Who played guitar on Rainy Night in Georgia

Not long after graduating high school, Tony Joe White (1943-2018) moved from rural Louisiana, where he’d been raised on a cotton farm, to Marietta, Ga., where a sister lived, in pursuit of a better life. He played guitar and, from what I gather, had been in and out of bands back home, but it didn’t pay the bills – as it often doesn’t. He found employment as a dump-truck driver with the highway department, and it featured an odd perk: work was always called on account of rain.

Fast-forward a few years, by which point he’s kicking around the music circuit in Texas: He hears Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe” on the radio, and it seems lifted from his own life, just about, inspiring him to try his hand at writing songs. Among the first out of the gate: “Polk Salad Annie,” which harkens back to his childhood, and “Rainy Night in Georgia,” which conjures the rainy nights he experienced in Marietta.

If he’d never written anything else, he would have contributed more to this world than most. “Polk Salad Annie” was covered by Elvis Presley. And “Rainy Night in Georgia”… it’s one of the greatest songs of all time. But no version – not even White’s, which sounds tentative to my ears – equals that of Brook Benton’s masterful single, which went to No. 4 on the pop charts and No. 1 on the R&B charts in 1970. The texture of the veteran R&B singer’s voice was made for White’s melancholic lyrics. 

That said, Shelby Lynne included a spellbinding rendition of it (as “Track 12”) on her excellent 2005 Suit Yourself album. The grain of her voice echoes the rain, and I’d place it almost on a par with Benton’s rendition. (White plays on the track with her; they were neighbors for a spell, and friends – he appears in her recent film, Here I Am.)

The great Chuck Jackson released a version not long after Benton on what would be his final Motown album, Teardrops Keep Fallin’ on My Heart: 

B.J. Thomas also released a version of it in late 1970 on his Most of All album:

Johnny Rivers also recorded it that year:

Ray Charles covered it on his 1972 album The Genius Hits the Road:

Two years after Ray, Van McCoy (yes, of the “Hustle” fame) and his Soul City Symphony recorded an instrumental version of it for the Love Is the Answer LP. (It’s far more kitsch than cool.)

Otis Rush released his rendition of it in 1976, on his Right Place, Wrong Time album.

In 1981, Randy Crawford included a nice version of it on her Secret Combination album. Although released  as a single, it didn’t chart in the U.S.; it did make it to No. 18 in the U.K., however. 

Conway Twitty and Sam Moore recorded the classic tune for the 1993 Rhythm, Country and Blues compilation CD. 

In 2004, David Ruffin’s rendition – which was recorded in 1970 – was released on the David CD.

And, finally, Aaron Neville – with an ample assist from Chris Botti – covered the song on his Bring It On Home collection of soul classics.

Those are but some of the many versions of the classic tune, of course, and I’m sure I missed some that others think of as must-listens. (About the only person who never recorded it, but should have: Gladys Knight.)

Born Benjamin Franklin Peay in South Carolina in 1931, Benton cut his gospel chops in the local Methodist church, where his father was the choirmaster.

Later, Brook’s deep, mellifluous voice powered nearly two dozen Mercury Records 45s into the Top 40 between 1959 and 1964. Then, overnight, Beatlemania swept many an American artist — including Benton — off the charts.

By the late 1960s, he was recording for Cotillion, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. It was there that he cut “Rainy Night in Georgia,” arguably the best-remembered song of his career.

When Benton’s producer had played Benton the original 1968 version by Tony Joe White, Benton thought that White’s unpolished “Rainy Night in Georgia” was merely a demo (demonstration) record rather than a finished product.

Benton realized that this was a good song that could become great, if done right.

And it was. Released just after the onset of the 1970s, Benton’s haunting, melancholy “Rainy Night in Georgia” became a mainstay on Top 40 radio. It painted a dreary, poignant picture of a man — we assumed he was homeless — both alone and lonely in a train rumbling through a rain-swept night.

For a moment of comfort, the man held a lady’s photograph against his chest. Perhaps, in his mind, they were together again, briefly …

White was never pleased with his own version but, once he heard Benton’s, White knew that the newly released soulful rendition would be the one to find success.

Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” reached No. 4 on the pop charts and No. 1 on the soul lists. Other versions followed by country icons (Conway Twitty, Hank Williams Jr.) and soul superstars (Ray Charles, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave).

Although Benton released five Cotillion albums and 14 more singles, he never had another hit.

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One thing Tony Joe White knew about was about rainy nights.

“When I got out of high school, I went to Marietta, Georgia. I had a sister living there,” he said in a 2014 interview with music journalist Ray Sasho.

“I drove a dump truck for the highway department. When it would rain, you didn’t have to go to work. You could stay home and play your guitar … I spent a lot of rainy nights in Marietta, Georgia.”

White signed with Tennessee’s Monument Records and found one special groove that would bring him some recognition. In his only solo success — “Polk Salad Annie” — the deep-voiced White described a tough-as-nails girl named Annie out picking an edible plant called pokeweed, which grows in Southern woods and fields.

Many thought polk salad was code for something else.

“A lot of the hippie festivals, flower children and everybody, they would bring deep bags of grass (marijuana) back to the dressing room or back to my tent,” White recalled, undoubtedly with a chuckle and an eyeroll.

“And they said, ‘We brought you a little polk.’ And I was like, ‘That’s not the kind I’m talking about.’”

Randal C. Hill is a rock ’n’ roll historian who lives at the Oregon coast. He may be reached at [email protected].

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