One of them has survived 38 years in the music industry, the other has only inhabited the earth for 15 years.

Tony Joe White, the Swamp Fox has released sixteen albums, had his songs recorded by Sting, Emmylou Harris, Ray Charles, Tina Turner and a guy named Elvis Presley, and sold millions of albums worldwide. Kieran Murphy, a gifted young Australian guitar picker, can (so far) only lay claim to one independently recorded album.

Kieran however, has the world at his feet. He won 'Young Guitarist of the Year' at 2002's Frankston Guitar Festival, has performed at The Port Fairy and Apollo Bay Music Festivals, and in February played the major stage at the Melbourne International Music and Blues Festival trading licks with Tommy Emmanuel.

He's just completed the recording of his second album and is due to fly to Nashville soon to play at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention.

Australian Musician thought it might be interesting to get Kieran together with blues legend Tony Joe White to discuss all things musical. Greg Phillips was on hand to record the encounter, while Marty Williams took the happy snaps.

When we found Tony Joe, he'd just stepped down from the hotel's sundeck where he was spending a little time taking it easy. The previous night White had performed in Adelaide to a crowd he describes as "Wild, man."

As always the Swamp Fox was in a casual and amiable frame of mind, dressed in jeans, black T shirt, snakeskin boots, cowboy hat and dark shades. The world seems to operate in slow motion in Tony Joe's company.

Kieran on the other hand needed to abandon school early and be rushed in traffic from one end of town to the other by his mum to be in time for the meeting.

Tony Joe found a peaceful setting in the courtyard of the hotel and settled back into a chair like it was siesta time. Without hesitation Kieran wanted to get into some guitar talk and asked Tony about his favourite guitars.

"Well I got my old Lake Placid Blue Strat that I use the most, and I also got an old Spanish guitar that I do most of my writing on," said White as he pointed to one of two guitar cases Murphy had brought along. "Lemme have a look at the electric, the one your daddy built you". When Kieran was eight he wanted an electric guitar. His father Frank looked at what was available and decided he'd put his furniture building skills to the test, and have a go at building a guitar himself. Murphy senior has since produced several electric guitars under the banner of RKS. Tony Joe commented that the finish on the hand made guitar reminded him of a PRS.

The discussion then moved on to tone. Ask most professional guitarists about their search for their own tone and generally they'll tell you it's an ongoing process. Tony Joe however offers a more pragmatic view. "With the Strat and the four 10s, the sound's right there. No need to fiddle with it."

Kieran has also been developing his songwriting craft and asked Tony whether he preferred the comfort of writing songs at home or whether the road holds more inspiration.

"I get a lot of ideas on the road" said White," but it's home where I do most of my writing. I'll get some beers and sit by the campfire and that's when I usually write my songs."

White's songs have been covered by a huge array of respected recording artists. Kieran was interested to know whether interpretations of his songs by other artists gave the songs something extra?

"Most of the time they do them better," said TJ. "I think the best one was Brooke Benton who did 'Rainy Nights in Georgia'. I don't think you could beat that version." It's claimed that 'Rainy Nights in Georgia' has been recorded by over 100 other performers.

Tony Joe recently enjoyed a song writing session with ex-Doobie Brothers vocalist Michael McDonald. He recalled the experience for Kieran.

"Michael lives just down the road from me. We did two songs and he said you want to do another? We gave one song to Joe Cocker and another one to someone else so we'll see what happens. Even when that guy is humming, he has the voice of an angel. The hair on the back of my arms was standing up."

White has a long history of collaborating with other artists and as a result he's been able to put together a new project which incorporates two discs of TJW originals. One called 'Heroines', is a collection of duets with prominent female vocals like Jesse Colter, Emmylou Harris, and Shelby Lynne. It's scheduled for release in May. The other disc will be 'Heroes' and consists of performances with male vocalists such as Joe Cocker.

Kieran Murphy has been fortunate to meet some of his guitar playing heroes such as White, Tommy Emmanuel, Michael Fix and Geoff Achison. All of them have imparted generous slices of advice. Tony Joe White recalled a similar experience in 1968 when he met his first music hero Lightning Hopkins.

"Meeting Lightning Hopkins meant everything to me. It was incredible because he was doing a record "California Mud Slide" in Los Angeles and I was invited to play piano and organ on that session. I'd rather just sit and listen to him but I had to play. That was amazing."

It was Tony Joe's brother who turned him on to Lightning Hopkins.

"When I was 15 or 16 my brother played me Lightning Hopkins and it all started from there. Before that the music meant nothin'."

Similarly it was Kieran's brother who turned him onto guitar through listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton.

For someone who has had such a long and decorated career, Kieran was obviously interested in unlocking a few of Tony Joe's success secrets. He asked the Swamp Fox who has no regrets whatsoever about any aspect of his career, whether he had one important piece of advice he could offer to a kid just starting out. TJ thought about the question for a minute, leant forward, tipped his hat back and said "Yes. Just do it from the heart, what feels right for you. That's all that matters and everything else will follow. Don't let anything else get in the way of what you love doing."

With that pearl of wisdom still sinking deep into Kieran's psyche, Tony Joe pointed to the other guitar case. "Let me see your acoustic". Kieran proudly handed over his Maton which Tony began to tune, then strum before handing it back to Murphy. "Play somethin' for me." Kieran launched into the Jerry Reed tune 'Jiffy Jam', confident and fluent in his playing. White looked on as a smile slowly cracked his poker face. "When I was 15 I was nowhere near that, play me another one."

Murphy proceeded to place a capo on his Maton's neck and launched into an Irish flavoured tune. "Who wrote that one" enquired White.

"That's an original" replied Murphy. "It's called Firetail."

"You wrote that" said White. "Man, there's no stoppin' you."

If time was available I think the two guitar pickers would have traded licks and stories all day. White had another gig to rest up for. Murphy had a head full of new and everlasting memories to digest. Kieran left Tony Joe with a copy of his first disc and a promise to send the new one when it's done. The affable Tony Joe thanked Kieran for the chat. "Thanks man, I really enjoyed that, all the best with everything" were the Swamp Fox’s parting words as he seemed genuine in his enjoyment of the meeting.

One music career keeps going long and strong.
For the other … life is just beginning.