Swamp Dogg (from the album Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th Street

Swamp Dogg (from the album Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th Street

Swamp Dogg (from the album Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th Street available on Oh Boy Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
Genre bending Swamp Dogg has dug into Pop and Blues, Funk and Americana, in his decades long career. For his latest in Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th Street he’s stacked a band of some of the best in Bluegrass, Country and Indie Rock, recruits that are an all-star outfit in anyone’s book for this Roots-heavy release.
He opens with high harmonies and driving banjo (thanks to Noam Pikelny) on the Bluegrass cut “Mess Under That Dress”, a tune that would come with Bill Monroe’s approval. Funky banjo follows in the skippy “Ugly Mans Wife” and he drops a loungey-ballad in “Have a Good Time”. Swamp Dogg gets great help from the ladies on a couple tracks. “To The Other Woman” is a weeper that features Margo Price, while “Count the Days” has a Gospel vibe with big angelic harmonies that feature Jenny Lewis. These two cuts are killer. “Gotta Have My Baby Back” is a song that would be ripe for the Rat Pack, and is even better in the hands of Swamp Dogg. “Your Best Friend” has more great Bluegrass instrumentation backing Swamp Dogg on this rootsy cut that “Rise Up” is another Gospel track that also features guitar great Vernon Reid (Living Colour) adding stabbing stunt-guitar right alongside Bluegrass picking. The album closes with the haunting “Murder Ballad” which is just that.
With the aforementioned players along with Jerry Douglas Sierra Hull and Chris Scruggs, Swamp Dogg has dropped a festival ready release, something that would appease fans of anything Roots; Bluegrass, Blues, and Gospel, you can say he’s touched on the cornerstone of Americana, or you can drop genres and just say it’s a great record. Which it is. (by Bryant Liggett)
Listen and buy the music of Swamp Dogg from AMAZON
 
For more info, check out the Swamp Dogg website