Award-winning visionary bluesman Selwyn Birchwood will releases Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues, his sixth Alligator Records album. Rolling Stone calls Birchwood “a remarkable, contemporary bluesman…a powerhouse young guitarist and soulful vocalist.” Now, this mesmerizing guitarist, lap steel master and cinematic songwriter unleashes the powerful new self-produced album, Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues, further blazing his own musical trail. The album will be available on CD, translucent yellow vinyl LP, and at all digital service providers.
The first single from the album, the psychedelic soul sermon The Church Of Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues, premieres today, along with a striking new video. The song is Birchwood's statement-of-purpose and an open invitation for everyone to join the congregation. As Birchwood sings with foot-pounding fervor, “the music is the mission....[it's the] creation of joyful jubilation.”
Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues features 10 wildly imaginative, laser-focused, vibrant original songs, produced by Birchwood and recorded in Florida. From the wide-open honesty of Damaged Goods to the up-to-the-minute observations of All Hail The Algorithm and Talking Heads, Birchwood and his band play with honest, emotional intensity. On Labour Of Love he looks at the pains and joys of parenting, while The Struggle Is Real serves as an anthem for our times. Birchwood’s tough, slide guitar opus, What I’ve Been Accused Of, the slow burning, romantic Soulmate and the blazing Should’ve Never Gotten Out Of Bed, all show Birchwood as one of contemporary blues’ most prolific, significant and innovative artists.
Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues is Birchwood’s own fully realized artistic statement, and the first of his Alligator albums that he has produced by himself. “Producing allowed me to really take the wheel and steer the music to the exact destinations that I wanted to go. It allowed me to present these songs with the full, three-dimensional sound that I have wanted all along. This album is the full realization of the sound I have been cultivating. It tiptoes the tightrope between gritty gutbucket blues and contemporary grooves to create a soundscape that honors the roots but allows listeners to experience the music from a modern vantage point. Sharing songs with this much honesty allows us all to connect to music on a higher level…to feel a little less isolated and a little more ‘seen’ in what can be a hard life at times.”
Live, Birchwood is a true force of nature. A favorite among blues fans and jam band fans alike, his ability to win over an audience—any audience—is proven night after night. With his warm, magnetic personality, Birchwood is as down-to-earth as his music is electrifyingly jaw-dropping. With his band feeding off his energy, the 6’3” musician roams the stage barefoot, ripping out memorable guitar licks with ease, his soulful, rocks-and-gravel vocals impossible to ignore. When he sits down to play his signature model Caladesi lap steel, he magically lifts the crowd into a sweat-soaked state of blissful elation. Mega-star Joe Bonamassa raves, “Selwyn Birchwood has become one of my favorite discoveries. He puts on a great show.”
Says Birchwood, “You would be hard-pressed to find an album or a band that sounds exactly like mine, and that has been and always will be the goal. I pride myself in writing songs so that when you hear a band like us, you hear a band that sounds just like…US!”
According to Guitar World, “Blues star Selwyn Birchwood is the real deal. He puts his own fresh spin on the blues, taking the tradition and making it into something new.”
