Swamp Music: Monument Rarities

TONY JOE WHITE

Swamp Music: Monument Rarities was the 28th fan voted title and 29th ROG release pressed on vinyl. Limited to 1,450 LPs worldwide and shipping in late October. If you missed the pre-order check our store locator to find an authorized Run Out Groove dealer near you.

Vinyl Info:

Mastered for vinyl by Pete Weiss at Verdant Studios, with lacquers cut by Jeff Powell at Sam Phillips Recording Studio. 3LP, 180g black vinyl pressed at Record Industry in the Netherlands. 3LP set comes in a tri-fold direct to board jacket. Each 3LP set is individually numbered.

Details About The Record:

All tracks on this new rarities collection are making their debut on vinyl.

Biography

“The Swamp Fox” was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist best known for his 1969 hit song, “Polk Salad Annie,” and for “Rainy Night in Georgia” which he wrote but was originally made popular by Brook Benton in 1970. “Polk Salad Annie” was also recorded by Elvis and Tom Jones. He also wrote two 1989 hits for Tina Turner: “Steamy Windows,” and “Undercover Agent for the Blues.” Tony Joe White grew up in a large family on a cotton farm in Louisiana. He first began performing music at school dances and was performing in night clubs in Texas and Louisiana after graduating high school. In 1967 White signed with Monument Records, which operated from a recording studio in the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, TN, and produced rock and roll, country and western and rhythm and blues recordings, headed by lead producer Billy Swan. From 1967-1970 White released four singles with little to no commercial success in the U.S., although “Soul Francisco” was a hit in France. “Polk Salad Annie” had been released for nine months and written off as a failure by Monument, when it finally entered the U.S. charts in July 1969. The song climbed to the Top Ten by early August and eventually reached No. 8, becoming White’s signature hit song. Tony’s first full length studio album 1969’s “Black and White” was recorded with Muscle Shoals/Nashville musicians David Briggs, Norbert Putnam, and Jerry Carrigan, and featured the songs “Willie and Laura Mae Jones,” and “Polk Salad Annie,” along with a cover of Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman.” “Willie and Laura Mae Jones” was covered by Dusty Springfield and released as a single, later added to reissues of her “Dusty In Memphis” album. Three more minor hit singles followed and White toured with Steppenwolf, Anne Murray, Sly & The Family Stone, Creedence Clearwater Revival and other major rock acts of the 1970s, playing in France, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and the U.K. In 1973 Tony appeared in the film “Catch My Soul,” a rock-opera adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello. He played and sand four and composed seven songs for the musical. Tony Joe White made a comeback in the 1990s, producing a non-single track, playing a variety of instruments and writing four songs on Tina Turner’s Foreign Affairs album, including the title song and the hit single “Steamy Windows.” As a result, Tony became managed by Roger Davies, Turner’s manager of the time and was signed to Polydor. 1991’s “Closer to the Truth” studio album was a commercial success and helped put White back in the spotlight. He eventually toured Germany and France with Joe Cocker and Eric Clapton and played the Montreux Festival in 1992. In the 2000s Tony Joe White released subsequent studio albums on Sanctuary, New West, Yep Roc and more. In 2014 he appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman alongside the Foo Fighters to perform “Polk Salad Annie.” White died of a heart attack on October 24, 2018 at the age of 75.

Track Listing

Side A
1 Willie and Laura Mae Jones (alternate) 3:52
2 I Protest 3:08
3 A Man Can Only Stand Just So Much Pain 2:31
4 Toil & Trouble (early version) 3:50
5 It’s Not What You Got (It’s How You Use It) (alternate) 3:09
6 Prison Song 2:19
Side B
1 Hung Up On You (alternate) 2:35
2 Ten More Miles To Louisiana 2:24
3 Let The Party Roll On 2:29
4 Watching The Trains Go By (alternate) 2:48
5 Boom, Boom 8:02
6 Baby Please Don’t Go 4:25
Side C
1 Soul Britches 5:03
2 Dusty Marshmallow version 1 3:11
3 What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) 3:12
4 This Guy’s In Love With You (alternate) 3:36
5 Laying Out All Night 2:00
6 I Want Your Sweet Love 2:21
7 Keep A Movin’ Train 2:36
Side D
1 Woodpecker (alternate) 2:43
2 Prisoner 3:00
3 Do You Want My Love 5:03
4 Gospel Singer 3:21
5 I Hate To See You Cry 3:07
Side E
1 I Can’t Stand It 6:15
2 Mississippi River 5:13
3 Hey Jude 6:32
4 Chain of Fools 3:33
Side F
1 Mississippi Delta 3:08
2 The Ballad Of Hollis Brown 3:29
3 Blue Monday 3:53
4 Tobacco Road/Dead End Street 5:28
5 Skinny Legs & All 3:22
6 Just Look At You 2:06