Rainy Night in Georgia

Written and originally recorded by Tony Joe White (1962 |1969).
Also recorded by David Ruffin (1970).
Hit version by Brook Benton (US #4/R&B #1 1970).

From the wiki: “‘Rainy Night in Georgia’ is a song written and first recorded by Tony Joe White in 1962 (and re-recorded by White in 1969) and was popularized by R&B vocalist Brook Benton in 1970.

“In 1967, White signed with Monument Records, which operated from a recording studio in the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, TN. Over the next three years, White released four singles with no commercial success Stateside, although ‘Soul Francisco’ was a hit in France. ‘Polk Salad Annie’ had been released for nine months and written off as a failure by his record label when it finally entered the US charts in July 1969. It climbed into the Top Ten by early August, eventually reaching #8, becoming White’s biggest performance hit.

“Continued was the second album released by White, in 1969, on Monument Records. It was recorded at Monument Studios, Nashville and Lyn-Lou Studios, Memphis, and produced by Billy Swan. The album contained a re-recording of the track ‘Rainy Night In Georgia’.

“The song has been covered by a number of musicians, including Ray Charles, Otis Rush, 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. Interestingly, David Ruffin recorded a cover version of the song the same year as Benton. Motown, however, for unknown reasons, did not release the album.”

David Ruffin, “Rainy Night in Georgia” (1970):

Brook Benton, “Rainy Night in Georgia” (1970):