Review: Tony Joe White – Feeling Snakey
Tony Joe White – Feeling Snakey
Format: CD (Limited) – Digital / Label: Swamp Records
Release: 2024
Text: Tom Wouters
Singer-songwriter Tony Joe White, born and raised in Louisiana, USA, gained fame with his swamp rock sound, a basic guitar/bass/drums rock sound without musical embellishment, added only sometimes by a mouth harp or an organ, topped off by the heavy bronze voice of Tony Joe.
White, who in 2018 died unexpectedly at home from a heart attack at the age of 75, enjoyed greater fame as a songwriter. At the very beginning of his career he wrote Polk Sald Annie, which became a big hit for Elvis Presley, and Rainy Night In Georgia, which was sung at the top of the charts by country singer Brook Benton. Dusty Springfield scored a hit in the US with Willie and Laura Mae Jones. Later on, Tina Turner’s stalled career would get going again with the hits Steamy Windows and Undercover Agent For The Blues and artists like Rory Gallagher, Tom Jones, Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton and Elkie Brooks covered his songs. Meanwhile, White, seemingly unmoved, stoically continued to release his own albums without much commercial success.
After his death, two more posthumous albums were released and now, on his own label Swamp Records, a re-mixed and re-mastered version of ‘Feeling Snakey, ‘an album that White originally recorded in 2002, has been released.
The new mix does justice to the performer Tony Joe White by making the normally somewhat muddy sound a lot clearer than on the original, which makes the typical Tony Joe gems such as Dark Horse Coming, the beautiful Rico, Hard Time With Sunday and the swamp rock song par excellence Taste Like Chicken, stand out.
There is one previously unreleased track on ‘Feeling Snakey’ re-mixed and re-mastered, the beautiful Panther Ridge, which refers both thematically (concern for the climate) as musically to the title song of White’s 1991 album ‘Closer To The Truth.’
‘Feeling Snakey’ re-mixed and re-mastered rightly keeps the memory of the music of the unique swamp rocker and songwriter Tony Joe White truly alive.
Tracks:
01. Feeling Snakey
02. Living Off The Land
03. Panther Ridge
04. Nothing I Would Not Do
05. Dark Horse Coming
06. Rico
07. Bayou Bleus
08. Taste Like Chicken
09. Hard Time With Sunday
10. The Organic Shuffle
11. All Those Tomorrows
Website: https://www.tonyjoewhite.com/