Tony Joe White Montreux Jazz Festival 2013

There's no mistaking Tony Joe White's signature swamp boogie. Patented in the late '60s, White has been working that same low-down blues grind ever since, taking a long sojourn from recording in the '80s before settling into a regular groove sometime around the time of the new millennium. Usually, these collections of new songs were on tiny labels – including his aptly named Swamp imprint – but 2013's Hoodoo appeared on Yep Roc and received an appropriately larger push than its recent predecessors.

Long before he signed to Yep Roc in 2013, Tony Joe White perfected his minimalist groove – so much so, his records often seemed like they flowed from the same swamp. Bad Mouthin', his third record for Yep Roc since 2013, doesn't necessarily break from that tradition – from its first note, it is quite clearly the work of Tony Joe White – but it does prove a variation on his signature by offering his first album devoted entirely to the blues. Combining blues standards with songs he wrote years ago, White highlights how pivotal the skeletal shuffles of John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed were to his own sound.

When the definitive swamp rocker Tony Joe White signed with Warner Bros. in 1971, it sure seemed like a good idea – while White seemed like an anomaly at Nashville's Monument Records, WB was a label with a reputation for nurturing creative mavericks with a taste for stylistic crossbreeding, and with his soulful, organic fusion of rock, blues, and country sounds, White was as individual as they came in the late '60s and early '70s.

Tony Joe White's albums from the 1990's are all more stripped down and blues-oriented than his more well-known material from his "Polk Salad Annie"/"Rainy Night In Georgia" heyday. But although blues has been his main idiom for the past decade or so, "Lake Placid Blues" is mainly distinguished by two of the finest rockers of White's career, the title track and "The Beach Life". This set also includes "Let The Healing Begin", which had been covered to fine effect by Joe Cocker, but I like Cocker's version much better. Other highlights include "Louisiana Rain", "Down Again", and "The Guitar Don't Lie". Another fine set by a woefully underappreciated talent.

Tony Joe White, aka the Swamp Fox, has been on a roll these past few years, issuing album after self-released album of quality original material full of deep, dark, blues-flavored Florida vintage roots music.Heroines is no exception, but it is a record with a twist. First, it's on the Sanctuary label. Secondly, five of the record's 12 tracks are recorded with female vocalists in duet. They include the great Jessi Colter, Shelby Lynne, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, and Michelle White. The set opens with "Gabriella," a brief, jazzy flamenco-kissed instrumental, played on a pair of acoustic guitars. "Can't Go Back Home" stars Lynne. A true laid-back Tony Joe nocturnal swamp blues, it nonetheless carries within it that slightly menacing tension. Lynne's voice, which is well known for its power, showcases its other side here, one that is expressive, soulful and sensual even on slow burn. White's vocal whispers its edgy truth, underscored by his signature guitar sound.

Tony Joe White is a genre unto himself. Sure, there are other artists who can approximate White's rich gumbo of blues, rock, country, and bayou atmosphere, but almost 50 years after "Polk Salad Annie" made his name, you can still tell one of his records from its first few moments. 2016's Rain Crow confirms White hasn't lost his step in the recording studio. Produced by his son Jody White, Rain Crow is lean, dark, and tough; the bass and drums (Steve Forrest and Bryan Owings) are implacable and just a bit ominous, like the sound of horses galloping in the distance, while the flinty report of White's guitar sketches out the framework of the melodies and lets the listener's imagination do the rest.

Tony Joe White, the original swamp rocker, continues to garner critical acclaim; his songwriting skills have only sharpened over the years and he remains a potent force. It was by combining country, rock and funky blue-eyed soul for his 1969 Top 10 Hit 'Polk Salad Annie' that White established his credentials. His album Dangerous was released Columbia Records in 1983, which featured the country hits 'The Lady in My Life' and 'We Belong Together'.

Tony Joe White's Hard to Handle album is built around a concert recording made in 1969 or 1970. It features White swaggering through a clutch of tough-as-rock blues and soul covers like Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go," Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle" and Jimmy Reed's "You Got Me Runnin'," as well as some originals. "I Want You" is a sludgy, nasty groover that has some truly scuzzy guitar solos and sounds like it could have come off a Jon Spencer Blues Explosion record, one of White's trademark swampy story songs "Roosevelt & Ira Lee (Night of the Moccasin)," and "When You Touch Me," a slight and uninteresting jam. Too bad the whole concert sounds like it was recorded through a wall of steel wool. The vocals are muffled at times; the sound cuts in and out and generally sounds no better than a hastily made bootleg. A couple of the songs ("I Want You" in particular) show White to be a dynamic performer with a lot more guts than one might imagine.

Tony Joe White's self-titled third album, Tony Joe White, finds the self-proclaimed swamp fox tempering his bluesy swamp rockers with a handful of introspective, soul-dripping ballads and introducing horn and string arrangements for the first time. The album – White's 1971 debut for Warner Bros. – was recorded over a two-week period in December 1970, in two different Memphis studios (one was Ardent Studios, where Big Star later recorded their influential power pop albums). His producer was none other than London-born Peter Asher, who had just produced James Taylor's early hits for the label (he would continue to produce hits for Taylor and Linda Ronstadt on his way to becoming one of the most successful producers of the '70s). One can surmise that Warner Bros. may have put White and Asher together as a way for the producer to work his magic with an artist who had much promise.

The 21st century saw Tony Joe White resume his recording and performing career, and experience a resurgence of critical interest in his older music as well. Since 2002, "the Swamp Fox" has recorded sporadically for his own Swamp imprint, and also had his back catalog remastered and reissued. Earlier in 2010, Rhino Handmade made available That On the Road Look, a previously unreleased live date. The Shine is a (mostly) low-key, basic affair. White wrote or co-wrote everything here with his wife, Leann. The band is a quintet: White plays guitars and harmonica with drummer Jack Bruno, cellist John Catchings, bassist George Hawkins, and Tyson Rogers on piano, organ, and Wurlitzer. The sound is warm and raw; the album feels like it was cut mostly live from the floor (with guitar and vocal overdubs added) and it's full of natural atmospherics. White's acoustic nylon-string guitar is prevalent, sometimes more so than his quavering, downright spooky baritone. His electric six-string work paints the backdrop.