If you wonder what people mean when they say someone has a velvet voice, just listen to Tony Joe White.
Even his speaking voice is so rich and full that you can’t help but almost become mesmerized in it. Add to that his incredible songwriting catalog — full of hits including “Rainy Night in Georgia” and “Willie and Laura Mae Jones” for artists ranging from Elvis Presley to Tina Turner — and you have the making for an incredible concert.
“I haven’t played in a while,” said White of a recent gig in Nashville, Tenn., where a reviewer noted audience members were taking photos throughout the show. “It was very cool and the crowd was beautiful and my drummer, and I were just deep in the swamp. I really don’t pay much attention to flashes and things like that.”
White is now on tour behind his latest album, “The Shine.” Although he has never toured extensively — preferring to spend time as a songwriter and producer in his 50 years in the business — the concert dates he’s now playing have given him a chance to connect with fans who have long admired his work.
In songs full of reflections, dreams and dusty roads, you can hear the imagery that boosted White to the major leagues of songwriting. Add to that his voice, and it’s almost a sacrilege that others are better known for performing his songs. To White, though, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I always liked the idea of someone else performing my songs,” he said. “Before I started writing, I was performing onstage doing [songs made famous by] John Lee Hooker and Elvis Presley. Then one day it comes around that Elvis flew me to Las Vegas to see him do my songs live. To hear someone sing your songs — like Elvis, Tina Turner, people like that, that’s what I enjoy.”
In his own concerts, White never uses a set list, preferring to have audience members call out the songs they’d like him to play.
“I only go out about two or three weeks at a time,” he said. “I’d rather stay by the river and write and fish and do what I do. When I do travel, I just take [a drummer] and we keep it real raw onstage.”
White’s fans know that the Louisiana songwriter has never been about putting style before substance. Certainly that’s been true since he first heard Bobbie Gentry sing the classic hit “Ode to Billie Joe.”
“That is about the most real song I could imagine,” he said. “I heard that and thought ‘I am Billie Joe.’ Then I knew I had to write something I knew about, something real.”
