It started promising. The very first album from 1969 threw off his biggest hit for Tony Joe White with “Polk Salad Annie”. The following year, both Elvis and Tom Jones covered the number, and White did a relaxed and humorous rendition in a duet with the host on The Johnny Cash Show. However, his record company thought it would be a good idea to market him as a singing country bumpkin from Louisiana, and watered down his wisely observed studies of the Deep South milieu with bland arrangements. “Rainy Night In Georgia” didn’t attract much attention on his second LP, while Brook Benton started a spectacular comeback with it.
The wistful songs flow cliché-free while the foot stamps the beat
It was also only seldom that the sultry, melancholy swamp rock sound of his concerts was captured on recordings. White felt misunderstood and left the day-to-day business for several years in the mid-eighties to only write songs for colleagues (including Tina Turner). He returned to the limelight in 1990 with the formation of his own label, Swamp Records. Eleven years and four albums later, “The Beginning” saw the fulfillment of a long-cherished dream. Acoustic guitar, harmonica and three microphones placed in the home studio in Tennessee were enough. White’s son assisted while his wife contributed some song ideas.
The wistful songs flow cliché-free, while the foot stamps the beat – veranda blues according to old fathers’ custom. The puristic approach only left room for a bit of reverb and the occasional second guitar. “This is all the freedom I could ever hope for.” And you can hear that! It remains a mystery why the track list of the original CD has now been mixed up and the thoughtful “Clovis Green” was left out completely. The vinyl edition also has to live with this limitation. Of course, the question of whether such an intimate and spartan production really needs a remastering does not only arise here.
Author: Ronald Born
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