While he may have gone to that great Delta in the sky (hopefully!), Tony Joe White lives on with this posthumous release of nine demos of him on guitar and leathered vocals. It’s a treasure to have and hold on to.
As he stated in an interview with us a few years ago, White loved to tell spin yarns by the campfire, and this Dan Aurebach-produced disc is chock full of them, such as on the dark and ominous “Scary Stories” and “Boot Money” all filled with chunky guitars by the campfire. His gravelled, travelled, subtone of a voice works with the nimbus cloud of guitars and snare drum of “Someone Is Crying” and his easy stroll through the church organ’d title track. He had that ability that is so rare these days, to have a little say a lot, as on the ballad “Over You” and the gentle ode “Billy”. The last of the man who broke the mold.