TONY JOE WHITE is sitting in his London hotel room drawling an anecdote that just happened him in Germany.
"...and this radio interviewer said to me, could I confirm the rumour that was going round Germany that I lived on a ranch, had this recording studio there, did big jam sessions there, and NEVER left it. I had to laugh, it's damn nearly true and I wish it was."
He's a mighty big man with enormous and rather dusty cowboy boots and suede trousers. His hair is extremely tousled, and he talks in that now-famous l-o-o-o-o-ng, cotton picking Southern drawl.
He also looks rather tired; the strenuous Creedence tour must have taken it outof him, although he says he enjoyed it. He was touring before he joined their tour in Europe, and continued on with them to Hawaii after London.
"It's the fifth time I've been to Germany, but it surprised me that it was so good because I hadn't been there for so long."
Tony Joe took a recording unit with him throughout the tour, and a live album is being made of the results.
"Well, I thought it would be a good idea to put a live album, because there are songs that we're doing so much better now than when put them on record. I've got three of the best musicians in the States with me at the moment."
As for the German anecdote, well, it is almost true. At the rare moments when he is at home in Memphis, Tony Joe likes to stay put. He owns a lergish estate and keeps 15 horses - Indian-bred ones - "mainly because I jus' love to see them little foals when they're born."
Despite living in a part of America where the music business is very active with the "Memphis Sound", Tony Joe is extremely careful to steer clear of such a label.
"I don't really like to get to be a part of something like that, I'd rather be typified by what we put out - the sort of music I play, I don't know what you'd call that - 'swamp rock' I think is the term."
Nevertheless, Tony Joe is pretty closely bound to the Memphis structure. His bass player, Donald "Duck" Dunn, is one of teh Stax label's ace session men and used to be with Booker T. His organist and drummer are both local too. The top Memphis producer, Jerry Wexler, has also helped him a lot.
"He's had a lot of people do my songs and he's pushed me in the right directions. I've got enough material now for a new album in November and Jerry and I will get together then to do it. He's really helped me in the last three years. He's a good producer and he has good ideas on things."
Tony Joe does most of his writing at home, but unlike a lot of writers who can never write on the road, he sometimes dous. "My songs and my style are changing because I write about thaings that I see and hear daily, so my songs change with the times.
"Sometimes I'll be driving along and a couple of notes af a song will come to me; sometimes it will be just words and you write a tune around that. Most af my songs are about where I live. I couldn't live anywhere else; my roots are there and it's a good place to be - nobody's in a hurry to do anything.
"A lot of times after you write a song and you're kind of empty in your head, you wonder if you'll ever write another one. It don't scare you, you just wonder...it makes your stomach kinda jump."
Tony Joe is very definite in his ideas of what het wants to do next, though. He wants to keep writing and performing, and he wants to cement the working relationship with his backing band so they play with him all the time. Often they're so busy with other commitments that he has to get in a scratch backing band. His ambition of the moment seems to be to make a film.
"There's one in the talking stages at the moment. It's about a Southern guy that's a musician, has a band, plays a lot of clubs and has a lot of night life and a drinking problem. So they thought of me to play the guy. Funny that.
"What I'd really like to do is a Western, a funky Western. Then another idea I had was to back a movie myself by taking a month's trip up with the band down to Mexico and up through to New York and just film everything that goes on."
The first thing to do when the tour finishes, though, is to have a good long rest. Tony Joe has firm ideas as to leisure time.
"You cab run all the time, and then suddenly get to see you're 47 years old and you say 'good God, man, I've got to miss a whole lotta things'."
He is the "just about" star. Some of his songs are nearclassics. All have their own individual feel. Brook Benton's version of his "Rainy Night In Georgia" is hailed by critics and public alike. Elvis Presley has acknowledged him both verbally and with his version of "Polk Salad Annie."
Nonchalant, unconcerned, his appearances have made a vast impact on the world. but his only big succes was "Groupy Girl."
His songs, style and guitar playing are so different that he could well named the "Memphis Misfit."
Caroline Boucher,
Okt 9th 1971.
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