| features in: Album Chart of 1969 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1960s |
Debut album from the 25-year-old “Swamp Fox” recorded with Muscle Shoals/Nashville musicians David Briggs, Norbert Putnam, and Jerry Carrigan. He was brought up in the Mississippi swamplands “where polk salad grows wild and alligators lurk in moss-covered swamps”. As he himself puts it: “I spent the first 18 years of my life there. My folks raised cotton and corn. There were lotsa times when there weren't too much to eat, and I ain't ashamed to admit that we've often whipped up a mess of polk salad. Tastes alright too… a bit like spinach.” His music is the natural result of that background, soulful and influenced by both blues and country; black and white. The superior first half (all self-penned) serves up the orchestrally soulful “Willie And Laura Mae Jones”, the funky-rocker “Don’t Steal My Love” and the entertaining “Polk Salad Annie” where Tony speak-sing-grunts his back-story as the rhythm section, horns and mouth harps give mighty fine backing. All the good work is undone on side two, the closing covers of “Wichita Lineman” (made famous by Glen Campbell, 1968) and “The Look Of Love” (Dusty Springfield, 1967) being particularly middle of the road.
The Jukebox Rebel
16–Jan–2010
| Tracklist |
| A1 | [04:47]  Tony Joe White - Willie And Laura Mae Jones (Tony Joe White) Blues Rock / Soul Rock |
| A2 | [01:52]  Tony Joe White - Soul Francisco (Tony Joe White) Blues Rock / Soul Rock |
| A3 | [02:47]  Tony Joe White - Aspen Colorado (Tony Joe White) Blues Rock / Soul Rock |
| A4 | [02:21]  Tony Joe White - Whompt Out On You (Tony Joe White) Blues Rock / Soul Rock |
| A5 | [03:50]  Tony Joe White - Don’t Steal My Love (Tony Joe White) Blues Rock / Soul Rock |
| A6 | [03:43]  Tony Joe White - Polk Salad Annie (Tony Joe White) Blues Rock / Soul Rock |
| B1 | [03:00]  Tony Joe White - Who’s Making Love? (Homer Banks, Bettye Crutcher, Don Davis, Raymond Jackson) Blues Rock / Soul Rock |
| B2 | [02:57] Tony Joe White - Scratch My Back (James Moore) Blues Rock / Soul Rock |
| B3 | [03:57]  Tony Joe White - Little Green Apples (Bobby Russell) Soul Ballad |
| B4 | [02:48]  Tony Joe White - Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb) Country |
| B5 | [03:09]  Tony Joe White - The Look Of Love (Hal David) Cerebral Pop |
