Tony Joe White arrives an hour late for our appointment. On his search for avocados for a homemade guacamole recipe he has lost his way, together with his son Jody, somewhere between Brussels and Zaventem. But who are we to complain? White (currently aged 61) is the ultimate lyric-writer of the stars: Elvis Presley ('Polk Salad Annie', 'I've Got a Thing about You Baby'), Tina Turner ('Foreign Affairs', 'Steamy Windows'), Joe Cocker ('Let the Healing begin'), Dusty Springfield ('Willie and Laura Mae Jones') and Brook Benson ('Rainy Night in Georgia') scored hits with songs written by his magical hand. It gave him a piggy bank that had the size of a full-grown sow.
On his new cd, entitled 'The Heroines', he is accompanied by beautiful artists: Shelby Lynne, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and his own daughter Michelle, who is not only a bright piano player but also a remarkable singer, later this year her own cd will be released. 'The best one she has made so far' according to her proud father. But we would like to discuss his own music: hypnotic swamp rock that is popular -really!- even by the aboriginals. And even in Belgium the Swamp Fox has famous fans: last year Helmut Lotti received seven of his songs.
Tony Joe White "I know that he wanted to record three of them. That was six months ago, I haven't heard anything from him since. But I am patient.
Humo How did you decide what to send to him?
But I am not black!
A white NegroHumo Can you remember what made you want to become a musician long, long ago?
"We lived on a cotton farm in Louisiana, down by the river, yep, and all the members of my family, father, mother, five sisters, one brother and me, the youngest - we all played piano or guitar. When my brother made me listen to a record by Lightnin' Hopkins, I was hooked. I was fifteen, at night I smuggled my father's guitar to my room, and I tried to play all the licks that Hopkins played. So it is all his due (smiles). After that Elvis, John Lee Hooker and other blues-artists followed."
Humo Has there ever been a White family band?
White "No. A pity since the girls have beautiful voices. But no one had the ambition to become a professional musician. Neither did I, until I heard "ode to Billie Jo' by Bobbie Gentry. It knocked me out completely: it was as if she was singing about me. I then swore that I would always remain honest and sing about topics that I was familiar with: polk salad (a typical American salad with turnip-like fruits and spinach-like leaves, red) and rainy nights for example. In one week time I wrote 'Polk Salad Annie' and 'Rainy Nights in Georgia', or even better they came to me."
Humo Excuse me?
White "They come, I never push them at all. If I would say: Now I'm going to write a song, then it becomes a complete failure. I wait until I feel something in my fingers, then I go to the river with a couple of cans of beer and that's when it will succeed. Sometimes I have to wait for three months, but I never worry."
Humo The way you describe it, it almost seems a coincidence that you discovered your own voice.
White (tastes the word) "Coincidence is too strong, but it did happen to me, yes."
"After that I have worked hard. Even during my high school I played on dances and in clubs - I had to lie about my age, because I was to young to enter. I fooled my parents by telling them I had to leave for school, but after a while they knew better. "Years later, when I had a hit with 'Polk Salad Annie' and we just had our first baby, I visited my father who still owned the cotton farm. 'I often hear your song on the radio', he said, 'but now you have to support a family: it is time that you find ourself some decent work' (smiles) He could not believe that I received money for my music."
Humo What is more important for you: composing your songs or performing them?
White "It is impossible to separate these two.
"I do not really linger on these thoughts, but I do know that music can be inconceivably powerful. It surprises me time and time again when fans come to see me after a concert and tell me what my music means to them. A seventeen-year old Swedish boy, who wanted to commit suicide, told me that 'Closer to the Truth' saved his life. But you shouldn't overestimate yourself: not you but the music has that force."
Humo Apparently your first meeting with Tina Turner was somewhat… euhm… turbulent.
White (laughing slily) "I remember it as if it happened yesterday: she turned around and started to laugh inextinguishably. Then she hugged me and said: Sorry, but I've always thought that you were black.' It was not the first time that I received this reaction."
Humo Is that a compliment?
White "It's any way it wants to be. At the beginning of the '70's I have toured, as support act, with Sly & The Family Stone, for a complete black audience.
When I entered on stage they started to shout- but as soon as a started to play they became silent."
Humo What happened when Elvis wanted to record one of your songs? Did he call you?
White "Of course not. He just recorded it. But he did fly my wife and me over to Las Vegas when he recorded his live version of 'Polk Salad Annie'. He loved the way I played my guitar, I even taught him a few blues-licks."
No fuss
Humo In the '80's and '90's you have been suspiciously silent for a very long time. What was the cause?
White "I was fed up with record-companies. I did continue to write songs and I did record them myself, but for the rest I had plenty of time to go out fishing and horseback riding. Thanks to the Internet I can now release my records without having to listen to the fuss of the record-company bosses. My new cd will be released on a regular label, but that's because the owner of that label is a friend of mine: I know he really appreciates my music."
Humo Yes, let's talk about 'The Heroines'.
White "The songs were already recorded in their simple form - guitar, bass and drums- when my son Jody came with the idea to record them as duets with some of my heroines. It was a piece of cake: in most cases the first take was brilliant. Only Lucinda Williams send me a recorded tape with her part as she is afraid to fly and did not feel like driving all the way to Franklin (in the midst of Nashville, red.) from Los Angeles."
Humo But she did perform in Belgium this past spring.
White (smiles) "Then she must have came by boat to Europe"
Humo A mere five of the ten songs on the album 'The Heroines' are duets. Don't you have more heroines?
White "Oh yes I do: Etta James, Randy Crawford… and Tina of course, although she doesn't sing anymore for the moment.
"Maybe there will be a follow up to 'The Heroines', and then it will be the turn of the male singers. I'm considering Joe Cocker, John Anderson, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Hallyday, BB King and maybe also R.L. Burnside. If he were still alive I definitively would have asked Luke Walter Jr. (Of our own Blue Blot, red.). We were close friends, I was a witness to his marriage - (musing) - he got married on a beach at a sunset.
Humo I understand that you are impressed by Luke Walter Jr., but for goodness sake, what do you see in Johnny Hallyday, with whom you've worked before? Isn't he a caricature rock artist?
White "I can't deny that (laughs), but he is very different in a recording studio. And when he sings the correct songs, you can still hear that fine voice of his."
Humo Who would you like to hear cover one of your songs?
White "Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, two guys that I admire enormously. We do have a lose commitment that we will write a song together or that they will record one of my songs."
Humo Great, we'll pass by for another plate of guacamole.
CV?
September 07 2004
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