Before his song “Polk Salad Annie” went Top 10 in 1969, Tony Joe White learned to how to put on a good show as a survival skill while paying his dues in some of Texas and Louisiana’s roughest honky-tonks. His hit led to a U.S. tour where unsuspecting audiences were mesmerized by the guitarist’s fiery performances and his frenzied command of the whomper stomper (aka wah-wah pedal).

Rhino Handmade preserves an unreleased 1971 live album from the self-styled Swamp Fox with THAT ON THE ROAD LOOK. The album’s 12 unreleased performances find White locked in watertight with his longtime drummer Sammy Creason and keyboardist Michael Utley along with legendary bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn.

Thought to be a rumor for the longest time, not much is known about this unreleased treasure, including the exact location where it was recorded. One thing is certain, the boys rip the roof off of wherever they are for more than an hour, mixing cuts from White’s 1971 Warner Bros. debut – “A Night In The Life Of A Swamp Fox” and “Traveling Bone” – with his earlier recordings for Monument Records – “Roosevelt And Ira Lee” and a 10-minute rave-up of “Polk Salad Annie.” THAT ON THE ROAD LOOK also spotlights White’s uncanny ability to make every song his own with a cover of T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday."

Writing in the album’s liner notes, Ben Vaughn says: “What we have here is Exhibit A, proof that the self-named Swamp Fox was a bona fide barnstormer. Or barnburner. Or both. When you cue up this disc, Tony Joe and his three-piece band are already in fourth gear. Later for that lazy, laid-back vibe. What we have here is a sense of purpose.”

As for the origin of the album, White believes it could have been recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in London during a tour opening for Creedence Clearwater Revival. White recalls the tour vividly in the liner notes: “Creedence tried to burn us down and we tried to burn them down, ’cause they were goin’ around, ‘Swamp this and swamp that,’ and ol’ Duck and me was real tight—we were fishin’ buddies and we got talkin’ one night, and he told ’em, ‘You know, Fogerty, there ain’t no alligators in Berkeley.’ From then on, it was war every night onstage.”

Before his song “Polk Salad Annie” went Top 10 in 1969, Tony Joe White learned to how to put on a good show as a survival skill while paying his dues in some of Texas and Louisiana’s roughest honky-tonks. His hit led to a U.S. tour where unsuspecting audiences were mesmerized by the guitarist’s fiery performances and his frenzied command of the whomper stomper (aka wah-wah pedal).

Rhino Handmade preserves an unreleased 1971 live album from the self-styled....+Read More...