Tony Joe White’s Sultry Swamp Rock

Prepare to be mesmerized.

Anne Goetze


Tony Joe White
Rain Crow
Yep Roc

Courtesy of Yep Rock Music Group

You can practically feel the steam rising from Tony Joe White’s latest stew of sultry swamp rock. Now in his seventies, the seemingly ageless conjurer responsible for the evocative classics “Polk Salad Annie” and “Rainy Night in Georgia” casts a powerful spell on these dark tales of dangerous impulses and mysterious natural forces, intertwining his low, leisurely voice with sleepy guitar licks and sexy rhythms that feel just right. In less-skilled hands, Rain Crow might seem a shade hokey, but White’s laid-back charisma lends an aura of soulful authority to songs like “The Opening of the Box,” about backwoods snake handlers, and the spooky “Tell Me a Swamp Story.” Prepare to be mesmerized once again.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate