TAMPA — Groundbreaking young blues visionary Selwyn Birchwood will perform Saturday, Aug. 28, 8 p.m., at Skipper’s Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, in Tampa.
Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. For information, visit www.skipperssmokehouse.com.
Birchwood’s latest release is his highly anticipated third Alligator album, “Living in a Burning House.” The album was released Jan. 29. The Florida native and rising guitar and lap steel player calls his original music “electric swamp funkin’ blues,” defined by raw and soulful musicianship played with fire-and-brimstone fervor. His gritty, unvarnished vocals draw his audience deep inside his unforgettable tales of love, passion, pain and pleasure. In addition to Birchwood’s electrifying guitar and lap steel playing, the other featured instrument is Regi Oliver’s driving baritone sax. The group is rounded out by bass, drums and, for the first time, keyboards.
For “Living in a Burning House,” Birchwood wrote and arranged 13 new songs, and brought in famed Grammy Award-winning musician/producer Tom Hambridge to produce. The album features some of the most vividly striking writing on today’s blues scene. Birchwood’s voice and vision are clear, his sound is edgy and compelling, and his stories are memorable and lasting.
Birchwood was born in 1985 in Orlando. 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 he quickly grew bored. Then he heard Jimi Hendrix and by age 17 was deep into the blues, listening to Albert King, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins and especially Buddy Guy.
As his guitar proficiency grew, a friend told Birchwood that his neighbor was a blues guitarist and had a band. The 19-year-old went over to check it out and jam. The guitar-playing neighbor turned out to be the Texas-born blues legend Sonny Rhodes, who was instantly impressed with the enthusiastic young guitar slinger. Within one month’s time, Rhodes asked Birchwood to pack his bags and join him on the road. It was an incredible experience for Birchwood, as Rhodes took the youngster under his wing, not only teaching him guitar and lap steel, but also how to conduct business, how to run a band, and how to reach an audience.
Rhodes insisted Birchwood go to college and always held the guitar spot in his band open for whenever he was available. It was a win-win situation, as Birchwood — through hard work and scholarships — received his MBA from the University of Tampa.
Combining the musical lessons learned from Rhodes and his business acumen, Birchwood established the Selwyn Birchwood Band in 2010. The lineup included seasoned, veteran musicians who chose to play with the new kid on the block.
Birchwood released the self-produced “FL Boy” in 2011. The debut helped the band land gigs outside of their Florida base, where they were becoming local heroes.
In 2013, Birchwood and his band won the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, besting 150 other bands. The win led to more success, and in 2014 Birchwood had signed with Alligator Records. “Don’t Call No Ambulance,” his first Alligator album, earned rave reviews in publications from Rolling Stone to The Wall Street Journal. The album won both the Living Blues Award and the Blues Music Award for Best New Artist Debut. He followed in 2016 with “Pick Your Poison.”
Birchwood and his band have crisscrossed the U.S. and Europe repeatedly, delivering unforgettable live performances, and earning new fans everywhere they go.
“I write and sing what I know,” said Birchwood in a press release from Alligator Records. “They say everything is better when it’s made with love. That’s how we play our music and that’s how we made the new album. I want my audience to say, ‘I know exactly what that feels like,’ when a song hits them. Because that’s when it stops just being music and starts being medicine. After all, we are all stricken with the condition of being human.”
