in the previous post, we took note of the passing of the great chicago bluesman Otis Rush, who departed in late September at age 83. well, there has been another death of note in the world of american rock n soul music…..the king of the swamp, Tony Joe White, done made his move to that great polk salad patch in the sky! tony joe was 75 and at home in nashville on october 24th when his heart just sorta called it quits. best known for his still great single Polk Salad Annie, and the author of the smash Rainy Night in Georgia, Tony Joe was one solid cool cat who made and wrote lots of good ones in addition to those two famed hits.
a fun recent appearance by tony joe happened in 2014, when he appeared on dave letterman’s show to do polk salad annie, backed up by none other than the foo fighters. after the song, dave exclaimed, “holy cow! if i was this guy, you could all kiss my ass….and i mean that!”
other super cool tunes by tony joe include Roosevelt and Ira Lee, Oak Grove Louisiana on a Saturday Night, As The Crow Flies, Even Trolls Love Rock n Roll, and Mother Earth.
if you get a chance soon, do yourself a favor and listen to a half hour of both Otis and Tony Joe via whatever music service you favor (pandora, spotify, etc.)……it’ll do ya no harm! (for Otis, try his Right Place, Wrong Time cd or the live So Many Roads. and for Tony Joe, just hit up his Best Of cd, which has a ton of goods)