Tony Joe White (2CD Set)

TONY JOE WHITE: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings. (2-CD Set)

• Louisiana-Born Tony Joe White Is One of the Most Distinctive Talents in American Music
• “Polk Salad Annie” Was White’s Biggest Hit, But He Penned Hits for Dusty Springfield (“Willie and Laura Mae Jones”). Brook Benton (Rainy Night in Georgia”) and Elvis Presley (“For Ol’ Times Sake”;“I’ve Got a Thing About You”)
• Real Gone’s New 2-CD Set The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings Includes the Three Classic Albums White Recorded for Warner Bros. in the early ‘70s: Tony Joe White, The Train I’m On and Homemade Ice Cream
• Also Includes Six Non-LP Singles
• Tony Joe White Paired White with Producer Peter Asher and Included Such Rockers as "They Caught the Devil and Put Him in Jail in Eudora, Arkansas” and “My Kind of Woman”
• The Train I’m On Was Produced by the Great Team of Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd and Featured the Great Muscle Shoals Session Musicians
• Homemade Ice Cream Was Produced by Dowd and Was Highlighted by the Original Version of “For Ol’ Times Sake”
• 40 Tracks in All
• Set Includes Liner Notes by Ben Edmonds Featuring Exclusive Quotes from Tony Joe White Himself 

71 years old and still going strong, Louisiana-born Tony Joe White is nothing short of a national musical treasure. White first gained fame mainly through his songwriting; 1969’s “Polk Salad Annie” was his only Top Ten hit, but artists such as Dusty Springfield (“Willie and Laura Mae Jones”), Brook Benton (“Rainy Night in Georgia”) and Elvis Presley (“For Ol’ Times Sake”; “I’ve Got a Thing About You Baby”) took his songs to the charts. But White has always been a singular performer in his own right; the honeyed burr of his baritone, his alternately tough and tender vocal delivery and liberal use of his “whomper stomper” wah-wah pedal lend him a completely distinctive sound, Simply put, nobody, but nobody, sounds like Tony Joe White, and on this 2-CD collection, we’ve rounded up all three of the classic albums he recorded for Warner Bros. in the early ‘70s—all of which are out of print and costing a mint online—plus non-LP singles to create The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings. Recorded in Memphis (partly at Ardent Studios of Big Star fame), 1971’s Tony Joe White paired him with producer Peter Asher (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt) and shifted the focus slightly from the fuzz-drenched swamp rock of White’s Monument recordings to a more introspective style, though “They Caught the Devil and Put Him in Jail in Eudora, Arkansas” and “My Kind of Woman” could blow the doors off any roadhouse south of the Mason-Dixon line. White’s next album, 1972’s The Train I’m On, continued this gentler, more vulnerable style to great effect; produced by the legendary team of Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd, with the mighty Muscle Shoals sessioneers in support, Train’s set of songs tackled complex themes of dislocation, alienation and loss with a blend of blues, soul and folk highlighted by some beautiful acoustic guitar work by White and Tippy Armstrong. It’s a masterpiece. And 1973’s Homemade Ice Cream might be even better; White’s original version of “For Ol’ Times Sake” is just devastating, and “I Want Love (‘Tween You and Me),” “Taking the Midnight Train” and the title track are every bit as good. Co-producer Tom Dowd and a crack band of guitarist Reggie Young, bassist Norbert Putnam, drummer Kenny Malone and keyboardist David Briggs (of Neil Young fame) catch every nuance of these deceptively simple songs. Real Gone’s presentation of this essential material features liner notes by Ben Edmonds featuring fresh quotes from Tony Joe White himself. Not to be missed.

Tracks:

Disc One 

Tony Joe White 

1. They Caught the Devil and Put Him in Jail in Eudora, Arkansas

2. The Change

3. My Kind of Woman

4. The Daddy

5. Black Panther Swamps

6. Five Summers for Jimmy

7. A Night in the Life of a Swamp Fox

8. Traveling Bone

9. I Just Walked Away

10. Copper Kettle

11. Voodoo Village

Singles

12. Lustful Earl and the Married Woman

13. Delta Love

14. That on the Road Look

The Train I’m On

15.  I’ve Got a Thing About You Baby

16. The Family

17. If I Ever Saw a Good Thing

18. Beouf River Road

19. The Train I’m On

20. Even Trolls Love Rock and Roll

Disc Two

The Train I’m On (cont.)

1. As the Crow Flies

2. Take Time to Love

3. 300 Pounds of Hongry

4. The Migrant

5. Sidewalk Hobo

6. The Gospel Singer 

Homemade Ice Cream 

7. Saturday Night in Oak Grove Louisiana

8. For Ol’ Times Sake

9. I Want Love (‘Tween You and Me)

10. Homemade Ice Cream

11. Ol’ Mother Earth

12. Lazy

13. California on My Mind

14. Backwoods Preacher Man

15. Takin’ the Midnight Train

16. No News Is Good News

17. Did Somebody Make a Fool Out of You

Singles

18. Sign of the Lion

19. Don’t Let the Door (Hit You in the Butt)

20. Wishful Thinking