Rainy Night in Georgia

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"Rainy Night in Georgia" is a song written by Tony Joe White in 1962 and popularized by R&B vocalist Brook Benton in 1970. In 1969, after several years without a major hit, Benton had signed to a new record label, Cotillion Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records). Brought to the attention of producer Jerry Wexler, Benton recorded the song in November 1969 with producer Arif Mardin. Taken from his "come-back" album Brook Benton Today, the melancholy song became an instant hit. In the spring of 1970, the song had topped the Billboard Magazine Black Singles chart. It reached #4 at the Pop Singles and #2 at the Adult Contemporary charts, respectively. It was also #498 on List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

[edit] Covers

The song has been covered by a number of musicians, including Ray Charles, Randy Crawford, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Amos Garrett, Hank Williams, Jr., Shelby Lynne, John Holt, by the duet of Conway Twitty and Sam Moore, Aaron Neville, and reggae band The Gladiators. Most recently indie folk-rock band Hem released a cover on No Word from Tom' (2006). Australian band Ross Hanniford Trio recorded a cover of the song on their 1994 album. Interestingly, David Ruffin recorded a cover version of the song the same year as Benton, however, Motown for unknown reasons did not release the album. A dance version was recorded by Boozoo Bajou in 2006.