Jenny Lewis is featured on "Count the Days" a newly released track and video from Swamp Dogg's forthcoming album, Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St, due May 31 from Oh Boy Records, the label started by the late John Prine.
The album's planned release comes at a time of renewed interest in Black artists exploring their connections to country and other forms of roots music, as showcased on Beyonce's new album Cowboy Carter.
Lewis, perhaps best known for her stints opening for Harry Styles and fronting Rilo Kiley, sings lead on the track, that's a cover. "I figured, once a hit, always a hit-and this song has been a hit three times with Inez and Charlie Foxx, Joss Stone, and Gene Pitney. After hearing Jenny Lewis' voice, I knew it was destined to be a hit again," Swamp Dogg said in a statement.
The clip opens with Swamp being driven around Nashville, with the driver pointing out that they were approaching the former home of country legends George Jones and Tammy Wynette. "This ain't the place where he drove the lawnmower," Swamp says, referring to the story about Wynette confiscating Jones' car keys because he was too drunk to drive, so Jones reportedly hopped on his ride-on lawnmower and drove that to the liquor store to pick up some more booze.
"I don't know if that's for real or not," Swamp's driver responds, prompting the legendary cult artist to let out a chuckle and reminisce about one of the times he played a club in Nashville.
The video goes on to show footage of Lewis, Swamp, his housemate MoogStar, and a whole slew of studio musicians performing the track.
Swamp's forthcoming album is produced by Ryan Olson (Poliça, Gayngs) and features an all-star band including Noam Pikelny, Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas, Chris Scruggs, Billy Contreras, and Kenny Vaughan. Other guests on the album include Margo Price, Living Colour's Vernon Reid, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and The Cactus Blossoms.
"Believe it or not, I didn't do anything but sing these songs the way I would have sung them if it was an R&B album. That's just the way the music comes out of me, and it would have been unholy for me to try and imitate anybody else," Swamp Dogg about the making of the album in a statement. "Black music has had so many different labels put on it over the years that sometimes I'm onstage and I don't know what the hell it is that I'm singing," Swamp Dogg added. "The only thing I know how to do is be myself."
Swamp Dogg, whose real name is Jerry Williams Jr., is an 81-year-old much beloved music cult figure best-known for the classic 1970 album Total Destruction of Your Mind. He also helped put together the World Class Wreckin' Cru, which featured a young Dr. Dre, prior to his fame with N.W.A.
He's also the subject of the new feature-length documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted, which debuted at the recent SXSW film festival and received praise from The Austin Chronicle and The Hollywood Reporter. The film's title is inspired by the fact that Swamp has the bottom of the pool in his San Fernando Valley backyard painted with the likeness of the cover of his 1971 album Rat On!, which features the artist riding a giant white rat.
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