Selwyn Birchwood | CD Release Paty at The Alley & Fuel BBQ in Sanford | Tickets on Sale Now!
Schedule
Sat, 02 May, 2026 at 08:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
114 S Park Avenue, Sanford, FL, United States, Florida 32771 | Sanford, FL
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Selwyn BirchwoodElectric Swamp Funkin’ Blues
Bio written by Marc Lipkin
“Selwyn Birchwood is one of the preeminent voices in contemporary blues. He plays like a man possessed…cleverly blending elements of traditional blues, funk, Stax-flavored R&B and psychedelic rock into a cohesive and compelling, expansive and cathartic artistic statement.” –Guitar Player
“Birchwood is one of contemporary blues’ foremost innovators. Funky, Southern-flavored electric blues…infectious rhythms and inventive soloing.” –Blues Music Magazine
“Selwyn Birchwood is one of the best blues players today. Ferocious blues guitar…powerful voice…blistering licks galore.” –Vintage Guitar
Rolling Stone calls award-winning Florida musician Selwyn Birchwood “a remarkable, contemporary bluesman…a powerhouse young guitarist and soulful vocalist.” Now, this mesmerizing guitarist, lap steel master and cinematic songwriter unleashes the powerful new self-produced album, Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues, further blazing his own musical trail.
Birchwood’s sound is an intoxicating mix of deep blues, blistering, psychedelic-tinged rock, booty-shaking funk and sweet Southern soul, played and sung with true blues passion. From an emotionally devastating whisper to a soul-baring scream, Birchwood’s vocals command attention. Schooled in the blues’ storied traditions (he toured with and was mentored by the famed Sonny Rhodes), Birchwood maps out a dazzling future for the blues with his visionary music.
Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues features 10 wildly imaginative, laser-focused, vibrant original songs, produced by Birchwood and recorded in Florida. From the psychedelic soul sermon The Church Of Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues to 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 relentless 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 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. 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.”
With Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues, Selwyn Birchwood and his band perform with an irresistible urgency. Live, as they travel the world, they bring the joyful intensity of their music directly to their fans. As Birchwood sings in the title track, “the music is the mission.” It’s a “creation of joyful jubilation.”
Says Birchwood, “You would be hard-pressed to find an album or a band that sounds exactly like mine, and that has been and always will be the goal. I pride myself in writing songs so that when you hear a band like us, you hear a band that sounds just like…US!”
BIOGRAPHY
Selwyn Birchwood, his father from Tobago, his mother from the UK, was born in 1985 in Orlando, Florida. He first grabbed a guitar at age 13 and soon became proficient at mimicking what he heard on the radio. But the popular grunge rock, hip-hop and metal of the 1990s didn’t move him. And then he discovered Jimi Hendrix. “He was larger than life. What he did was mind-blowing.” As luck would have it, just as Birchwood was learning Hendrix’s guitar playing was steeped in blues, legendary bluesman Buddy Guy—a major influence on Hendrix—was scheduled to perform in Orlando. Birchwood was there, front and center. “I was floored,” he recalls. “I completely connected with the blues. I knew this was my path, and I had to make this music.” He dove deep, listening to icons including Albert King, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins and of course, Buddy Guy. “The flood gates opened,” says Birchwood, “and at that point I started trying to absorb as much as I could.”
At 19, Birchwood met and connected with veteran bluesman, recording artist and lap steel and guitar ace Sonny Rhodes, who was instantly impressed by the enthusiastic young guitar slinger. Within one month’s time, Rhodes asked Birchwood to pack his bags and join him on the road. Rhodes took Selwyn under his wing, teaching him not only the finer points of guitar and lap steel, but also how to conduct business, how to run a band, and how to reach an audience. “Sonny always said, ‘Play what’s in your heart.’ I’ve never lost sight of that,” says Birchwood.
Combining the musical lessons learned from Rhodes and his own business acumen, Birchwood created The Selwyn Birchwood Band in 2010, featuring seasoned, veteran musicians who had chosen to play with the new kid—a testament to Birchwood’s talent and leadership skills.
In 2011 the self-released FL Boy helped the band land gigs outside of their Florida base, where they were already becoming local heroes. After winning the 2013 International Blues Challenge in Memphis (beating 150 other bands), Birchwood found doors swinging open. He took a giant step forward in 2014 with his Alligator Records debut album, Don’t Call No Ambulance. Rave reviews ran in publications from Rolling Stone to The Wall Street Journal, from The Chicago Tribune to The San Francisco Chronicle. The album won both the Living Blues Award and the Blues Music Award (BMA) for Best New Artist Debut. He followed in 2016 with Pick Your Poison and, in 2021, with Living In A Burning House (he won the coveted BMA Song Of The Year Award for that album’s I’d Climb Mountains), 2023’s Exorcist and 2026’s Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues.
The Selwyn Birchwood Band tours virtually non-stop. They have performed at The Chicago Blues Festival, Portland’s Waterfront Blues Festival, The Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, The Tampa Bay Blues Festival, The North Atlantic Blues Festival, The King Biscuit Blues Festival, as well as on The Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise and Joe Bonamassa’s Keeping The Blues Alive At Sea Cruise. Internationally, they have appeared at The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival, Jazz a Vienne in France, the Rawa Blues Festival in Poland, the Moulin Blues Festival in the Netherlands, the Ottawa Blues Festival and the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, as well as playing concerts in Spain, Norway, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium and Mexico.
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.”
Alligator Records, LLC
P.O. Box 60234, Chicago, IL 60660
alligator.com • [email protected] • (773) 973-7736
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114 S Park Avenue, Sanford, FL, United States, Florida 32771Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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