Selwyn Birchwood (from the album Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues

Selwyn Birchwood (from the album Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues

Selwyn Birchwood (from the album Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues available on Alligator Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
 
As an overture, Selwyn Birchwood provides a symphonic electric guitar solo for “The Eagle Has Landed”. The track opens, and leads the way, into the title track for The Church of Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues, the latest release from Bluesman. He claims that ‘music is the mission’, setting the standard with the Psychedelic Soul sermon in “The Church of Swamp Funkin’ Electric Blues”. The man behind the guitar speaks/sings troubles that come in the form of bad news for “Should’ve Never Gotten Out of Bed” as he slows the electric guitar riffs to a sizzle that wrap around the inspirational advice of “Soulmate”.
 
On his seventh album release for Alligator Records, Selwyn Birchwood adds another credit to his resume when he comes on board as producer for The Church of Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues, sharing that ‘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…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’. 
 
The studio tracks recorded for the album have the feel of a live show, the songs holding the same force as when his 6’3” frame roams the stage barefoot during performances. His mind wanders when Selwyn Birchwood has a conversation with himself, attempting to work out the hurdles in a long-term relationship with “Labour of Love”. The story spins in real time for “All Hail the Algorithm” as he bares his heart for the unbridled self-assessment honesty of “Damaged Goods”. Recorded in his home state of Florida, The Church of Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues stacks ten tunes from a modern-day Bluesman that masterfully weaves experimentation into tradition. The groove is funky from the first note when he weighs in the current news report sideshow with “Talking Heads”. Selwyn Birchwood strolls and sways on the rhythms asking “What Have I Been Accused Of” before exiting the album speaking of the tribulations of a lifetime lived as a black man in America with “The Struggle is Real”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
Listen and buy the music of Selwyn Birchwood from AMAZON
 
For more information and purchase options, please visit the Selwyn Birchwood website