top of page
Search

Visionary Bluesman Selwyn Birchwood Premieres New Video of Searching For My Tribe

Writer's picture: The Sound CafeThe Sound Cafe

Photo Credit - Aaron Winters.



Groundbreaking young blues visionary Selwyn Birchwood today announced the premiere of his attention-grabbing new video for his original song, Searching For My Tribe. The passionate, thought-provoking track appears on Birchwood's recently released third Alligator album, Living In A Burning House.


According to Birchwood, Searching For My Tribe is about his personal journey for self-actualization. "I had always been a loner from a very young age. At 19 years old, I discovered an entire world of blues music that felt like 'home'. I knew then where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. Just when I thought I had found my place in the sun, it appears as though all of the people and sounds that brought me in have been replaced with other trends. This music video allows me to tell that story, visually, from a different perspective as it showcases the state of the 'art' in the environment we see today."


Birchwood calls his original music “electric swamp funkin’ blues,” defined by raw and soulful musicianship played with fire-and-brimstone fervor. His gritty, unvarnished vocals draw his audience deep inside his unforgettable tales of love, passion, pain and pleasure. No other band on the current blues scene is built quite like Birchwood’s. In addition to Selwyn’s electrifying guitar and lap steel playing, the other featured instrument is Regi Oliver’s driving baritone sax. The group is rounded out by bass, drums and keyboards.


Since the 2014 release of his Alligator Records debut, Don’t Call No Ambulance, Birchwood’s meteoric rise from playing small Florida clubs to headlining international festival stages is nothing short of phenomenal. The album received the Blues Music Award and Living Blues Critics’ Award for Best Debut Album Of 2014, and he won the 2015 Blues Blast Rising Star Award. Rave reviews ran in publications from Rolling Stone to The Wall Street Journal, from The Chicago Tribune to The San Francisco Chronicle. He followed in 2016 with Pick Your Poison.


No other band on the current blues scene is built quite like Birchwood’s. In addition to Selwyn’s electrifying guitar and lap-steel playing, the other featured instrument is Regi Oliver’s baritone sax. The group is rounded out by bass, drums and newly added keyboards. “With the keyboards,” Birchwood says, “it’s like we’re a whole new band with a bigger footprint—I can really stretch out on guitar while still featuring the baritone.” With his band feeding off his energy, the 6’3” musician with his trademark Afro roams the stage (often barefoot), ripping out memorable guitar licks with ease, his soulful, rocks-and-gravel vocals firing up the crowd, making them feel as if they were in his living room. His ability to win over an audience—any audience—is proven night after night on the bandstand. With his warm, magnetic personality, Birchwood is as down-to-earth as his music is thought-provoking and vital.







bottom of page