Tony Joe White is respected as a multi-talented artist whose basic love is composing and arranging. As a songwriter, his tunes such as “Rainy Night in Georgia” have been immortalized by hundreds of artists including Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Hank Williams, Jr. White’s biggest individual commercial success came with “Polk Salad Annie” which made it to number 8 on the billboard charts in 1969. The song has been recorded by more than 40 artists including Elvis Presley through the years.

White was born on July 23, 1943. As one of seven children, he was raised on a cotton farm near the small town of Oak Grove, Louisiana. Situated just west of the Mississippi River, it’s a land where polk salad grows wild and alligators lurk in moss-covered swamps. White’s boyhood home was filled with gospel and country music made by his parents and siblings who all played guitar and piano. However, as a boy, White was more interested in baseball than music. That all changed when he was sixteen and his older brother Charles brought home a Lightnin’ Hopkins album and began demonstrating blues guitar. He listened not only to local bluesmen and country singers but also to the Cajun music of Louisiana. Inspired by the examples of Hopkins, John Lee Hooker and Elvis Presley, White began performing at school dances. After graduation from high school, he played at nightclubs in Louisiana and Texas.

White formed his first band, ‘Tony White & His Combo’, with Robert McGuffey and Jim Griffith, followed by ‘Tony Joe and the Mojos’ and ‘Tony’s Twilights.’ He worked wearily in the small nightclubs of the south for seven years before deciding to go solo, writing and singing his own material. After the success of “Polk Salad Annie,” White toured with some of the biggest rock acts of the 1970s including Creedence Clearwater Revival. Throughout the 70s and 80s, White built a reputation in the U.S. as a consummate songwriter and arranger. However, the French became fans of White’s recordings and performances, calling his music, Swamp Rock. Soon White was known as the ‘Swamp Fox’ in France.

In 1991, White recorded his first album in many years. Released in Europe on Remark Records, “Closer to the Truth” charted all over Europe, Australia and New Zealand, sparking an extensive European tour where he opened for such greats as Joe Cocker and Eric Clapton. His re-emergence renewed interest in his earlier material and Warner Bros. issued a 20 track tribute entitled “The Best of Tony Joe White” in 1993. In addition, White has written and performed jingles for McDonald’s and Levi’s 501 Blues. He continues to write and arrange for himself and others and still enjoys recording and performing his unique style of swamp-inspired blues and rock.

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