Living In A Burning House

Album review

Since beginning his tenure with Alligator Records on 2014's fine Don't Call No Ambulance, Florida bluesman Selwyn Birchwood has shown a restless spirit. That set established him as a top-shelf guitar and lap steel wrangler. 2017's Pick Your Poison underscored those qualities in reflections of Hill Country, raw roadhouse, and Chicago blues, tempered by gritty R&B. On Living in a Burning House, Birchwood assembles all that and more with enormous growth as a singer, songwriter, and arranger on these 13 original songs. And, yes, he still plays a hell of a lot of guitar and lap steel. He is accompanied by Regi Oliver on reeds and woodwinds, bassist Donald Wright, keyboardist Walter "Bunt" May, and recent drummer Philip Walker. Living in a Burning House has a big, ferocious sound thanks to Tom Hambridge's production and mix; it's in your face and exquisitely detailed. The horn and organ intro on "I'd Climb Mountains" recalls a Stax revue, before Birchwood leads the band in a cut-time blues shuffle. Oliver's multi-tracked horns help punch up a massive, greasy groove that recalls an early Elvin Bishop date. Fans of Birchwood's lap steel playing will dig "I Got Drunk, Laid and Stoned," a scorching barroom anthem with nasty slide and honking baritone sax from Oliver. A knotty horn breakdown -- à la '70s Stevie Wonder -- introduces the poignant title-track single. It gives way to a steamy, roiling reggae vamp propelled by Wright's bass line and May's keys. It's snatched back under the funky blues umbrella in Birchwood's guitar playing. His voice and phrasing bridge the otherworldly span between Gil Scott-Heron and Lou Rawls. "You Can't Steal My Shine" is a strolling rave-up soul-blues with a killer vocal from Birchwood. "Revelation" expansively combines Chicago and Delta blues with carnal gospel, and it's anchored by a simple, dirty, throbbing, two-note bass vamp. Birchwood delivers a knotty, ladder-climbing guitar break that sounds like it was played with a rusty nail. The interplay between horns, keys, and drums on "Searching for My Tribe" is torn wide open by Birchwood's biting, distorted guitar, as he testifies to the core about the relentless search for belonging. "She's a Dime" is swaggering, good-time soul-blues that swings hard in a hip little tribute to Holland-Dozier-Holland's "How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You." It's followed by "One More Time," showcasing the glorious interplay between Oliver's baritone and Birchwood's lyrical six-string. His solo bleeds emotion. "Freaks Come Out at Night" is a rancorous dirty blues that weds R.L. Burnside's electric choogle to Howlin' Wolf's evil moan, and a burning boogie John Lee Hooker would bless -- complete with wicked slide work. On Living in a Burning House, Birchwood erases arbitrary boundaries between blues- and R&B-based genres. He openly draws from history but situates his original music expansively in the here and now; his many stylistic referents combine in new ways to offer a stubbornly holistic, emotionally resonant, and visionary approach.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo