Tony Joe White - his music

Concert reviews of his tour in Australia and New Zealand

Other touring dates were:
March 26, 27 - The Powerstation, Auckland, New Zealand
March 29, 30 - East Coast Blues Festival, Byron Bay, Australia
April 2, 3, 13 - The Basement, Sydney
April 5,6 - Fly By Night Musos' Club, Perth
April 10, 11 - Prince Of Wales Hotel, Melbourne

Special guest on all dates were DON WALKER and band. Don was the main songwriter and keyboard player for the legendary Australian band, Cold Chisel.

Tina Turner was in Perth around the same time.

This was Tony's first tour of Australia in almost twenty years and there was a great buzz for the shows. It was Tony's first ever time in New Zealand where he actually had a gold record with, Closer To The Truth, so these shows should be very special also.

Tony was accompanied by drummer Marc Cohen.

Festival Records, Tony's company for Australia and New Zealand, have released a new record called the Tony Joe White Collection to coincide with the tour.

Tony Joe White appeared at the 8th Annual Esat Coast Blues festival in Byron Bay Australia over the Easter 1997 weekend. Both his performances on Saturday and Sunday were outstanding - on Saturday he did an intimate show in one of the festivals smaller tents to arounmd 1500 people (this is when the photos were taken) After taking the stage with a "how y'all doin" he started with a few requests, and being his first tour to Australia for a long time, he sang a lot of old tunes like Rosavelt & Ira Lee, Backwoods Preacher Man and Widow Wimbolee. He was then joined by his drummer and proceeded to belt out an hour and a half's worth of some of his classic tunes mixed liberally with new songs from Lake Placid Blues. Die hard fans (like me) mixed with people, who two hours before, were saying "Tony Joe who?" were treated to the delights of true "swamp rock" (Even Tony Joe commented at one stage that it was "gettin' real swampy in here tonite")

Sunday saw Tony Joes performace in the Big Top main festival stage - obviously word had got around about the quality of Saturdays show as, I estimate, around 10,000 people rocked the early evening away. This second show was a litte more rocky than the first as Tony Joe belted out tunes like Tunica Hotel and Steamy Windows. Both nights Tony Joe was joined by enigmatic Australian Tex Perkins of "The Cruel Sea" (one of Australias leading bands who play a very original mix of swamp, reggae and hard core rock & roll) to sing "Woman with Soul" and "High Sherrif of Calhoun Parish". The Festival boasted some of the world's best roots and blues artists such as Katie Webster, The Neville Bros and Ben Harper - but for many (including almost everyone I spoke to) Tony Joe was the hit of the three days. I only hope we don't have to wait as long for his next tour.

Brett Stephenson
smarta@smarta.com.au

And David Hennessy wrote:

The festival was fantastic! All artists were exceptional along with the weather and venue which proved to be an ideal setting for such an event. Obviously for me, the highlight was to hear live, an artist that I had been listening to for over twenty years on vinyl and cd. Like many live concerts the quality as compered to a studio recording can be less than similar, but speaking in Tony Joe White's case, the standard and delivery was superb. He gave two concerts on consecutive nights, on different stages. The second in front of the largest audience on the largest stage was on the final evening of this three day event. He started each night solo then called on his drummer, Boom Boom, to join him for tracks that required that background beat and pace. He also sang two numbers with a local artist, Tex Perkins of Cruel Sea. These along with all of his songs proved extremely popular with the large crowds. He was asked on each night to perform encores and responded with Steamy Windows.

At the beginning of each concert he called upon the audience for requests. I wasn't sure whether he was trying to get an indication that fans were familiar with his current or later hits. He was asked to play Backwoods Preacher Man, Troll, Tunica Motel, Polk Salad Annie, and High Sherriff along with others. I believe he enjoyed the response from the crowd and seemed genuinely taken by their support. He commented that he had come a long way to perform but that "It was worth every inch of the way".

I was extremely pleased with the whole event and recommend it to anyone. I shall be catching his perfomance again here in Melbourne and look forward to another opportunity to see a world class act.

David Hennessy
hennessy@melbpc.org.au

And Alison Russo wrote:

WEST COAST SHOWS: (Australia)

To many performers the thought of travelling to Western Australia could be akin to a trip to the dark side of the moon, we live in a very remote (but beautiful) part of the world. Fremantle is the historic port city on the coast, this small city has seen many visitors in its day, but none more welcome to the blues community than 'THE SWAMP FOX', TONY JOE WHITE. He performed on the 5th and 6th of April, 1997 at the 'Fly By Night Musicians Club'. Each performance was a sell out. It had been a 'long time between drinks', last time we saw Tony Joe was 18 years ago. We appreciate him making the long trek again :-)

Australians have been enjoying his music for nearly 3 decades and I think the attraction is the similarity of his experiences to our own lifestyle, even though we are thousands of miles from the United States. Groupy Girl and Soul Fransisco reminds many of the carefree hippy days of the 1970's. Those who have seen the deadly salt water crocodiles here in Australia can visualise the 'chomp, chomp' from Polk Salad Annie and relate to the haunting sounds of Bi -Yo Rythm. Then of course Steamy Windows has a universal appeal to anyone who spent their adolescence (and later) in fast cars, drive-in movies and out of the way parking places......

THE NIGHT.....I had bought tickets as soon as the shows were announced and we made our way to the 'Fly By Night' early (over 1 hour early). There was a queue already so we got in line, those without tickets were a bit anxious in case the door sales quota was already sold. By the time the doors opened at 7.30 the line was about five wide and snaking up the street and 'round the corner. there were some tickets at the door :-)

I t was a humid autumn night and this venue is excellent for the audience, it's a huge shed which might be an old aircraft hangar. Above the stage is a parachute and the atmosphere is friendly and informal, we got seats in the 3rd row and then headed for the bar which runs the length of one wall......They sold excellent Bourbon and Nacho's so the evening was off to a 'flying' start. Well at 9.30pm Tony Joe White came on stage!!!! A huge round of applause, yelling, stomping and whistling greeted him. The place was BUZZING, The noise between songs never stopped from then on.....

The first song Stockholm Blues gave us a taste of what was to come, and from then on the night was alive.....TONY started straight off by saying HI, Y'ALL and calling for requests, he seemed genuinely happy to be with us. What a performer! Every time a song ended people would call out requests like shots from a gun! One guy kept calling for Rainy Night in Georgia, TONY said "It's gonna take me a while to get through all these", this audience couldn't get enough! I was surprised that most requests were from the early albums, my favorites are on the last three. But hey I wasn't complaining! I've been to many concerts from other artists, but this one was special. At one point I thought I must be dreaming.......sitting near the front, hearing some of the best music ever to touch my soul, it dosen't get much better than that!

TONY JOE WHITE played for nearly 2 hours and we were treated to songs like; Louisiana Rain, Home Made Icecream, Polk Salad Annie, Roosevelt and Ira Lee, They caught the devil and put him in jail in Eudora Arkansas, Even Trolls love Rock and Roll, Backwoods Preacher Man, Stud Spider, Sheriff of Calhoun Parish, Widow Wimberly, Main Squeeze, Undercover Agent for the Blues (I love that one), and as an encore the great Steamy Windows!

The Drummer * Mark Cohen should get credit too, what a great drummer, he and Tony played like one person. With TONY on the Fender and Mark on the drums with cymbals flying, the atmosphere was electric. Who needs a more in the band? These two gave off a full sound and must have been exhausted later. It was a steamy night and TONY said a couple of times "It's gettin a bit swampy in here", he also invited people to dance if they wanted.....A few were happy to do so. When they played Cool Town Woman, TONY started to laugh when he got to the bit about the 'dog just howled all night'. Actually a few songs brought a smile to his face, did he remeber something about writing them or was he just having a good time?

All to soon it was over and we were out on the street, it had been a rainy night in Fremantle while we were inside. Hey that reminds me.....TONY you didn't play Rainy night in Georgia! I guess y'all are just going to have to come back now, ya hear?

Alison Russo
kgzxqk@echidna.stu.cowan.edu.au

THE jukebox in the corner of the smoky bar in Bosnia plays only one kind of music. The singer, in a drawl from somewhere near the heart of America's Deep South, tells the drinkers tales of alligators, swamps and the strange people who inhabit them.
It's the stuff of another world, but the clientele is trying to escape Bosnia's sombre post-war reality and these songs give them what they want. So much so that some of the patrons write to the American, Tony Joe White, to tell him how they feel.

When Tony Joe took the stage at the Byron Bay Blues Festival in Northern New South Wales, Australia, over Easter he demonstrated the style that has won him an international cult following over almost 30 years.
But for his telltale drawl, he could be the bloke next door. He's 53, a father of three, grandfather of one and has been married to Leann for 33 years.
He has a house outside of town and a cabin in the mountains. He likes to fish and stay in tune with nature. Born and raised on a cotton farm near the Louisiana swamps, he is the youngest of seven children.

His tools of trade are simple guitar and harmonica. This, then, is the singer, songwriter and performer of swamp music.
That music was, predictably, shaped by the environment he grew up in America's Deep South. It has own mystique alligators lurk, hoot owls call and the mythical troll prowls.

How does he explain the appeal of this to people in a Bosnian hellhole?
Maybe the realness of it. It's not intended for no charts or Billboard magazine. It reaches people in a lot of different places. And maybe it's writing pretty close to home what you feel and what you see and not trying to be on the top 40.

The swamp is mystical not just for Tony Joe, but also for fans. The word itself is so mystical. People love to say that word. Swaaamp, or swampy, and they always laugh. It's (the swamp) one of the few things left alone, he says.

It was the French who started a love affair with his music, tagging it swamp rock and calling him the Swamp Fox. I don't have no problem with that, says Tony Joe.

Whether it be the swamp, his home in Tennessee or his shack in the Ozark Mountains, being close to nature is important. I've always got to be around close to that. Where I live is important to my writing. I live way back in the woods near a little river; I hear the bullfrogs and hoot owls and take out my guitar and it happens.

Two songs written within a fortnight in 1968, Polk Salad Annie and Rainy Night in Georgia, arguably define the artist.
Elvis Presley added to the popularity of Polk Salad Annie by performing it and Brook Benton made Rainy Night in Georgia his signature tune. That's all right with the Swamp Fox, who has Tina Turner and Joe Cocker singing his stuff these days.

When he got out of high school and was driving trucks in Georgia it seemed that it was 'raining all over the world'. I lived that, just like polk salad that my momma made me eat.

To Tony Joe the songs are not that different. Some people say 'you out-swamp rock and you out-swamp blues', but writing don't have any kind of boundaries. I worked driving trucks in Georgia and those rainy nights were real.

But, hang on, Polk Salad Annie is about a dysfunctional family Annie's momma works on a chain gang, her father is a layabout, her brothers are thieves and her grandma was eaten by an alligator!
On the other hand, Rainy Night in Georgia is about a wanderer sheltering from those rainy Georgian nights while dreaming of his sweetheart. Is there another Polk Salad Annie in him? Maybe. I've got a new song, Gumbo John, about an old swamper who lived back in the woods - he got into trouble with some 'gators too ...

The family man bursts forth when he talks of wife Leann, who joins him in songwriting. I kinda got the best deal and a good Texas woman. I've been married since I was 20. If I hadn't had a family, I could have drifted off into anything.

Not surprisingly, he pauses to add that Leann was the inspiration and focus of a song he wrote called Texas Woman.
We just do our own thing. We may write two or three songs together in a year. Undercover Agent for the Blues was a big turning point. That song as well as Steamy Windows got the Tina Turner treatment, a performer who is stellar in Tony Joe's eyes.

He sees a spiritual side to it all; the swamp, staying close to nature and being a receiving station for the songs he gets. On account of God lets me do this and it reaches people in different ways. It's not because of me. I don't know where they come from, they just pop out.

The man can't be accused of changing his approach to suit a market. Back in 1969, colleague Ritchie Yorke wrote of Tony Joe's music: You can't help but feel that you've been there. And if that's not honest and beautiful communication, I don't know what is.

He also highlighted the honesty of it: To the uninitiated it can be shocking, weird and maybe even horrifying, but it's real and that's what counts.

Tony Joe once said:I haven't changed a whole lot; I'm almost like a lone wolf out there. I just play my guitar and don't worry about it. They don't know if I'm black, white, country or rock.
Is it still the case these days? That's it. That covers a lot of ground, he says.

The connection between performer and public was obvious as Tony Joe thrived on the energy of the Blues Festival. He responded with humour when a fan jumped on to the stage and put an arm around him so someone else could take a photo.
For 90 minutes, with guitar, harmonica and drummer, Tony Joe was in his element. When Australia's Tex Perkins, of The Cruel Sea, joined him in singing Woman With Soul and High Sheriff of Calhoun Parish, the crowd was impressed.
For Tony Joe, the festival was a blast. I had some fun up there, it was a real good festival. That's like back home in the cotton patch. I'm pretty sure I'll be back.
Fans will love that.

Tony Joe plans to release a new album later on this year.

Tony Joe White had an interesting encounter with two of Australia's more eccentric comics when he appeared on the Club Buggery show on Saturday, April 12, 1997.
For the uninitiated, the show's name probably seems bizarre but the word buggery is used in unusual ways in Australia. For instance, when telling an individual you no longer want them in your presence, you could tell them to 'go to buggery'.
How comedians HG Nelson (real name Greg Pickhaver) and Roy Slavin (John Doyle) decided on Club Buggery for the name of a national Saturday night television program is not really clear.
Even less clear is how to describe the show to someone who has not seen it. Roy and HG are co-hosts and are supported by a group of musicians known as the Brand New Beatles, a two-woman singing group called the Nissan Cedrics and an intro-man and former television quiz show host named Ian Turpie who usually sings a cabaret-style song at the end of the show as well as taking part in weekly pre-recorded skits with the Nissan Cedrics and others.
The show plays to a live audience and invited guests, who include politicians, sportspeople, scientists, musicians, et al, join Roy and HG for an 'interview' in which the two comedians mix light-hearted and serious questions.
Roy and HG are able to keep both guests and audience laughing without embarrassing anyone too much. They make outrageous exaggerations and present themselves as experts on every subject but the show thrives on such eccentricities.
Possibly the most obscure part of the format is that Roy and HG see most things from a sporting perspective and, each Saturday, refer to the set by some name/term that describes a sporting event/person, etc.

On the night Tony Joe appeared, it was called the 'Occie', which referred to champion Australian racehorse Octagonal which raced for the last time that afternoon.
That sets the scene for the dialogue of the show which follows. What was most appealing about the interview was the way in which Tony Joe obviously enjoyed the banter although he seemed a little bemused on a couple of occasions.

When Roy suggested that Tony Joe must have been smoking something when he wrote Polk Salad Annie, Tony Joe insisted, No, man.
Tony Joe came back at the close of the show and performed Polk Salad Annie. The interview has been reproduced verbatim but a couple of words are indistinguishable because of laughter or one person talking over the top of another.

This is how it went:
HG: Now Tony Joe you come from Louisiana - you were raised in Louisiana - which is a place as far as Australia goes (Here Tony Joe bends forward and sips a drink) - yes, try the drinks, it's a Louisiana special that one.
TJ: What is that? (Referring to the drink)
HG: (Continuing his question) Ah, um, it's a place of fable and some myth in Australia, you know, of catfish and alligators. Are these things still there? I know you come from Oak Grove, what's Oak Grove like now, has it changed much from when you were a kid?
TJ: No, Oak Grove were good worlds in my day. It was a little town, it was like, um, two grocery stores and a cotton gin and a church and it's still just like that.
HG: And are alligators and catfish still the local - if I can characterise the animals of the area - are still the main things in the area.?
TJ: Aw, yeah, the ‘gators are kinda getting pushed on down. They cut down a lot of the swamps and the paper mills come in and making money off that, but there's still a few around.
HG: Now, I'm right in thinking that French radio was the first, er, radio to pick up your work, ah, in a serious sort of way and play it a lot to make it chart. Um, and, yet, Louisiana and France is historically got a connection - is there any evidence of that sort of cultural connection still there?
TJ: You know ... Well, like on my part of Louisiana, I'm up there in the delta in about Mississippi and Arkansas, like the blues country and then you get on down to Cajun country where the French are. But, I don't know, the French people just kinda felt something in the music you know, inside of them, you know, when that first happened 'cause Polk Salad Annie had even come out yet when that happened. And I was still in Texas playing a little club for $10 a night and all of a sudden they called me from France and said it's happened. And, you know, it was like a funny deal to go over there and thousands of people and your going 'Here's something you ain't never been down south, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this' ... (TJ laughs) ... And it was like they seemed to feel it though.
Roy: Does it annoy you Tony that, um, so much of your gear has been ripped off, stolen? If we look at Mark Knoppler, he just bludged your ideas, (TJ laughs and covers his eyes with his hand) stole your ideas and gave you no acknowledgment. If you look at Chris Rea .. I mean you look at a Chris Rea bloody CD - not that you'd want to, but if you did - you have a look and there's no, 'I would like to thank Tony Joe White for all his ideas, for his style, for what he brought to us because I've copied everything.' (TJ raises his eyebrows and laughs) Does that annoy you? It would me because you're just being ripped off? I mean Mark Knoppler rips you off. What are you gonna do about it?
TJ: You know man..
Roy: Can you sue him?
TJ: I want a tape of this show 'cause I want to send this to him. (Lots of audience laughter) We're good friends.
Roy: Look, I've said this to his face. (Audience laughter) I say Mark Knoppler has never had one musical idea of his own in his life and Chris Rea even less. (TJ laughs) Now, what are you going to do about it?
TJ: I think you mighta just done it.
HG: They knock off Roy's songs as well you know ... that Twisting By The Pool, Roy wrote that weeks (perhaps he meant to say years) ago. (TJ can't contain his laughter) It was Twisting By Lithgow (Lithgow is a town in New South Wales, Australia) when Roy wrote it ....
Roy: Twisting by the Lithgow Pool.
HG: Now, I was going to say - the interesting thing is - that in the area that you come from - as you mentioned before - there's a lot of music played and there's a very strong blues tradition ... is this still alive now with younger players coming into it?
TJ: Back down there, where I was at?
HG: Yeah.
TJ: You know, I don't know, man, I've haven't been down there in a long time. I go .. (Lots of audience laughter. Perhaps something happened off camera which amused them)
HG: (With hand to his ear) There's whispers that you get that they tell you that ... (Tails off amid laughter)
TJ: I go see my brother and I go fishing with him but I don't go to any clubs when I'm home, I just visit my family and come back, but I'd imagine there's gotta be somebody playing a little swampy music down there somewhere.
Roy: Do you ever use open tunings or a capo or something like that?
TJ: No.
Roy: No?
TJ: No...
Roy: Do you ever play in D flat, I think one of the great blues keys ... ah, or B flat. (TJ looks really bemused now) What key do you play in?
TJ: I've been in E all my life, Sir .. and A (He says this pointing at Roy and laughing)
Roy: So occasionally you go to A. I mean, is the blues limited? I mean it's E, A and - what? - B flat 7th, or just B 7th and that's about it.
TJ: It could be, but you know I play a lot of almost Spanish cord, Mexican (indistinguishable word) minors and things like that and kinda blend them all together. But if you listen to, you know, Lightning and John Lee, they don't stay away from E, A and B too much, you know.
HG: Now, we've gotta ask you the question; did you ever meet the King?
TJ: Elvis?
HG: Yeah.
TJ: Yeah.
HG: And could you set the scene for us; can you describe the hamburgers and the racquet ball?
Roy: Did he shoot the television while you where there?
TJ: He stayed away from his gun. He invited us; flew us out to Las Vegas, me and my wife, to watch him do Polk Salad Annie live; his producer was a good friend of mine and we hung out out there for three or four days and then in Memphis again he recorded a couple more of my tunes and I went down in the studio and played a little guitar and he always treated me really good every time I was around him. And I'll tell you one little quick thing about the deal and you can see what this was about. It was in the dressing room, and a friend of mine, Jim Brolin .. Dr Marcus Welby from the television. He was in there with me and we was all talking. Anyway, I was getting ready to leave about the third night, so I said to Elvis, 'I got this little place up in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas, it's so far back in the woods that nobody even knows who you are or don't even care who you are, you know - if you want to come up and fish and hang out and rest...' And he said, 'Oh, yeah, man, sure, sure.' I left the room and he turned to Brolin and he said, 'Can you believe Tony Joe invited me to go fishing? And Brolin said, 'Yeah, you should do it too, man'. But, it was like, here's a man flying to Dallas to get a cheeseburger at night in a big jet, so fishing was probably weird to him you know. I think if he coulda done it he ... did stuff like that, I believe he mighta sung a lot longer.
Roy: I think, yes, that would have helped him immensely, a bit of fishing, (Audience laughter and TJ hides his eyes looking embarrassed) I think you're right. He was a pretty ... he would have been a pretty weird fisherman Elvis, I imagine. You know, put the hook in his leg and.. (Trails off amid laughter) When you did the Isle of Wight concert, you were working with, or you were on the same bill as, say, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, people like that; did you ever think of dropping some acid and doing acid rock sort of swamp, swamp rock..?
TJ: (Looks at audience, raises his eyebrows as they laugh and then says, with a smirk....) I tell ya, I just had a big hit back stage, there man... No, I tell you, I was always really scared of all that whole scene. I drink beer and smoke cigarettes, that's all I'd ever do but I was spooked of it. The only reason I didn't do it was because I was very scared of it 'cause I've seen people go down around me in droves you know, and I was always kind of an outcast in this bunch anyway and they never did hang with me too much.
Roy: Did they ever suggest .... here's a tab Tony, yeah, sure, we'll come fishing with you, man... have a tab.
TJ: Yeah, well, in fact, I mean, people even in the days of Polk Salad Annie when it was happening, they thought it was grass, you know, like...
Roy: Well, it is isn't it, I mean... isn't that what it's about?
TJ: No, man. ... And they would bring all these piles of marijuana back stage ... 'Man we brought you some Polk tonight ... I'd go, 'That ain't Polk Salad, man.'
Roy: Polk Salad Annie ... 'gators got your granny.
TJ: (Looking at the audience) He's got it..
Roy: Seems pretty weird to me, Tony, sounds like that came out of a bit of weed, man.
TJ: It did, the polk weed, yeah. You know we used to dry that out and smoke it too, really.
Roy: The polk weed?
TJ: Yeah.
Roy: What was it like?
TJ: It just burn your throat, you didn't get no buzz....
HG: We have a similar thing here - we used to get banana skins and dry them . (Trails off amid laughter) ... Leaves a slightly... (More laughter)
TJ: (Turning to his mike) Check one, two, three.
HG: Can I just ask about writing for the King when the King was doing an album would he ring up and say, 'King here, have you got any songs Tony Joe?', or was there a whole heap of business that went through ... I mean Roy wrote a few for the King but there was no evidence the King could read. He'd jot down the notes.....
Roy: I didn't make the printing big enough, that was the problem.
TJ: It was .. about him calling me ... no he never called but Felton would call ... the producer, or someone. This was another thing that was weird about this whole deal. It was like three or four o'clock in the morning - in fact our last get together - phone rings, I'm in Memphis, and this voice with a German accent says: 'Mr White, we're down at the studio and we was wondering if you have any more songs?' And I said, 'Who in the hell is this at four o'clock in the morning?' And he said, 'Well, you don't understand - it was like a spy or something, man - we need some more songs..' And I said, 'Who? What's your name?' He said, 'I'm Freddie Beanstalk, I'm with Elvis Presley and Felton and we're down at Stax - at four in the morning - can you bring us something?' So, man, I had Thing About You Baby, For Ol' Times Sake, I had them on a little demo. I stumbled around the studio there and got dressed and I get down there and it's an alleyway and these two little guys come out with these trenchcoats on and they usher me into this little dark room with a tape recorder and they play just a piece of I Got A Thing About You Baby ... 'I like this, we keep this.' I ain't saw Elvis, I ain't saw nobody, just these two little spies. And then, they play For Ol' Times Sake ...'We like this.' They play the third song.. 'We don't like this, you can go.'
Roy: Terrific blokes.
TJ: Yeah, I say, 'Where's Felton, man, who in the hell are you boys?' You know, it was like about that time Felton came by and then Elvis came in and it was clear, but I thought it was odd he was letting these two old men.. businessmen .. pick his ..
Roy: Pick his material.
TJ: .. tunes, and then run you off if they didn't dig it, man. So, no fishing ... (Trails off amid laughter as Roy shakes his head in mock surprise)
HG: Now, you finish an Australian tour... (Trails off)
TJ: It's a downer story, you know.
HG: Aw, that doesn't worry us. You're finishing up an Australian tour tomorrow night at the Basement in Sydney with two shows, one at 9.30 and one at midnight.
TJ: Yes.
HG: And, er, now you like playing in Australia ... you like being here?
TJ: Yeah, I love it over here, it's like playing down in Louisiana or Texas to me. The people, they get up on stage with you, they holler and they stomp and romp. It’s like just go out by yourself, sit down with your guitar for about 30 minutes take requests and then you get the drums out and rock. It's just, like, let the night happen over here, you know. I like it a lot.
HG: And on that winning note it's time to wish Tony Joe all the very best for the future and I ask all Club Buggery viewers whether here in the Occie or there at home to get them out and bang them together (He means to applaud) 'gator style as a way of thanking Tony Joe White!

(Thanks a lot for your time writing all this, Warren !)