I've made no secret of my love for the music of Selwyn Birchwood. I call him my favorite blues dude, I go to every show that he does in Phoenix, and I've acquired each of his six albums to date.

That's why it should come as no suprise that Birchwood's latest, Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues (Alligator Records), should get the nod as this month's Pick Hit. If you've been following his career as thoroughly as I have, you know what you'll get from the man --- plenty of solid guitar work, wonderful slide playing on his lap steel, and plenty of topical songs covering a wide range of current affairs, all delivered with his raspy blues-worthy voice.

The album opens with a little tribute to the space program, "The Eagle Has Landed," a one and a half minute thing with Birchwood's snaky effects on guitar riding on top of radio transmissions from somewhere in outer space. No vocals as he lets his guitar do the talking.

Birchwood takes it to his church ... well, his church in a manner of speaking ... with the heavy blues of "The Church Of Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues." He sings that this particular church needs no denomination, as music is its mission. Plenty of propulsive guitar runs throughout.

The introspective slow blues, "Damaged Goods," has him explaining that he's not perfect, a little disturbed, but he's found peace, sung with a touch of echo in the vocals. Background singers Briana Lutzi and Taylor Opie repeat back his lines for reinforcement while Birchwood lays down some really fine guitar parts.

"All Hail The Algorithm" starts with the sound of a modem connection before Birchwood welcomes us to his digital hell, in which we've traded our hard lives for hard drives and everything now is done in front of a screen. It's a mid-tempo funky blues with strong guitar from our star and a solid organ solo from John Hetherington. This is a song that'll make you think, and perhaps has all of us putting down our phones more often.

The mood changes on the gentle, heartfelt love song, "Labour of Love." It's a different kind of thing from Birchwood, and a nice change of pace. But then he's back to the Selwyn that we all know and love, playing his lap steel on "Should've Never Gotten Out Of Bed" while singing about everything that's gone wrong on this particular day.

He sticks with the lap steel on the slow blues, "What I've Been Accused Of," complementing his vocals with the emotions coming from the combo of his guitar strings meeting that little piece of steel. Nice piano work from Hetherington. Every day he pleads his case to that woman but to no avail because she's both the judge and the jury.

We get another topical number on the mid-tempo funky "Talking Heads," which would be humorous if it wasn't so scary true. Birchwood sings that TV news has a cult-like personality and it's only fake news if you disagree. He also reminds us that a lie repeated a thousand times is still a lie. We get still another really fine organ solo from Hetherington and rhythmic drumming from Henley Connor III.

Birchwood takes his guitar solos to another level on the slow blues, "Soulmate," bring out memories of how B.B. King played his instrument. His impassioned vocals remind us to never give up on love because your soul mate is waiting to be found and true love can heal. Man, this is the blues!

Closing the album is the much quieter "The Struggle Is Real," an island-style song of encouragement, with Birchwood praying that the struggles will someday heal. It's a nice ending, making us all feel encouraged and leaving on a positive note.

Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues will rank as one of the best of the 2026 blues season when my list of top albums comes out in January. I guarantee it.

--- Bill Mitchell