Tony Joe White is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Oak Grove, Louisiana, born in 1943 and active in swamp rock, blues rock, country, rock and singer-songwriter music. Raised on a cotton farm near Oak Grove, he is the youngest of seven children in a part-Cherokee family.

Early life and first performances

White first shows an interest in music at 16 after hearing a Lightnin’ Hopkins album. He begins performing at school dances, and after high school he plays nightclubs in Texas and Louisiana. He performs early in his career as Tony and the Mojos and then as Tony and the Twilights.

Recording career

In 1967, White signs to Monument Records in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with Billy Swan as producer. His first single is “Georgia Pines”, a Ray Stevens song. Over the next three years he releases four singles without commercial success in the United States, although “Soul Francisco” becomes a hit in France.

His breakthrough comes in 1969 with “Polk Salad Annie”, which becomes a U.S. Top Ten hit and reaches No. 8. The song is also recorded by Elvis Presley and Tom Jones. His debut album, Black and White, appears in 1969 and includes “Willie and Laura Mae Jones”, “Polk Salad Annie” and a cover of Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman”. It is recorded with Muscle Shoals and Nashville musicians David Briggs, Norbert Putnam and Jerry Carrigan. Dusty Springfield later records “Willie and Laura Mae Jones” on Dusty in Memphis.

White’s follow-up Monument releases are ...Continued and Tony Joe. He then moves to Warner Bros. and records The Train I’m On in Muscle Shoals with Jerry Wexler producing, followed by a self-titled album recorded in Memphis with The Memphis Horns. He also appears on Johnny Cash’s television show twice and gains a strong following in Europe after a performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.

Songwriting and collaborations

White writes “Rainy Night in Georgia”, which becomes a hit for Brook Benton in 1970. He later writes “Steamy Windows” and “Undercover Agent for the Blues” for Tina Turner; both become hits in 1989. He also writes four songs for Turner’s Foreign Affair album, including the title track, and later writes “On Silent Wings”, recorded by Turner in 1996. Mark Knopfler, who is a friend of White, helps bring the Turner songs to her.

His songs are also recorded by a wide range of artists including Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Etta James, Hank Williams Jr., John Mayall, Waylon Jennings, Tim McGraw and Rory Gallagher. Elkie Brooks records “Out of The Rain” on her Electric Lady album, and “As the Crow Flies” is covered by Rory Gallagher on Irish Tour.

Film, touring and later work

In 1973, White appears in Catch My Soul, a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello. He plays and sings four songs and composes seven for the musical. In the same period he takes part in the Memphis sessions for Jerry Lee Lewis’s Southern Roots, alongside members of Booker T. and the MGs, Carl Perkins, Mark Lindsay and Wayne Jackson with The Memphis Horns.

From 1976 to 1983, White releases three albums on different labels while trying to blend swamp rock with disco. He later stops concentrating on performing and focuses on songwriting.

His 1990s return includes work with Tina Turner, a new contract with Polydor, and the albums Closer to the Truth, The Path of a Decent Groove and Lake Placid Blues. He tours Germany and France with Joe Cocker and Eric Clapton and plays the Montreux Festival in 1992. Lake Placid Blues receives a Nashville Music Awards nomination for Best R&B Album, and The Best of Tony Joe White later receives another nomination in the same category.

2000s and 2010s

In 2000, Hip-O Records releases One Hot July, his first new major-label domestic release in 17 years. He follows it with The Beginning on Swamp Records in 2001, Heroines in 2004, the live album Live from Austin, TX in 2006, Take Home the Swamp and the compilation Introduction to Tony Joe White in 2007, and Uncovered in 2006, which includes collaborations with Mark Knopfler, Michael McDonald, Eric Clapton, J.J. Cale, Waylon Jennings and Shelby Lynne.

He also records material for soundtracks including Millennium, Selena and Hotspot, and his music appears in HBO productions. In 2013 he signs to Yep Roc Records and releases Hoodoo, followed by Rain Crow and Bad Mouthin’. Rain Crow includes “Hoochie Woman”, co-written with his wife, Leann, and “Conjure Child”, which follows an earlier song called “Conjure Woman”. Bad Mouthin’ includes six self-written songs, five blues standards by artists including Charley Patton and John Lee Hooker, and a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel”. It is produced by his son Jody White, who also works with him on Swamp Records.

Style and legacy

White’s work is associated with swamp rock, blues and southern songwriting, and his deep-voiced delivery becomes one of his defining features. His album The Gift is also part of his later catalogue, and his songs continue to be recorded and performed by other artists across country, blues and rock.