VIA PRESS RELEASE | “…at times hilarious, dark, poignant, and charming. A perfect summation of Swamp Dogg himself.”
—No Depression
Swamp Dogg today released a new mini documentary about the making of his acclaimed new album, Sorry You Couldn’t Make It, out now via Joyful Noise Recordings and Pioneer Works Press. Directed by Isaac Gale and narrated by Kurt Wagner (Lampchop), Sorry You Couldn’t Make It: The Movie presented by Vice/Noisey is a peek behind the curtain of the recording sessions at Nashville’s Sound Emporium studio and features Swamp Dogg aka Jerry Williams, John Prine, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Derrick Lee, Jim Oblon, Chris Bierden (Poliça), and Moogstar.
Sorry You Couldn’t Make It is earning the legendary artist praise and support from NPR, Uncut (8/10), VICE, No Depression, American Songwriter, The Sunday Times, and more, and Williams will play a special album release show headlining Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on June 19th, a day before supporting John Prine’s sold-out show at Harlem’s historic Apollo Theatre on June 20th.
Singles “Billy,” “Good, Better, Best,” “Memories” (his duet with John Prine), and “Sleeping Without You Is A Dragg” featuring piano by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and backing vocals by Jenny Lewis and Channy Leaneagh (Poliça) were released to acclaim from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone (‘70 Most Anticipated Albums of 2020’), NPR Music, Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, Paste, and Brooklyn Vegan, among others. Sorry You Couldn’t Make It is out now in digital and physical formats via Joyful Noise Recordings and Pioneer Works Press.
With the support of Pioneer Works Press, Swamp Dogg recorded Sorry You Couldn’t Make It at Nashville’s Sound Emporium backed by a crack studio band led by Derick Lee, a keyboard virtuoso who worked as the musical director of BET’s Bobby Jones Gospel Show for nearly four decades. Nashville guitar firebrand Jim Oblon combusts his way through lead duties, while frequent collaborator Moogstar and other special guests like Sam Amidon join the action throughout.
Sorry You Couldn’t Make It sees Swamp come full circle, and closes what has felt to him like unfinished business. “They didn’t have any blacks in country until Charlie Pride came along,” he says. “But in time, all things change and that’s what has happened to country music.” Surveying today’s Nashville reality, Swamp sees opportunity: artists as divergent as Darius Rucker and Lil Nas X are converging in a genre that he once worried might never give him his shot. “I’m anxious because it’s like I’ve taken all my money and put it on one horse,” he says. “But I believe in this horse.”
PHOTO: DAVID McMURRY
