login | Register

Deep Cuts

by: Tony Joe White

Album Artwork

Tony Joe White
Deep Cuts
Swamp Records

Tony Joe White, quite simply, is one of the most underappreciated musical forces of the last 50 years.  This doesn't mean that people haven't recognized his work.  Countless musicians name him as either an influence, a collaborator, or a friend.  It is only that White remains an artist whose scope and influence is wider than his name recognition amongst casual music listeners.

Born in Oak Grove, LA in 1943, White was introduced to the music of Lightnin' Hopkins at an early age.  The effect of the blues of Hopkins' music was immediate and lasting on White:

One day my brother brought home an album by Lightnin' Hopkins, and that was it for me. That's when I started grabbing dad's guitar and shutting myself in the bathroom or bedroom, just playing for hours on end until it started to sound like something else. I started singing when Elvis came along, a year or two after this blues thing got to us.
                                                                                         - Tony Joe White

He left Louisiana to play clubs in Texas before heading to Nashville.  White signed up with Monument Records awaiting fame and fortune.  He had it all - a unique sound, rugged good looks, songwriting - everything a star's supposed to be.

Despite making six amazing records, produced by legends like Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Billy Swan, White's recording career never caught hold in his native country.  From the beginning, Europe worshipped him (and they still do), but in America he is known more for his songs (Rainy Night In Georgia, Polk Salad Annie) that were made famous by others.

TJW might be the quintessential Swampland artist.  His songs have been cut by pop (Elvis), soul (Brook Benton), and country (Waylon Jennings) legends.  White's music is so identifiable that it cuts its own path, never neatly fitting into any classification that is often necessary to sell records.  Having lived in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee (Memphis & Nashville), White also absorbed a little bit from all these regions.  He is a truly southern artist.

White spent the 80's and 90's continuing to write songs for others, including Tina Turner who had an international hit with his Steamy Windows rocker.  Luckily, to the delight of his biggest fans, White has spent the last ten years re-establishing his recording career, both here and abroad.

Starting with 2001's The Beginning, White began to bring focus to his vast and important legacy.  That record was a stripped-down recording that reminded people of his legendary early recordings.    2002's Snakey rocked a little harder leading to 2004's The Heroines, which featured TJW collaborating with some of his favorite female artists and friends including Emmylou Harris, Jessi Colter, Shelby Lynne, Lucinda Williams, and his daughter, Michelle White.

In 2006, White formed his own label, Swamp Records (nice name!), and released Uncovered, which featured some of his best male musician friends including Eric Clapton, Waylon Jennings, JJ Cale, Mark Knopfler, and Michael McDonald.

After Rhino Handmade released a goldmine to TJW fans around the world - Swamp Music: The Complete Monument Recordings.  This package included his essential first 3 records plus 43 unreleased tracks from this same period!  (We can only hope that a similar set is planned for his three Warner Bros Records that immediately followed the Monument era.)

Anyone who has been paying attention should have been brought up to speed by this flurry of important releases from a legend.  The question was what's next?

White's son Jody has the answer on Deep Cuts.  This latest TJW release takes classic TJW tracks and remixes them.  In the process, this brings to the front an element that usually stays in the back - the bottom end funk.

Bass, beat, and guitar mix in a dark and murky, yet elemental way sounding like nature's truest storms - intense and unrelenting.  The story songs of Roosevelt and Ira Lee, Willie and Laura Mae Jones, and High Sheriff (of Calhoun Parrish) become turned on their heads because Deep Cuts tells its story focusing on music over the words this time.

For his current fans, Deep Cuts is a companion to The Beginning serving as the yin to its yang.  Deep Cuts also has the ability to bring in legions of new fans because of the modern edge the production brings out in these decades-old tracks.

Ten years ago, any release from TJW would have been cause for joy.  After a better part of the millenium's first decade, White has reissued, regained, and reimagined himself back to the forefront of modern music once again.

- Jim Markel

Download M3U »
Powered by ThinkIndie

related tags

Gritz,
Nashville,
Muscle Shoals,
Memphis,
Texas,
Louisiana,
Arkansas,
Lore,
Music,
Mystery and Manners,

Comments

nicecoach says...

coach outlet coach outlet coach discount coach discount gucci sneakers gucci sneakers gucci outlet gucci outlet coach clearance coach clearance Coach Handbags Coach Handbags Gucci Trousers Gucci Trousers gucci sunglasses gucci sunglasses Gucci Clothing Gucci Clothing

lanting33 says...

Do you know nike store,if you do not know, you can go to the nike shoes.there will be some surprised waiting for you ,and in nike outlet store you will find nike outlet which is your like. The abercrombie and fitch are popular with many young people, such as abercrombie and fitch uk , abercrombie and fitch london and so on. Recently, the louis vuitton handbags are popular in many young people, it lead the fashionable Also the tiffany public the style to meet the people need, please do not miss it. The Christmas is coming, the adidas outlet has ushered discount, if you are tempted, please do not hesitate.

says...

asics running shoes are one of the most sexy asics shoes.behind this asics onitsuka tiger there are some basketwork which advance the cheap asics shoes brightness.romeovable and replaceable comfort system insole is made of sheepskin latex and foam for comfort with a mylar sockiliner for warmth. Everywhere you go now you find that the cheap asics running shoes have become the latest fashion trend.Many humans buy asics onitsuka tiger day in and day out.asics running shoe

mackliy says...

However, in current difficult economy, women are trying every way to save their money of coach factory outlet store. Due to their limited budget, they have to pay much more attention on cheap coach outlets than before. At this time, what they need are not those latest trends of designer handbags, but these bags which are famous and cheap. To find cheap replica coach purses, one choice is coach outlet stores.There are a lot of coach outlet stores around you home. You can find over 400 coach outlet online in USA and more than 1,000 outlet stores in the whole world.

vanskey says...

That is vans shoes just you need,and now buy cheap vans shoes online,can save 50% off!

gucci456 says...

The men like Gucci shoes very much,and they like to gucci outlet shop to buy cheap Gucci shoes .

kokowowoman says...

A ugg boots clearance recent survey found that one out of five Americans teenage or older want an iPad. No wonder Apple is selling three million iPads a month. It's the fastest-selling single product in the history of consumer electronics. Most buyers are choosing an iPad as a supplement to their current computers -- for watching movies in bed, like I do, or reading books in my easy chair when there's nothing good on TV ugg boots clearance. The iPad pretty much has the personal side of computing covered. But what about the computer side? What about the tasks you do on your laptop or on your desktop computer ugg boots clearance? But I'm convinced that many of you would find the iPad a delightful replacement for a typical laptop computer, whether a Windows PC or Mac, if you mostly use a laptop for three typical functions -- e-mail, social networking (through Facebook, for example) and Web browsing ugg boots clearance. What about occasional word processing? Apple's word processor, called Pages, is outstanding on the iPad. (A bonus: It also works easily with Microsoft Word documents, both reading them and saving them.) If you need software that can show and create PowerPoint presentations, iPad software called Keynote can do that nicely. There's even an Excel-compatible program called Numbers ugg boots clearance. All three of these productivity programs -- called apps -- sell for only $10 each. Getting something equivalent to Microsoft Office for only $30 is surely a steal ugg boots clearance. There are many, either free or a couple of dollars, at the App Store ugg boots outlet. Could an iPad be your only computer? Not for long. It gets updates via free software called iTunes running on a standard computer. When you plug the iPad into the computer using a USB cable, iTunes transfers the updates to your iPad ugg boots outlet. (iTunes is also used to add music, books, podcasts, university lectures, TV shows and movies to an iPad.) But if my experience is a guide, the iPad can function well as a replacement for a laptop. If you buy one, be sure to get the Keyboard Dock and the Camera Connection Kit. Photos look spectacular on the 10-inch screen ugg boots clearance.

Please login or you can to leave a comment.

If you aren't registered, Register Now to start leaving comments.

Copyright 1998-2018 by Swampland Inc. All rights reserved.