Mentorship has always been a huge part of learning how to play blues music. For Selwyn Birchwood, that inspiration and those lessons came at the behest of greats like Buddy Guy and the late Sonny Rhodes.

Those skills will be on full display when Birchwood hits the stage at My Father’s Place on May 22. The Florida native is out in support of “Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues,” his eighth and most recent studio album.

It’s also the first effort the single-minded musician would produce solely on his own. He felt it was an important step he needed to take.

“I feel like this sets the stage for what it is we’re really doing and is the best album I’ve done by far,” he said. “I took the reins on the production side, so I could produce it myself. What you get on this album is the exact sound from inside my head translated right onto the tape because I didn’t have to barter or fight with a producer or anyone from the label. It was just straight to tape on this one and I think you can hear that.”

He added, “This is the first time I had absolute zero input from outside and did it the way I think it needed to be done. I was able to really get the sounds, colors and textures on these songs that I always wanted. I just felt like it was getting really stifled with other avenues.”

The resulting platter is made up of 10 Birchwood-penned originals that range from the gospel-flavored title cut that overflows with screaming riffs and soulful harmonies to the soaring ballad “Soulmate” punctuated by Birchwood’s crying phrasing and mournful growl. Elsewhere, the tender acoustic ballad “Labour of Love” is an ode to parenting couched in gentle saxophone accompaniment and Birchwood’s tender croon while “Should’ve Never Gotten Out of Bed” isn’t just a classic sad sack slice of blues, but allows the guitarist to wield his formidable lap steel skills.

Birchwood first started noodling around on guitar when he was 13, around the same time he developed a healthy interest in Jimi Hendrix. But it wasn’t until he was 17 and saw Buddy Guy in concert that the blues fire was lit for him.

Up until that point, the guitar legend was a Hendrix influence he’d only read about. “Seeing Buddy Guy made me want to start pursuing that kind of music,” Birchwood explained. “That’s what really grabbed me. I didn’t know what I was looking at, but whatever it was, I wanted to learn and that’s what I wanted to do. That’s what set me to try and pursue this music.”

The second major inflection point came during his quest to “…find Jedis steeped in the blues…” and a high school friend mentioned his next-door neighbor was a blues musician. He then handed Birchwood a Sonny Rhodes CD, who was immediately smitten by what he heard and asked for an introduction.

“It took about six months before I finally met Sonny,” Birchwood recalled. “He instantaneously said he wanted to have me in his band after hearing me play half a song. Sonny asked if I had a passport and I said yeah. Within three weeks, I was traveling with him all throughout the U.S. and Canada. I really saw what was out there and was glad to be exposed to that kind of lifestyle at such a young age.”

Source: LI Press