After thirty years of swampy guitar, Tony Joe White's recent Australian visit proved that he might be getting on, but hes a long way from over the hill.
Blasting out of the Louisiana swamplands in the late 60's with his Top 10 hit "Polk Salad Annie" Tony Joe White has never stopped getting down and dirty - not for one day. A legend across Europe and in particular in France where he is affectionately known as the "Swamp Fox", he has released over 20 albums in his 33 year career and, as evidenced by his recent Australian tour, is showing no signs of slowing down.
"Swamp knows no age," says White in his deeply commanding Southern drawl. "As long as I'm feeling good about writing and playing and I'm looking forward to getting up onstage who knows how long a man could go."
Tony Joe's latest album Snakey is a filthy, low down swampfest, a record almost in direct contrast to 2002's The Beginning, which garnered him fresh worldwide acclaim for it's softer, more reflective mood. "The Beginning was all acoustic," explains White, "and for some reason I had it figured I'd be doing that for the next 20 years. But these new songs just came out of a few weeks of late night recording sessions and they were so raw and swampy that I wouldn't have changed anything. I love the sound we got, just the sound of my studio at home. I've got an old 16 track analogue machine that picks up some real nice hiss."
Clearly this is a man who enjoys appreciates the simple things in life, a fact amplified by his response when I ask what inspires him to write his swamp drenched blues tunes. I never sit down and try to write. That old Strat of mine just jumps out and does what it wants to do. A lick will come to me and then I'll sit down and go from there but I never force songs out. Sometimes at home in Louisiana in the swamp I'll go out into the woods, build me a campfire, have a few cold beers and just play a bit."
The timeless quality of his sound is aided by the use of all vintage equipment, which he acquired ort various parts of the globe since the late 60's. Like the man himself, despite their age his tools of trade are totally no nonsense. "I've got my old beat-up Strat which is a'65 Sunburst that I use almost all the time onstage. I usually pull out a little Spanish guitar as well 'cos 1 have usually got a Spanish tune or two on my albums going back to when I lived in Corpus Christi after I originally left Louisiana.
"Aside from those two guitars I've got an original Lake Placid Blues that is really fragile. I never take that out on airplanes or anything. I also use an old funky Kay when I want to get something real dirty and swampy It was one of the first electric guitars made at the time. I think it was made by Sears and Roebuck and God it's dirty. You couldn't even play a ballad on it, it wouldn't do it."
Amp-wise he favours the classic Fender sound, though his effects units are something else altogether." I always used a black face Super Reverb until Fender brought out the Blues Deville and now that's all I use. My pedals are an old Gibson Boomerang, which I've had since the "Polk Salad Annie" days. It's really like a wah wah but a real old one. And I use a Colortone which is one of the first fuzz pedals ever made which I got in London, England way back when."
Onstage that night in Sydney's "the Basement", White and his drummer Marc "Boom Boom" Cohn deliver an amazing set which the audience lap up with unrestrained glee. "Australia has a connection to the swamp thing," reckons Tony Joe. It's almost like when I play in Louisiana or anywhere down south back home, just real loose. One Australian band I love is the Cruel Sea. Me and Tex (Perkins) are good friends and they covered "Woman with Soul". I tell ya, man, I love bearing these rock bands do my stuff."
June 2002
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