Jerry Williams Jr. has a simple reason for deciding to record a bluegrass album: He doesn’t know how much more time he has left to do it. At 81 years old, the cult R&B singer, songwriter and producer, best known for his sleazy, wisecracking alter-ego Swamp Dogg, can’t take anything for granted.
“I figured at my age, I don’t have that much longer to be running around here on Earth, no way,” Williams says over a Zoom call from his home in Porter Ranch. He leans back in his office chair, hands folded in his lap and baseball hat cocked high on his head. The blinds are drawn behind him to block out the afternoon light.
So, Williams says. “I’m gonna really go where I feel.” “Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St,” Williams’ 26th studio album as Swamp Dogg, continues a renaissance that began in 2018 when he teamed up with producer Ryan Olson for the acclaimed “Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune.
” Gone are the vocal effects so cheekily displayed on that and his last album, “I Need a Job...
So I Can Buy More Auto-Tune,” replaced here with banjo, fiddle and a more raw, earthy brand of storytelling. There’s the trademark sex and humor that Swamp Dogg is known for on album openers “Mess Under That Dress” and “Ugly Man’s Wife” and guest spots from Margo Price, Jenny Lewis and Vernon Reid, plus some of today’s finest bluegrass pickers, including Chris Scruggs and Sierra Hull. There’s even the odd love song, in which Williams’ grizzled voice shades.
