Blackgrass: From West Virginia To 125th St

In Blackgrass, Swamp Dogg (aka Jerry Williams) joins the likes of Rhiannon Giddens, Beyonce and Alice Randall in reestablishing black culture in country music. He does this by reinterpreting many of his earlier songs in a uniquely 'Swamp grass' motif with help of A-list pickers such as Jerry Douglas, Sierra Hull, Chris Scruggs, and Noam Pikelny, along with vocal support from Margo Price and Jenny Lewis. Underneath though it is the same idiosyncratic SD addressing both the profound (Rise Up) to the playful ('Mess) with his unique tenor and delightfully rude double entendres all combining into what Alice Randall calls his 'Black Country eccentricity'.

Mess Under That Dress - uptempo romp with energetic banjo (Pikelny), fiddle & mandolin ala Flatt & Scruggs (fast, 2:34)***
Ugly Man's Wife - soft picking from Hull & Douglas allow his vocals to shine (2:58)**
Curtains On The Window - torch ballad with sweet banjo, fiddle & bass interplay (slow, 2:29)**
Have A Good Time - great whistling on a reinterpretation of this Tony Bennett hit (slow, 4:05)
The Other Woman - Margo Price on vocals (slow, 3:53)
Songs To Sing - SD's vocals shine on this slow, soulful commentary on racial inequality with heavenly horns (slow, 4:24)**
Count The Days - Jenny Lewis delivers exquisitely joyful vocals (med, 2:36)***
Gotta Have My Baby Back - old time, gypsy jazz feel (slow, 3:54)
Your Best Friend - band rockin' it with SD doing soulful vocals (fast, 2:30)***
This is My Dream - great vocals on this tear jerker of a love song (slow, 2:47)**
Rise Up - speedgrass rave-up wishing for a better world ends with discordant guitar (fast, 3:27)
Murder Ballad - spooky, spoken word story of a man awaiting his execution (slow, 5:45)