Uncovered

Tony Joe White | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 5, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Swamp Records
• ASIN: B000H5V8G8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,923 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #38 in Music > R&B > Soul > Southern Soul

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Tony Joe White says he always saw the friends he invited to play on his new album--Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, J.J. Cale, Michael McDonald, and the late Waylon Jennings--as "keepers of the fire." They're also premier custodians of loneliness and despair, the two emotions that lie at the heart of this hypnotic submersion into country/swamp blues. From the kickoff track, "Run for Cover," with Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns, these meditations on mourning--lost lovers, spiritual struggles, anxiety that knows no name and no bottom--grab the listener fast and pull him down into swirling dark waters. For that reason, there's a numbing sameness--on occasion, two songs back-to-back seem to simply be extensions of each other. But while Jennings's effort is more a portrait of the artist testing his chops after suffering a stroke, other collaborations stick in the mind. The dour Knopfler shows up on the most optimistic song, "Not One Bad Thought," but his vocals still sound like the barely uttered words of a depressive on a bad down. Clapton's voice remains characteristically modest on "Did Somebody Make a Fool Out of You," yet his guitar work--measured and full of emotion--proves what you don't play is as important as what you do. Still, the best pairing is that with Michael McDonald on "Baby, Don't Look Down." When White's smoky rumble meets McDonald's bruised, angelic tenor, you'll know why God made music. --Alanna Nash

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Naked As Genius Gets, September 19, 2006

By 

o dubhthaigh (north rustico, pei, canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Uncovered (Audio CD)

This is absolutely one of the greatest blues and swamp CDs ever. If your recollection of TJW is the novelty tune "Polk Salad Annie," then you are in for an awakening. His baritone rumbles through these humidity soaked Louisianna blues with such authority that you'll find yourself hit by something like a stungun musically. He sings lower than most electric basses can reach and from deep in that well comes pain and compassion in heaping bucketfulls. On top of that he wonderfully reprises "Rainy Night in Georgia" to such tremendous effect that you'll have a hard time recalling the marvellous Brook Benton rendition.
He is joined to incredible effect by some stellar friends, who have the good taste to support White instead of upstage him. Clapton, most significantly, is brilliant with White. It's in the blues that Clapton really shines. He should stick with this material instead of trying to write cloying pop sentimentalities. White would have none of that, and he and Clapton positively cook with all the jets up. So too with Mark Knopfler. And all this time I thought it was Chet Atkins who influenced MK the most! There is a wonderful pairing with Waylon Jennings that steers well clear of the camp that dots Jennings career. Michael McDonald even manages to rise (or given the baritone rumblings of this disk) sink to the occasion. You haven't heard McDonald this good since he backed Steely Dan.
All in all this will give your subwoofer the ride of its life, and your trunk will thump you all the way home.
This has been a helluva September with the release of this one, Dylan and Los Lobos. I'm on to Chris Smither next! You could count yourself lucky to have 3 like this in a year, let alone 10 days.
Pick this up - it's a perfect CD.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like A Licking Flame, October 8, 2006

By 

Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Uncovered (Audio CD)

Starting in 1998 with "One Hot July," and continuing through "The Beginning," "Snakey" & "The Heroines," Tony Joe White has put out a series of brilliant low-key sets. "Undercover" continues this streak. The opener "Run for Cover" cooks like Louisiana lightning, "Our body heat could start a global warming." Reviewer Thom Jurek wrote that "Not One Bad Thought" began with White & Mark Knopfler sitting at a campfire with some food & beer before they headed into the studio for the recording of this searing guitar laden thunder-rocker. Eric Clapton recorded his part for "Did Somebody Make a Fool Out of You" from London and was digitally added into the mix with his bluesy guitar weeping soulfully. White's voice is so deep and reflects strength, lust, betrayal and gentleness almost at the same time on "Louvelda," "I know you got a man. Does he treat you right? You know I lie awake and think about it late at night." "Rebellion" is a great song that seethes with anger about how commercial music business dictates packaging over the artistic choices of the music. My favorite track is "Shakin' the Blues" with one of Waylon Jennings' last vocals. Waylon sings, "They got an unmutual disrespect, so dissatisfied," and White blends in "You got an unnatural hold on me, but the truth is I don't mind." This track smokes & sears with Tony Joe's burning guitar. Michael McDonald joins white for "Baby, Don't Look Down" which is a satisfying mellow blues as McDonald sings, "You must be careful baby because the air gets real thin while you're up there on the tightrope somewhere between me & him." The set concludes with "Keeper of the Fire" a seething track with White's guitar like a licking flame. "Undercover" is another great CD that continues Tony Joe White's music as some of the boldest, most uncompromising on disc. Bravo!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Been A Long Time Comin'!, September 9, 2006

By 

Bill Board (God's Wrath, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Uncovered (Audio CD)

Like "Mama" above said, Tony Joe is the very essence of cool. And with pals like Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, J.J. Cale, the already-conspicious-by-his-absence, Waylon Jennings, and even Michael McDonald of "Doobie" bros fame - Tony Joe's THE MAN. I particularly LOVE the track "Rebellion," because it deals with commercialization trying to make TJW more..."palpable" to the unwashed masses, i.e, "They told me that I had to get commercialized if I was going to fit in with the show - NO!" The track, "Baby Don't Look Down," with McDonald just about lets you forgive him, his "Doobie" past. He CAN sing da bluz when he wants to. And the final track, "Keeper Of The Fire," is one of the finest, most honest, no-frills "love songs" to date, "She's an intellectual Woman - I'm a low maintenance man" My only problem - and this is maybe indicitive of the fact that I need to get an "equalizer" or something for my system -is that, this being Swamp Music, TJW "forte" if you will, is a little heavy on the bass. Well...I can live with it. Tony Joe, it's good to have you back. When are you coming to Dayton?