Article Contributed by Alligator Records
Published on 2026-04-27
Today, Monday, April 27, visionary guitarist, lap steel master, vocalist and cinematic songwriter Selwyn Birchwood releases his new video for the song Talking Heads.The track is a highlight from Birchwood's new Alligator album, Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues. The album, Birchwood's fifth for Alligator Records, was released on Friday, March 27. It is available on CD, translucent yellow vinyl LP, and at all digital service providers.
The video for Talking Heads was also produced and directed by Birchwood, who says of the song, "Talking Heads is a visual representation of the type of “news” that we are bombarded with every day from my viewpoint. Truth and fact have become subjective terms auctioned to the highest bidder and broadcast to the masses.” Watch the video below:
Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues features 10 wildly imaginative, laser-focused, vibrant original songs, all produced by Birchwood. From the wide-open honesty of Damaged Goods to the up-to-the-minute observations of All Hail The Algorithm and Talking Heads, Birchwood and his band play with honest, emotional intensity. On Labour Of Love he looks at the pains and joys of parenting, while The Struggle Is Real serves as an anthem for our times. Birchwood’s tough, slide guitar opus, What I’ve Been Accused Of, the slow burning, romantic Soulmate and the blazing Should’ve Never Gotten Out Of Bed, all show Birchwood as one of contemporary blues’ most prolific, significant and innovative artists.
Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues is Birchwood's own fully-realized artistic statement, and the first album 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. It allowed me to present these songs with the full, three-dimensional sound that I have wanted all along. This album is the full realization of the sound I have 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—any 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. When he sits down to play his signature model Caladesi lap steel, he magically lifts the crowd into a sweat-soaked state of blissful elation. Mega-star Joe Bonamassa raves, “Selwyn Birchwood has become one of my favorite discoveries. He puts on a great show.” See his tour dates here.
According to Guitar World, “Blues star Selwyn Birchwood is the real deal. He puts his own fresh spin on the blues, taking the tradition and making it into something new.”
