Smoke From the Chimney

by Tony Joe White

Overview

Tony Joe White was an artist who knew he was good and didn't need a record company executive to tell him how to make music. This suited him just fine as an artist, but it didn't serve him so well in terms of selling records. His working methods and his lack of concern about fitting the comfortable boundaries of a genre didn't endear him to most label bosses, which is the main reason his recording career didn't fare especially well in the 1980s and '90s. White died on October 24, 2018, and after he passed, his son Jody White (who produced several latter-day albums for his dad) found a stash of tapes of home recordings documenting a number of songs that were never heard by the public. With help from Black Keys leader and outspoken fan Dan Auerbach, Jody took the rough tapes -- with just Tony Joe's voice and electric guitar -- and added full-band backings using the crew of top-shelf Nashville session players who've become a frequent presence on Auerbach's projects. This doesn't sound like a good idea at all, especially given the idiosyncrasies of White's writing and performing styles, but thankfully, Jody and Auerbach know and respect the Swamp Rock master's ways, and 2020's Smoke from the Chimney is an unexpected success. White's credo in making music was generally less is more, reveling in the spare, deeply funky grooves of his country/soul fusion, but his voice was a shadow of its former self in his last years, and on Smoke from the Chimney, the arrangements do a lot of the heavy lifting that his vocals couldn't manage in terms of creating a mood and reinforcing his narratives. And while these aren't great Tony Joe White songs, they're more than good enough to merit the time and trouble Jody and Auerbach put into this project, especially the moody poor folks' tales of "Boot Money" and "Bubba Jones," the lovelorn "Del Rio You're Making Me Cry," "Over You," and the powerfully atmospheric "Scary Stories." This album is a project of love and admiration for Tony Joe White, and Smoke from the Chimney honors his legacy while reminding us that the tunes he left on the shelf are more effective and compelling than the emphasis cuts on most other songwriters' albums. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	05/07/2021
Label:	Easy Eye Sound
UPC:	0888072238152
Rank:	72304

Tracks

1. Smoke From the Chimney
2. Boot Money
3. Del Rio, You¿¿¿re Making Me Cry
4. Listen to Your Song
5. Over You
6. Scary Stories
7. Bubba Jones
8. Someone Is Crying
9. Billy

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Tony Joe White   Primary Artist,Vocals,Harmonica,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Paul Franklin   Guitar (Steel)
Dave Roe   Bass,Guitar (Bass)
Pat McLaughlin   Vocals (Background)
Shae Fiol   Vocals (Background)
Dan Auerbach   Bass,Drums,Chimes,Percussion,Vibraphone,Glockenspiel,Guitar (Bass),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Gene Chrisman   Drums
Roy Agee   Trombone
Matt Combs   Strings
Mike Rojas   Piano,Celeste,Clavinet,Vibraphone,Vocals (Background)
Ray Jacildo   Keyboards
Sam Bacco   Drums,Percussion
Jim Quine   Vocals (Background)
Bobby Wood   Organ,Piano,Mellotron
Billy Sanford   Guitar,Guitar (Electric),Gut String Guitar
Tyler Summers   Sax (Baritone)
Stuart Duncan   Fiddle
Nick Movshon   Bass,Guitar (Bass)
Mireya Ramos   Fiddle,Vocals (Background)
Eric Deaton   Bass,Guitar (Bass)
Evan Cobb   Sax (Alto)
Marcus King   Guitar (Electric)

Technical Credits

Dan Auerbach   Mixing,Producer,Recording Producer
Jody White   Producer,Executive Producer
Ray Jacildo   Programming
Tony Joe White   Composer
Billy Sanford   Tic Tac
Ryan Smith   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
Trey Keller   Engineer
Leann White   Composer
Perry Shall   Design
M. Allen Parker   Mixing,Engineer,Recording
Ryan McFadden   Engineer,Vocal Engineer
Caleb VanBuskirk   Engineer
Michael Deano   Assistant Engineer
Mickey Smay   Assistant Engineer