)
13. I Want You
14. Groupy Girl
15. Stud Spider
16. Polk Salad Annie
17. Save Your Sugar for Me
Personnel:
Tony Joe White - guitar, harmonica, box, sound effects
Chip Young - guitar
Mike Utley - organ
James Milhart, Sammy Creason, Jerry Carrigan, Jim Isbell - drums |
