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Tony Joe White: The Shine

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Swamp Records
Released: 2010.09.28
Time:
 52:43
Category: Rock, Swamp Rock, Blues, Soul
Producer(s): Jody 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] Season Man (T.J.White) - 5:00
[2] Ain't Doing Nobody No Good (L.White/T.J.White) - 4:47
[3] Paintings on the Mountain (L.White/T.J.White) - 5:43
[4] Tell Me Why (T.J.White) - 6:12
[5] All (T.J.White) - 5:39
[6] Long Way from the River (T.J.White) - 6:07
[7] Strange Night (T.J.White) - 4:29
[8] Something to Soften the Blow (L.White/T.J.White) - 4:56
[9] Roll Train Roll (L.White/T.J.White) - 5:42
[10] A Place to Watch the Sun Go Down (T.J.White) - 4:08

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Tony Joe White - Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
Jack Bruno - Drums, Percussion
John Catchings - Cello
George Hawkins - Bass
Tyson Rogers - Organ, Piano, Wurlitzer

Jody White - Producer
Rob Clark - Engineer, Mixing
Don Cobb - Mastering
Eric Conn - Mastering
Bruce Hunt - Cover Photo
Katie Studley - Layout
Leann White - Cover Photo
Meg White - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


The 21st century saw Tony Joe White resume his recording and performing career, and experience a resurgence of critical interest in his older music as well. Since 2002, "the Swamp Fox" has recorded sporadically for his own Swamp imprint, and also had his back catalog remastered and reissued. Earlier in 2010, Rhino Handmade made available That On the Road Look, a previously unreleased live date. The Shine is a (mostly) low-key, basic affair. White wrote or co-wrote everything here with his wife, Leann. The band is a quintet: White plays guitars and harmonica with drummer Jack Bruno, cellist John Catchings, bassist George Hawkins, and Tyson Rogers on piano, organ, and Wurlitzer. The sound is warm and raw; the album feels like it was cut mostly live from the floor (with guitar and vocal overdubs added) and it's full of natural atmospherics. White's acoustic nylon-string guitar is prevalent, sometimes more so than his quavering, downright spooky baritone. His electric six-string work paints the backdrop. The only real exceptions are the downright rocker "Strange Night," where White displays everything that Mark Knopfler copped from his style inside of five minutes. The levels feel off, overloaded; the vocals come from the backdrop as the guitars and drums smoulder, smoke, and bubble. A broken love song, everything in it bleeds into everything else: it expresses pain as an immediate, crushing experience; it evokes everything from anger to tenderness. "Something to Soften the Blow" is an electric country waltz, sad, beautiful, and lonely. The protagonist is desperate for comfort in seeking a one-night stand from what is perhaps a sympathetic other. White somehow manages to pull off his plea without coming off as pathetic; he wears his brokenness with dignity. "Season Man" is a classic White minor-key narrative about a drifter. "Ain't Doing Nobody No Good" is a droning swamp blues, full of dread and sinister purpose. "Long Way from the River" is a backbeat-driven deeply atmospheric folk song that contains a classic White line: "When you're running with the swamp, the rain is gonna fall." "Roll Train Toll" is pure Delta-style folk-blues, played solo on a steel-string acoustic guitar; it's loaded with a quiet yet ever-present menace ready to break the surface, though it never does, and is all the more effective as a result. Ultimately, The Shine is White's most consistent and gratifying offering since he began recording again.

Thom Jurek - All Music Guide



Is that Bob Dylan?  The photo on the cover of Tony Joe White’s latest release, The Shine, is a close-up of White playing guitar with a harmonica and sunglasses.  For many, Tony Joe White, the author of such classics as “Polk Salad Annie” and “Rainy Night in Georgia,” is as much an icon as Dylan.  Regardless of the label (swamp rock, country rock, funk, blues) White’s music is distinctive and easily identifiable with his Louisiana heritage.  The home page of his website features a foggy swamp with cypress trees and Spanish moss.

Fifty-five miles north of my hometown in northeast Louisiana lies the town of Oak Grove.  I have two memories of Oak Grove: great high school football teams and Tony Joe White.  As a junior in high school when “Polk Salad Annie” became a hit, I felt a certain degree of pride in the local-boy-makes-it-big aspect of White’s success. Not to mention that he puts out some great music.

Now at the age of sixty seven, Tony Joe White has released The Shine with a collection of ten songs.  We certainly hope this is not a swan-song album.  Lyrics such as, “I still hold on to the memories, no one can take that away,” from “Paintings on the Mountain” and titles like “A Place to Watch the Sun Go Down” might suggest such.  Perhaps this moody swamp-southern soul music delivered with an often whispery texture is simply a reflective statement from a man with over fifty years experience in the music business.

In track four, “Tell Me Why”, he says, “Hope is hard to come by...” and “it takes courage to dust off your dreams.” Then in “All,” he sings the blues about love from the past and a girl who is most definitely not one who would “make the alligators look tame.”  “Strange Night” is an upbeat tune just in time to bring the mood back up from the depths of self reflection.

In “Roll Train Roll” White tells the iron horse, “I don’t care where you’re going, I just need the ride” and he escapes to the safety and comfort of his refuge to watch the sun go down.  White may never write another iconic song like “Rainy Night in Georgia” and if he doesn’t that’s okay. He’s assured his place in music history (Elvis and Tom Jones covered his songs) and The Shine serves as a capstone for his legacy — and it also lets us know that he’s got a lot more to give.  Who else is writing songs about parched peanuts and blue jean jumpers?

Would I buy The Shine by a Louisiana legend?  Yes, and “carry it home in a tote sack” with some polk salad.

Fcetier - April 26, 2011
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