It is all America.
	Elvis Presley brought him to Las Vegas for an outing, and made some of his songs famous (especially Polk Salad Annie). To name only a few artists, Ray Charles, Isaac Hayes, Roy Orbison, Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams Jr., Tina Turner, Brook Benton, they all recognised his gift for composing songs that were sold in millions of copies. But Tony Joe White is of course above all appreciated and asked for as a guitar player. It was in France that his unique musical style, fascinating since being both relaxed and sensual, was named "swamp rock". Tony Joe White is not revealing all his secrets, but his last album, "Closer To The Truth" demonstrates his skills. 'Bon vivant', family man, fond of tranquillity and an occasional game of golf, and yet personifying the strength of a character completely obsessed by the blues. Who taught you to play the guitar? Tony Joe White: My mother, my father, my five sisters and my brother, they all played guitar. Until the age of sixteen years I only listened to them play. In fact, I preferred to play baseball then. Then, one day, I discovered a single of Lightnin' Hopkins. That guitar! And I said to myself, yeah, this is what I want. My father only showed me three accords. I found all the rest playing by ear. The piano, the bass, the mouth organ its all self-tuition, but only because I wanted to reproduce the songs perfectly at home. Have you always composed on the guitar? Many of my songs originate from a note or an accord played on the guitar, which is there long before the words come to me. The guitar inspires in many ways. However, just as often, the process can also start spontaneously in my head, for example when I'm on my way to Arkansas or the Mississippi (where I'm going fishing). I'm not even looking for an idea, the song just hits me. It's the music that finds me, it comes to me. At the origin it's the blues, with the difference that you could dance to it. A good example? "Foreign Affair" that I've composed for Tina Turner. Why is your new album called " Closer To The Truth"? The truth, that's the music. This was the first time that I entered the studio with such a simple formation: a bass, percussion and a B3 Hammond organ. I've recorded an incredible rhythm section at the Muscle Shoals in Alabama, in the studio of Roger Hawkins and David Hood. I've paid for the recordings myself, in order to record my twelve songs without anyone poking their nose into the studio. This way, I came closer to the truth. There is an agreement on common decency in music. Getting out of that way means becoming commercial and aiming at the golden record, being a number in a classification, it's saying to yourself: " I want to write a hit for Madonna". Pursuing the correct course in the end gives you the satisfaction of inventing good songs. In fact, the real contemporary music is the music that is not dated. The other work is always dated. What was the precise contribution of Chris Lord-Alge, usually producer (Stevie Nicks, Tina Turner, Joe Cocker), but here responsible for mixing? My assistants in the studio proposed to ask him over. I had already done some mixing. So the first time that he listened to the recordings I was already done with them. He remixed the songs with incredible subtlety. He really added some shades to the songs that is most noted when broadcasted through the radio, it adds some sparkles to the songs. It was very interesting to see him at work with enormous concentration, sometimes only to highlight a single note or a word, with the patience of a watchmaker. So, what really characterises this famous "Swamp"- sound? Ho, ho, it is at the same time mysterious and funky. I've seen groups claiming to play "swamp rock". But in general they only repeat old tricks. I've never heard anyone, beside myself, with this sound. I can't even explain the origin of this sound myself. Some elements just added themselves to the basis that I acquired conscientiously. The instruments I play on are largely responsible for this. I always have my old Sub-Reverb that dates from the nineteen-sixties. And the wah-wah Boomerang, the first model ever produced, she still functions. I also use a "Tone Bender". It is a little bit like a fuzz; in fact it has nothing to do with it and yet it has more "swamp". All my equipment is prehistoric! Nothing recent can sound as these old instruments do. As far as the guitars are concerned it's the same story. I've got some twelve guitars but nothing comes close to my Stratocaster of '58. Actually I've bought a second one, built that same year, just the other day. I also kept my Gibson Electric Custom that I bought the first time I came to Paris. On the other hand, two years ago, Mark Knopfler gave me a great acoustic guitar, handmade by an English guitar-maker. It's the equivalent of a Stradivarius, but I cannot take it along on the way. I want the strings to be so tight that you can hardly slip a piece of paper between the strings and the fingerboard. I avoid the open tuning. But that is not all. What ever happens you must always do what you feel. Never change that. What have you learnt from your encounters with Johnny Halliday or Joe Dassin? Ah, Johnny, Johnny… We've known each other for quite some time. He wanted to record three songs with me. In the end we recorded five songs together because it was such a good combination. My sound, his voice and the new songs that I had written result in a Paris' style "swamp". Joe? Joe was an adorable man. He came to record in L.A., with my group, and me only a few months before his death. We wrote a song together called The Guitars Don't Lie. The basic idea was his. The song is so beautiful that I get shivers on my back simply by mentioning that song. In Europe people appear to respect music as an art, rather than a position in the charts. This can be noticed even in the mentality of the record companies. Over here, when people once were interested in you, they will keep that interest for years. In the United States it is more like a horse race. You come out once or twice in a good race and then you are put back into the meadow. What are you going to do on the album of Green On Red? They were in town. Their producer called me to say that two of their songs desperately required my input and that of an American guitar. I had never heard their music before, but I really felt at home on the songs that I contributed to. In town? Franklin, Tennessee. It's calmer there than in Memphis where I used to live. Many people from the rock and the blues have settled down here, such as recently Steve Winwood. On the other hand I never go to Nashville. I'm considered a black sheep over there. Who are you going to take along on your new tour, starting this December? The same instruments as on the album, however not played by the same musicians. The Muscle Shoals do not travel. The repertoire will be mainly composed of the songs from the album "Closer To The Truth", but I can never omit classic successes such as "Rainy Night In Georgia". As a matter of fact, I enjoy remaining on stage just by myself and playing the old songs that the audience asks me to play. What do you consider the best songs that have ever been written? A Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum, Brothers In Arms by the Dire Straits, Pretend by Eric Clapton and It's Now Or Never by Elvis Presley. And who are the musicians that you feel connected to? Clapton. I really love that guy. It hasn't happened yet, but I believe that one-day we will record something together. I also get along very well with Mark Knopfler and with David Gilmour. It would really be a dream come true if we would, if only it being once, be able to play together all four.
Catherine Chantoiseau, Gitare & Clavier Dec 1991
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