SARASOTA — Visionary guitarist, lap steel master, and vocalist Selwyn Birchwood will celebrate the release of his fifth Alligator Records album, “Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues,” with two live performances on Friday and Saturday, July 17 and 18, 8 p.m., at Fogartyville, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota.
Tickets start at $17. Visit www.wslr.org/fogartyville/.
Birchwood first hit the blues scene in 2011 with the self-released, self-produced “FL Boy.” After winning the 2013 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, beating 150 other bands, Birchwood found doors swinging open.
He took a big step forward in 2014 with his Alligator Records debut album, “Don’t Call No Ambulance.” The album earned rave reviews from critics and won both the Living Blues Award and the Blues Music Award for Best New Artist Debut. He followed in 2016 with fan favorite “Pick Your Poison” and, in 2021, with the groundbreaking “Living in a Burning House.” He won the BMA Song of the Year Award for that album’s “I’d Climb Mountains.”
He followed up with “Exorcist” in 2023.
Now, Birchwood is back with “Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues,” his sixth Alligator Records album, released on March 27. The award-winning Florida musician delivers 10 imaginative, laser-focused, vibrant original songs, produced by Birchwood and recorded in Florida. “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,” the bluesman said in a press release. “It allowed me to present these songs with the full, three-dimensional sound that I have wanted all along.”
According to Birchwood, this album is the full realization of the sound he has 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 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.