“Lean yet mean and tough…lyrically and musically intense” — American Songwriter
Award-winning Florida musician Selwyn Birchwood is firmly rooted in the blues tradition. Here, the young guitarist, lap steel player, songwriter and vocalist sets a course for the future of the blues with his visionary, original music. Moreover, Birchwood’s band features the interplay of his blistering guitar with Regi Oliver’s driving baritone sax. This creates a singular sound and style all his own, that he calls “Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues”.
Furthermore, it’s an intoxicating mix of deep blues, psychedelic-tinged rock, booty-shaking funk and sweet Southern soul. Then, Birchwood plays and sings it with the fire-and-brimstone fervor of a revival tent preacher with a hellhound on his trail. No Depression says, “Selwyn Birchwood reaches back in the blues tradition to launch something out of this world.”
On his latest release, 2023’s Exorcist, Birchwood delivers the most far-reaching, musically adventurous album of his career. There, soul-baring tracks all hit with lasting rhymes and unexpected rhythms. According to Blues Music Magazine, “Selwyn Birchwood heralds a fresh, exciting new direction in the blues. Toe-tapping, hip-shaking, joyful and inviting… expansive and focused, exploratory and time-honored, but always original.”
Live, Birchwood is a force of nature. Here, his ability to win over an audience–any audience–is proven night after night on the bandstand. With his warm, magnetic personality, Birchwood is as down-to-earth as his music is thought-provoking and electrifying. His band feeds off his energy as he rips out memorable guitar licks with ease, his soulful vocals firing up his fans. Then, when he sits down to play his lap steel, he takes the crowd to a whole other level. There, the music exorcises any bad times and troubles.
Recommended for fans of Shemekia Copeland, Tinsley Ellis, Vanessa Collier and Walter Trout.
