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Tony Joe White: The Heroines

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Sanctuary Records
Released: 2004.09.28
Time:
 49:39
Category: Rock, Swamp Rock, Blues, Soul
Producer(s): Jody White, Tony Joe White
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.tonyjoewhite.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Gabriella (T.J.White) - 1:49
[2] Can't Go Back Home (S.Lynne/T.J.White) - 4:23
[3] Ice Cream Man (L.White/T.J.White) - 4:28
[4] Closing in on the Fire (T.J.White) - 4:29
[5] Back Porch Therapy (T.J.White) - 4:17
[6] Playa del Carmen Nights (L.White/T.J.White) - 4:37
[7] Wild Wolf Calling Me (L.White/T.J.White) - 4:08
[8] Rich Woman Blues (T.J.White) - 4:56
[9] Robbin' My Honeycomb (T.J.White) - 5:10
[10] Fireflies in the Storm (L.White/T.J.White) - 4:18
[11] Chaos Boogie (T.J.White) - 5:38
[12] Gabriella's Affair (T.J.White) - 1:26

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Tony Joe White - Vocals, Guitar, Producer
Steve Forrest - Bass
Jennifer Lynn Young - Cello, Fiddle
Marc Cohen - Drums
Carson Whitsett - Hammond B3 Organ
David Ralicke - Saxophone, Trombone
Michael Bolger - Trumpet

Shelby Lynne - Vocals on [2]
Lucinda Williams - Vocals on [4]
Michelle White - Vocals on [6]
Emmylou Harris - Vocals on [7]
Jessi Colter - Vocals on [10]
Jack Bruno - Drums on [9]

Brandon Henegar - Mixing
Eric McConnell - Mixing
Brando Marius - Digital Editing
Mike Melnick - Overdub Engineer
Eric Conn - Mastering
Chad Hailey - Transfers
Allen Hunt - Photography
Leann White - Photography
Bas Hartong - A&R

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2004 CD Sanctuary Records SANCD301

All recorded at Church St. Studio - Franklin, TN.



Tony Joe White, aka the Swamp Fox, has been on a roll these past few years, issuing album after self-released album of quality original material full of deep, dark, blues-flavored Florida vintage roots music.Heroines is no exception, but it is a record with a twist. First, it's on the Sanctuary label. Secondly, five of the record's 12 tracks are recorded with female vocalists in duet. They include the great Jessi Colter, Shelby Lynne, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and Michelle White. The set opens with "Gabriella," a brief, jazzy flamenco-kissed instrumental, played on a pair of acoustic guitars. "Can't Go Back Home" stars Lynne. A true laid-back Tony Joe nocturnal swamp blues, it nonetheless carries within it that slightly menacing tension. Lynne's voice, which is well known for its power, showcases its other side here, one that is expressive, soulful and sensual even on slow burn. White's vocal whispers its edgy truth, underscored by his signature guitar sound. "Closing in the Fire," with Williams, is a steamy, R&B growler with horns. The riff is a mid-tempo take-off from her own "Hot Blood," and this tune feels as if it is an update of hers. "Playa del Carmen Night," with its Spanish folk overtones, is a duet between White and his daughter Michelle. It's a whispering love ballad, one that shimmers with acoustic guitars and hand percussion. Michelle White, a fine country and blues singer in her own right, brings the notion of memory inherent in the song's body full-force to the front line. It's bittersweet and beautiful. "Wild Wolf Calling Me" features Harris in fine voice at her country gospel best. White's baritone snakes around her plaintive wail and moan and brings a hint of the foreboding eternal to her testament. Colter is a country music legend, and this track's the evidence as to why. Her subdued, deeply expressive, reedy croon goes up against the fuzzed-up blues guitars, while White's ominous baritone adds depth, and an otherworldly dimension, to his song. The rest of the cuts here, with White taking the vocals on his own, are fine as well. They simmer, just below the boiling point, touching on everything from backwoods life, love, politics, and spirituality, to the chaos in a country where firearms do more talking than at any time since the Old West, as in "Chaos Boogie." Tony Joe's writing is flawless, his guitar playing is phenomenal; he gets more creative, funky expression from his minimal, fluid approach than many players who use a lot more notes. Heroines is another winner in the Swamp Fox catalog that once more proves not only is he a vital artist 35 years after his first big hit, but one whose consistency is remarkable and unsullied.

Thom Jurek - All Mussic Guide



For The Heroines, Tony Joe White invited some of his favorite female friends to the party. Unlike Hollywood movie stars, White likes his costars within spittin' distance of his own age. Shelby Lynne's lines in "Can't Go Back Home" fit like a glove; her voice is reminiscent of White's own, like someone simultaneously whispering sweet nothings and the secrets of the universe into your ear. Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, and Jessi Colter also join the swamp fox on a record that provides plenty of what one tune aptly calls "Back Porch Therapy." The Heroines manages to tweak your libido and save your soul, magically, at once.

Michael Ross - Amazon.com



Jessi Colter's vocal is almost enough to make you forget that it's all starting to...

In keeping with White's thirty year recording career, The Heroines is a soulful and swampy affair.

He first came to prominence in 1969 with "Polk Salad Annie", but has really earned his place in popular music history for his calibre as a songwriter for other people, providing hits for Brook Benton ("Rainy Night In Georgia"), Dusty Springfield ("Willie and Laura Mae Jones") and Tina Turner, to whose celebrated 1989 album Foreign Affairs he contributed four songs. Along the way he's recorded with Ray Charles, Isaac Hayes, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams Jr. and countless other stars from the worlds of r'n'b and country.

His time spent as a session musician and songwriter means that this expert lyricist and nimble guitarist has become accustomed to staying in the background. Plus thirty odd years of hanging out with rock'n'rollers has left a mark on the old boy's singing voice (it's so wobbly on "Playa Del Carmen Nights" that it's fortunate that his daughter, emerging artist Michelle White, is on hand to carry the song).

White gives centre stage to some of his Heroines throughout, and it's these duets with queens of Americana - Lucinda Williams, Shelby Lynne, Emmylou Harris, singer and Waylon Jenning's widow Jessi Colter - which are easily the standout tracks on this album.

"Can't Go Back Home" is typically deep and brooding, with a pounding bassline and Shelby Lynne's sultry vocal giving credence to a tale of a smalltown girl who knows her dreams won't be realised until she moves on. "Closing In On The Fire" is all trumpets, hooky bassline and Lucinda Williams in raw, hot and sweaty mode.

It goes without saying that Emmylou Harris adds a touch of class and an authentic lonesome feel to "Wild Wolf Calling", and Jessi Colter's vulnerable and fervent vocal on "Fireflies In The Storm" is almost enough to make you forget that it's all starting to sound like Chris Rea...

Sue Keogh / 2004
BBC Review



Tony Joe White’s music is generally described as swamp rock, and it is true that he was one of the first performers to have a hit record with that sound. Back in 1969, when “Polk Salad Annie” became a hit record, there were other bands monkeying with various combinations of music from the lowlands of the Southern United States, but the mainstream public had never heard most of them. “Polk Salad Annie” contained all the elements of the form as well as the style that identifies Tony Joe White’s music to this day: the low, intimate, growling voice, the economic blues guitar style that is always in the service of the song, never calling attention to itself with long flashy solos.

White has had a long career, but stardom has eluded him since his initial string of hits in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Much of the ‘70s were spent on projects that tried to inject White’s signature sound with a danceable (read: disco) beat; these were neither commercially nor artistically successful. During the ‘80s he concentrated mostly on songwriting rather than performing, but the ‘90s proved something of a renaissance. The Beginning (2001) was a totally honest, straight-ahead album featuring only White and his guitar recorded in his home studio. Now White has released one of the finest albums of his career, The Heroines. The title no doubt refers to the fact that White has invited some of his favorite female singers to share the spotlight on his compositions. Of the 12 tracks here, two are brief instrumental guitar interludes which open and close the album. Of the remaining 10, five are duets with distinctive female singers and the other five are just Tony Joe.

It says a lot about White’s commitment to presenting the song vs. his ego as a performer that the first voice heard on The Heroines is not White’s, but rather guest vocalist Shelby Lynne’s. Her voice is the perfect vehicle for “Can’t Go Back Home”, and a great match for Tony Joe’s growl. White’s guitar work subtly emphasizes elements of those lyrics and perfectly supports Lynne’s vocals. What’s wonderful about the concept of this CD is that the duets are all great and help supplement the basic sound of White’s voice and guitar work enough that the listener’s interest never flags. Hot, sweaty blues-inflected numbers like “Ice Cream Man”, “Back Porch Therapy”, and “Rich Woman Blues” stand out all the more when contrasted against the varied sound of the duets.

Besides the slinky, confessional “Can’t Go Back Home”, White peforms “Closing in on the Fire”, a song infused with R&B’s frantic energy, with Lucinda Williams and a horn section. His heavy guitar solo propels the track into another dimension entirely. “Playa Del Carmen Nights” is a beautiful samba-inflected ballad featuring White’s daughter, Michelle. “Wild Wolf Calling Me” features Emmylou Harris, and is a perfect folk/country ballad punctuated by some fine harmonica work and a touch of fiddle. “Fireflies in the Storm” is a haunting rocker done up nicely with Jessi Colter. Closing out with the fast Texas stomp of “Chaos Boogie” and the bookend instrumental “Gabriella’s Affair”, White checks in with an album that manages to present everything that’s best about his writing and performing style without a weak track in sight.

8/10

Marshall Bowden - 23 January 2005
© 1999-2015 Popmatters.com



Singer/songwriter Tony Joe White has enlisted a host of female stars for his first North American album release in six years.

Singer/songwriter Tony Joe White has enlisted a host of female stars for his first North American album release in six years. Due Sept. 28 via Sanctuary, "The Heroines" sports guest turns from Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Shelby Lynne, Jessi Colter and White's daughter Michelle.

"I had known these women for a long time," White says, "and they've all been like heroes to me through the years. They'd recorded my songs, and we were all good friends. Not only that, but I had loved their voices and the way they played. And all of 'em are soulful. Even though a lot of 'em do country, it's still a soul thing to me."

White is best known for his 1969 pop hit "Polk Salad Annie" and "Rainy Night in Georgia," taken to No. 4 by Brook Benton. His material has also been recorded by Waylon Jennings, Joe Cocker, Tina Turner and Kenny Chesney.

The lone concert date on White's schedule comes Aug. 1 at the Songs at the Lake Music Festival in Lake Placid, N.Y., a lineup that also features Little Feat, Los Lobos and Rodney Crowell, among others.

July 21, 2004 - © 2015 Billboard
 

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