Tony Joe White named his new album Uncovered because his son thought the tracks sounded like some old, overlooked tracks from his heyday. They don’t, really, but with an R&B horn section backing some of the tracks, the echoes are certainly present. White’s low, lazy blues sound like they come from the swamp though his roots are in north Louisiana, and perhaps his most impressive quality is the way he draws everybody who duets with him on the album into his vibe. Guitar heroes Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton don’t take extended solos, instead playing short leads and interjecting fragments of solos, paying more attention to the groove instead. J.J. Cale contributes a vocal on “Louvelda” that is so lowdown as to be almost inaudible.

 

The songs themselves are solid done-wrong-by-love stuff, but more than seeming like individual songs, they too feel like an extension of White’s mood. “Rebellion” stands out for being harder than the rest of the album, and it’s great to have a White version of “Rainy Night in Georgia” that better holds its own with the other great covers of the song. More than being about songs, though, Uncovered is a demonstration that White is one of the handful of artists who seems to make recordings that are a pure extension of his personality, regardless of who is involved.