Tony Joe White - Ain’t Going Down This Time

From the Album: Closer To The Truth, Year of Release: 1991#blues#bluesrock Lyrics: Ain’t Going Down This Time The real Tony Joe White must have been put on ice about 19 years. Since the outstanding but understated Home Made Ice Cream (1973), the man who almost singularly defined the swamp rock genre with “Polk Salad Annie“ and “Roosevelt And Ira Lee“ continued writing but released non-essential albums like Eyes, The Real Thang and Dangerous. An album’s worth of material with Booker T and the MG’s in 1975 sadly stayed in the vaults. Purhaps four songs on Tina Turner’s Foreign Affair (1990) did the trick Whatever, the old swampfox is back with a small Muscle Shoals rhythm section and the effects are a musical promised land of blues-spiced swamp soul replete with solid drumming for Roger Hawkins and White’s guitar- induced “swamp box“ and “whomper-stomper“ and that forlorn harmonica. Any compromises are cleverly crafted into his trademark sound of deep, breathy vocals found in the title track. The intro to the very powerful “Closer To The Truth“ a stark critique of modern greed that exhibits a Daniel Lanois style production with its broad keyboard layers and sustained guitar lines, is a veritable highlight. And so is the lascivious “Steamy Windows“ with its lusty images that celebrated recent status on Tina Turner’s last album. The bluesy mood of “Ain’t Going Down This Time“ is deceptively brilliant and ultimately posive as the narrative explains the singer’s loneliness, while the chilling irony reveals his determination to avoid such a bleak, personal state. Meanwhile, White demonstrates his fluent guitar skills, a consistent strength on this one-hour album. The sound is tough and the lyrics potent. “I thought I saw Robert Johnson walking out across the field“ discribes the ambience of the mediumrocking “Tunica Motel“. And it’s that ambience that recalls his first album for Warner Brothers in 1970, simply titled Tony Joe White, where he thanked his father Charlie White for the soulful licks on “My Kind Of Woman“. He keeps it in the family once more by thanking his wife and children “for helping me to stay on the path of a decent groove“. That decent groove is the total hallmark of “Closer To The Truth“, where the simple magic of Muscle Shoals kept everything consistent, be it Hawkins’ varied and perfect timing or the keyboards of both Steve Nathan and the unassuming legend, Spooner Oldham. It’s this small ensemble that prevents White from remaining crestfallen, allowing him the space to display the distant harmonica nuances troughout the bridge of “Cool Town Woman“ that combine magically with his deft, electric and acoustic guitar fills and Hawkins rhythmic spoons. After too many years meandering near the bottom of the rock ’n’ roll mountain, Tony Joe White has taken that first giant step. The currency of “Closer To The Truth“ is a disciplined dedication to a stringent formula of singing, writing, playing and producing. And the quality is both satisfying and excellent. Bass – David Hood Drums, Spoons – Roger Hawkins Electric Piano [Wurlitzer] – Spooner Oldham Horns – Harvey Thompson Keyboards – Steve Nathan Percussion – Mickey Buckins Vocals [Not Credited], Guitar, Harmonica, Effects [Whomper, “Swamp-Box“] – Tony Joe White You can download the music : VIDEO COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Video is made for entertainment purposes only and you can download this track on any authorized website such as, iTunes and ... No copyright infringement is intended in the making of this video. All rights to published audio, video, graphic and text materials belong to their respective owners. If you are the author or copyright owner of any of the material I use, and you don’t like it to be used by me, please contact: I recommend you my channel Blues & Rock Ilija Capko