Country &
Western: The king of country cool
By Ralph McLean (Belfast Telegraph) Louisiana country crooner Tony Joe White might just be the coolest man on the planet. He's got a voice so deep, dark and gooey you could tarmac a drive with it and an attitude to life that redefines the term laidback. When I last interviewed the man they call The Swamp Fox he told me he had scheduled his last tour of Scotland and Ireland around golf courses he wanted to visit. Now that's what I call cool! Mind you, he can probably afford to take things easy these days. The royalties that must flood in from some of his finest compilations like Steamy Windows and Rainy Night In Georgia mean he doesn't exactly have to drive himself into an early grave by playing hundreds of gigs. When Tina Turner and Gladys Knight cover your songs and score international hits with them you can't be short of a few bob, can you?
There's much more to this songwriter than celebrity cover versions, however. On his latest album, Uncovered, Tony Joe has enlisted the likes of Eric Clapton, JJ Cale and Mark Knopfler and the results are understandably impressive. With 10 sultry, summery tracks Tony Joe shows that age is not relevant when you've got one of the most soulful country voices in the business. The songs simmer away like a good barbecue and every now and then Tony Joe simply throws another song onto the flames. It is a lesson in simplicity that many country stars could learn a thing or two from. Sometimes, his baritone is reduced to little more than a whisper, but with material this strong it still works. Seven brand new tracks practically ooze out of your speakers and the production is thankfully sparse and stripped back throughout. Sometimes all it takes is the odd snatch of blues harmonica and a well plucked acoustic guitar to hit home. When he "re-imagines" some of his best known hits, however, he's slightly less successful. Personally I don't need to hear another version of Rainy Night when the original is still available for all to hear on CD. After all, how do you improve on tracks that were pretty close to perfection in the first place? All in all though, this is a fine slice of prime country rock at its slinkiest, southern best. It's not going to set the world alight but if you like your music well cooked and served with style then this is the album for you and if there's a cooler country star out there right now then I have yet to meet him.
Ralph presents The Ralph McLean Show
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Down the years legends like Ray
Charles, Waylon Jennings and Tim
McGraw have taken on some of the
man's finest songs. Even Elvis
himself tackled one of Tony Joe's
swampy country soul classics when he
recorded Polk Salad Annie live in
concert. It says a lot about Tony
Joe's style that the King copied
practically every single note of his
version from the funky original.
