Carol Forsloff - American Idol and
America's Got Talent may turn out its fine performers, but the past brought to our future in the person of Tony Joe White brings us closerto the truth through a depth of performance one seldom finds today.
Tony Joe White is the writer and original performer of Poke Salad Annie, he originally recorded in 1969,that eventually made it to #8 on the Top Ten music charts in the United States. It was his biggest hit, but the song became known more by another more famous musician.
That "another" was Elvis Presley,who owned songs by his personality, his strength of popularity larger than life. In the meantime Tony Joe White, ruggedly handsome at the time, and continuing to be in fine form, struggled on and off for decades, in backgrounds for the most part, singing and writing music.
His website describes him as "71 years old and still going strong, Louisiana-born Tony Joe White is Nothing Short of a national music treasure."
Few folks might know the range of White's talent, except for the sophisticated and lucky nor know the way his words paint pictures beyond
White doesn't just understand the value of our natural environment, he feels it as well in the music played from a guitar that wails like those on an anxious planet as its water wastes, its resources swept away by greed that takes us to our ultimate truth, spelled out in the lyrics of the song.
He has done high profile gigs. He wrote "Steamy Windows," recorded by Tina Turner and went on the road to perform with Eric Clapton and others. But for the most part, White has been a bit in the background, while the stars were out in front. That relative background doesn't mean White was off the music scene, as he has continued to be appreciated and had successes both in Europe and the United States.
White virtually gave up singing for awhile in the 1980's, until he seems to have rediscovered himself in some ways via the Internet. It is there he is experiencing a rebirth of his own and touring so that his music is being taken to different parts of the world.. That renaissance began in earnest with The Beginning from Swamp Records in 2001, followed by Heroines, featuring several duets with female vocalists, from Sanctuary in 2004, and a live Austin City Limits concert, Live from Austin, TX, from New West Records in 2006, all given high marks by the critics. In 2007 White put out another live recording, Take Home the Swamp, in addition to the compilation Introduction to Tony Joe White.
I grew up listening to Elvis, and now I will grow old listening to Tony Joe White, the man behind the music who is now up front and going strong, they say, and likely will continue to make music special.
His Australia tour schedule is on his website.
