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A FEW WEEKS ago, Selwyn Birchwood, winner of the 2013 IBC Award in Memphis, took the time out to chat to yeractual about the band, the man and his music. Now signed to Chicago-based Alligator Records, yeractual tipped Selwyn as one to watch over a year ago. A prophesy that is easily running true with Birchwood playing major events across the US and gaining rave reviews for his recently (June 10, 2014) released second album on Alligator, 'Don't Call No Ambulance'. Here's Selwyn's story:
Selwyn Birchwood Band
Twelve short months ago, Florida-based Selwyn Birchwood and his band had just won the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. He had a self-produced album out on the streets and was playing mostly local gigs, trying all the time to break into a wider US audience. The IBC award helped push the boundaries for him and last July he played one of the USA’s most popular and significant blues festivals, The Portland Waterfront Blues Fest in Oregon, where we first met up with him. It seemed clear then that this was a guy and a band destined for greater things. Fast-forward and we find the band now signed to Bruce Iglauer’s Alligator label in Chicago with a great new CD, ‘Don’t Call No Ambulance’, under their belt and international accolades flowing in.
The IBC award was joined by Selwyn also taking the 2013 Albert King Guitarist of the Year Award. Two renowned accolades that many bands and players would virtually kill for! But despite this international acclaim, there remained a need to push at the doors of venues and festivals throughout the US and Europe. Selwyn himself acknowledges the struggle while agreeing that the IBC awards helped him gain toe-hold in hitherto closed doors across the US.
‘Winning the IBC was huge for us. I wouldn’t say that it ‘opened’ as many doors as it ‘UNLOCKED. A great starting point, being a relatively obscure band from Florida, it was hard to grab peoples’ attention outside our home state. We had been touring throughout Florida for the past 5 or 6 years and people down home knew of us and received us openly, but I found out really quickly that getting work away from home was a huge challenge. After we won the IBC, people were a lot more willing to take a second look at us and that’s all that I felt we needed. It seemed that once people actually saw us perform live, we didn’t have too much of a problem getting invited back, but it was just a matter of getting our foot in the door. Once we were able to do that, then I was wanting to kick it open!’
The band’s first album, ‘FL Boy’ was a largely self-produced effort released in 2011. Now with Chicago blues label, Alligator, Selwyn found the entire process much better and more solid. He explains how he came to sign to Alligator and how he views the difference in this way:
‘My band competed in the IBC the year prior to us winning as well (2012). We did extremely well, we made the finals (Top 9 bands in the competition). Bruce Iglauer caught our performance in the finals and pulled me aside to talk about the band while I was running around promoting with flyers etc. He had apparently purchased my FL Boy album. I advised him that I did not feel that CD was a good representation of my current sound. In fact, it was a completely different band that I had in Orlando that can be heard on that CD. I also let him know that I had just finished recording a new record and wanted to send him the tracks, if he’d be so willing. He was surprisingly receptive to the idea. He was brutally honest with me, as he is with most everyone, and said he felt I had half an album. I thought it was interesting that he said that because I had actually run out of budget on that record and had to rush through all but 5 songs rather hastily. Not surprisingly, he said that those 5 tracks were “keepers” and he would like to hear more if I had it. When I explained that was out of budget and that I had to sell a lot of my guitar equipment just to get those recordings done, we got into conversation about writing new tunes and perhaps having the recorded on his dime. After about a year of shopping tunes on and off, Bruce selected another 7 that he was content with. The initial 5 and the 7 new ones became the record “Don’t Call No Ambulance” that we just recorded for Alligator. This is another league to FL Boy. The recording, production, mixing, mastering and pretty much every aspect of the record is better because of the help and guidance of the Alligator Records team and Bruce Iglauer. It has gotten great reviews so far and we are excited to get it out to the public! ‘
The new album, ‘Don’t Call No Ambulance’, released in June, is already kicking up a storm in the US and beyond with gigs stretching across the US, radio and television appearances and bags of media coverage, propelling Selwyn and the band into the blues limelight. Selwyn confirms the band comprises Regi Oliver on Baritone Sax, Curtis Nutall, Drums, Huff Wright, Bass guitar and himself on Guitar and Vocals. He cites his major influences as coming from a ‘pretty eclectic range’ from blues, jazz, country, rock, reggae and everything in between. He singles out Muddy Waters, Gatemouth Brown, RL Burnside, Buddy Guy, Charlie Patton and Lightnin’ Hopkins as among his own personal favourite blues artists.
Joe Loius Walker features on the new album, a strong player with a powerful blues attitude. Selwyn believes he contributed greatly to the mix:
‘Joe was a perfect accent to the record. I had been listening to Joe for years before I met and befriended him. I enjoy his approach because he pulls from many different sources and styles. ‘
Watching the band perform it seems clear that Birchwood is a guy who can slip easily and comfortably from hard-electric- guitar driven blues to subtle, southern acoustic slide work without a hint of hesitation . However, he says he has no specific preferences within the music:
‘I don’t really have a preference. I am just a lover of music. I feel like there is too much good stuff out there to get locked down to one specific thread of it. My favourite bands and players to listen to are the ones that I can hear slipping in and out of several genres. I feel that gives the music a lot more texture and style and makes it more interesting to hear.’
Last year, the band had yet to visit Europe. A few months ago, in April, they crossed the pond to play the Nideros Blues Festival in Trondheim, Norway, where Selwyn confirms the band had a blast of a time:
‘We had a great time at the festival in Norway! I’d love to get back over to Europe to play. We will head over to play for you there ANYTIME, just line up the date! ‘
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