First Listen: Swamp Dogg, 'Love, Loss, And Auto-Tune'
Swamp Dogg has tried out plenty of new tricks over the last half-century — the latest example being the digital manipulation of his vocals on his new album Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune — but he's usually done it in a spirit of impishness and enterprising experimentation, not settling for superimposing a newer aesthetic onto a familiar approach.
The singer, songwriter and producer behind Swamp's persona, Jerry Williams Jr., was one Southern soul survivor who possessed the gonzo showmanship, expansive vision and warped wit to carry the imaginative fun of his and . (.) He's seldom made it easy on those who want to fetishize soul music as some sort of unaffected, instinctual form; his output is that of a savvy industry vet, who's supplied material to or produced acts ranging from to and , choosing the path of an outlandish outsider artist, down to every facet of his self-presentation.
