Swamp Story

Tony Joe White's "The Beginning" is some of the rawest grittiest music you're likely to encounter. Most tracks are pared down with just Tony Joe & the soulful guitar, accompanied by nothing more than the thump of his foot. "Rich Woman Blues" is a hot breathy blues track. "Raining On My Life" is a melodic poor boy tune, "It was sometime in late September & the leaves were turing brown, & as near as I can remember, I was somewhere on the ground." Tony sounds like a whole band on the bouncy "Ice Cream Man," "She's a cool mamma jamma, but she don't like to wait; If you tell her you're coming, well you better not show up late." "Going Back to Bed" is a slow track where Tony's guitar sounds like weeping while "Drifter" is a similarly slow tune that regrets life on the road. Tony is at his funky best on "More to This Than That," "If this is the end of me just keep my guitars in the family; don't put 'em under glass & tune 'em flat, ought to be more to this than that." Spanish touches grace the ballad "Down By the Boarder." Tony goes into deep blues gear for "Wonder Why I Feel So Bad." "Clovis Green" is the song story of a wealthy man with a pregnant daughter. Tony Joe's guitar is fluid on his diatribe against the corporate music biz, "Rebellion." Tony gets funky with the closer, "Who You Gonna Hoo-Doo Now," "Coffee skin, a little bit of cream, golden eyes with a touch of green, high cheek bones, kind of tall, you won't think twice if you think at all." The music shines with these unplugged spare arrangements; raw grit makes it worth the trip.

Tony Joe White started in the late `60s playing a unique style of swampy, soulful rockin' R&B. His greatest commercial success was in his first few years, with songs like "Polk Salad Annie" (which was covered by Elvis himself) and "Rainy Night In Georgia" (which became a big hit for Brook Benton). He then went into a period of roughly 15 years where he was barely heard from, releasing only a few albums during that time. Then, in 1991, the activity picked up, and he has recorded 6 albums in the last 11 years. The `90s albums are all quite different from his more famous early period. There is almost no hint of soul music anymore, but in it's place, White has become heavily influenced by the blues. All of the later-era Tony Joe CDs sound quite similar, but "One Hot July" is the bluesiest, and in my opinion, one of the best. It seems that White's guitar playing gets better with each successive album, and by now he's so good that he reminds me a lot of Mark Knopfler. In fact on "I Want My Fleetwood Back" he even employs a fuzzy-toned guitar similar to the one used by Dire Straits on their hit "Money For Nothing". The songwriting is extremely strong on "One Hot July" as well. My favorite track is a smoky blues called "The Delta Singer", a heartfelt song about performing in Australia on a bill with an unnamed Mississippi Delta Blues singer, presumably now passed away. "I never got to tell him I liked the boots he wore, and the faded denim jacket bought from some Mississippi store". He laments the state of a music business that seemingly has no room for the sort of honest, gritty, down-home music plied by Tony Joe and his Delta Blues singing friend. "You only got one way to play it and the blues they never lie, but you get so tired of fighting the flavor of the week, and it drives you to a distant shore where you might find some peace". Sounds pretty much like Tony Joe's life story. There are several other outstanding blues numbers here - "Cold Fingers", "I Believe I've Lost My Way". "Gumbo John" is a fine Cajun-flavored rocker. "Ol' Black Crow" sounds like JJ Cale at his best. There is not a weak song on the album, and Tony Joe is in fine voice throughout. Highly recommended.

Curious cross between Deliverance (which came out nine years earlier) and Predator (which came out a lot later) has National Guardsmen on a boring weekend exercise in a Louisiana bayou, only to find themselves under attack from local redneck Cajuns, all due to the troop's own stupidity. The dysfunctional group dynamic is far more compelling than the traps the group will face en route to death or freedom (and there's a lot of the former), with a solid cast of notable faces that eventually add as many corpses to the body count as their attackers. Very intriguing film.

A nice compilation of 20 great ballads of the legendary CCR, that was first released as a Double LP at 1980. Selected from the most popular albums of the famous rock band of the 70's you will have the opportunity to remember immortal ballads like "Suzy Q", "Proud Mary", "Have You Even Seen The Rain" and many others in lossless. Enjoy.