Tony Joe White’s latest effort, Hoodoo, emerges via Yep Roc Records on September 17, 2013. Awash in danger, spiritual uncertainty, and environmental fury, Hoodoo’s lyrical concerns are matched by a particularly intense strain of White’s trademark swamp rock. Hence the title’s double-edged meaning: “hoodoo” referring both to the songs’ ominous tone and the palpable vibe that filled the studio as the songs were cut. Cut mostly live to tape—vocals and all—much of Hoodoo consists of first takes. Culled from an initial stack of seventeen or eighteen tunes, the nine songs that comprise the album come alive in the haunting atmosphere and intensity of the stripped-down recording process.
