Exorcist is blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Selwyn Birchwood’s sixth album and fourth for Alligator and is produced, like its predecessor, by Grammy winner Tom Hambridge. Birchwood did write all thirteen songs, borrowing just a bit from tradition as almost all blues artists do, but delivering lyrical content in today’s language. His band sound is like no other as he blends his guitar and lap steel with Regi Oliver’s baritone and tenor saxophone in a rather unique front line, supported by keyboardist Ed Krout, bassist Donald “Huff” Wright, and drummer Byron “Bizzy” Garner. Background vocalists Charlyce Simmons, Vanessa Hawkins, and Eric Green are on most tracks. Those who have seen Birchwood’s band live are likely to have the indelible image of the 6’3” musician with his trademark Afro roaming the stage, ripping out memorable guitar licks with ease, his soulful, gravelly vocals sparking the crowd. He also brings a level of intimacy when he sits in a chair, pouring out piercing lines from his lap steel, an audience favorite who delivers an exciting show consistently.
Birchwood assails the redneck nature of the state’s troubling side in “Florida Man” opening with the line “Down where rebel flags meet Mickey Mouse.” Yet, it’s a character portrait more than any kind of political protest. There could be a veiled double meaning in “Swim at Your Own Risk.” It’s ostensibly about an outlaw perhaps falling prey to an alligator yet the lines “Cause deep down in Florida you/Swim at your own risk” invariably bring to mind that recent travel advisory. The autobiographical “Underdog” is about Birchwood’s own persevering will.
Birchwood leads with the defiant, blistering breakup song, “Done Cryin’,” expressing an age-old blues theme, letting his stinging guitar do the talking along with lines like – “You only have your arrogance to break your fall.” The standout mid-tempo “Horns Below Her Halo” may be the best of these love gone wrong songs, filled with rhyming lyrics and a clever reference to Satan as a woman with the term “Lucif-her.” As one listens to Birchwood’s incendiary guitar playing, the echoes of his main influence, Buddy Guy, are ever-present. The title track has him searching for a magical cure for a derailed love in the vein of such classic blues references as black cat bone and voodoo, but he doesn’t use those well-worn terms and supplies his own such as eagle’s claw, monkey paw, and burning sage for example. Oliver’s tenor solo on “Lazarus” is in the honking R&B mode a la King Curtis as Birchwood implores the healer for his sick brother.
The snappy, funky “Hopeless Romantic” is a strong instrumental track deftly blending guitar, sax, and background vocals while the B.B King-like, inspiring “Plenty More to Be Grateful For” is a true standout with the makings of an anthemic set closer in live performance. He renders “Ila-View” and “Call Me What You Want To” with a different band, perhaps due to pandemic conditions. Not hearing Oliver’s horn on the former is a bit jolting at first, but this slimmed-down quartet allows Birchwood to deliver more searing guitar leads. A quick glance at the lyrics reveals such contemporary lines as “I love you like Instagram love strippers.” The band is rhythm guitarist Josh Miller, upright bassist Andrew Gohman, pianist Jim McKaba, and drummer Jon Buck. Birchwood gives a treatise on self-love and self-consciousness in “My Own Worst Enemy” in yet another blazing guitar workout. There’s no better modern bluesman on the scene today than Birchwood. He consistently delivers the goods and Exorcist is his latest adventurous chapter..
