Selwyn Birchwood - Exorcist [Ltd Ed Purple Vinyl]

Although award-winning Florida musician Selwyn Birchwood is firmly rooted in the tradition, the young guitarist, lap steel player, songwriter and vocalist sets a course for the future of the blues with his visionary, original music. Birchwood, whose band features the pulsating interplay of his blistering guitar with Regi Oliver's driving baritone sax, deploys a singular sound and style all his own. He calls it "Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues," an intoxicating mix of deep blues, blistering, psychedelic-tinged rock, booty-shaking funk and sweet Southern soul, played and sung with the fire-and-brimstone fervor of a revival tent preacher with a hellhound on his trail. Tastemaker Americana music magazine No Depression says, "Selwyn Birchwood reaches back in the blues tradition to launch something out of this world."

On his new release, Exorcist (his fourth for Alligator and sixth overall), Birchwood delivers the most far-reaching, musically adventurous album of his career. Exorcist was recorded in Florida and produced by Grammy Award-winner Tom Hambridge, with each of the 13 vividly detailed songs written and arranged by Birchwood. The soul-baring tracks all hit with lasting rhymes and unexpected rhythms. Each twists its own tale, ranging from the love-gone-wrong "Horns Below Her Halo" to the love-gone-terrifying "Exorcist" to the ripped-from-the-headlines escapades of "Florida Man" and "Swim At Your Own Risk" to the autobiographical "Underdog." 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."

One listen to Exorcist will no doubt convert many new true believers: this is visionary contemporary blues written and performed by an endlessly creative, modern-day blues master.

Done Cryin'
FLorida Man
Horns Below Her Halo
Underdog
Exorcist
Lazarus
Hopeless Romantic
Plenty More To Be Grateful For
ILa-View
Swim At Your Own Risk
Call Me What You Want To
My Own Worst Enemy
Show Tune