FORGOTTEN CLASSICS
Swamp Dogg
Total Destruction To Your Mind
The Swamp Dogg Enigma
In each issue, American Trail´s vinyl editor Donivan Berube tells the story of classic, but forgotten, American album. This time, Donivan talks to soul legend Swamp Dogg about one of his Total Destruction To Your Mind.
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WORDS AND PHOTOS BY DONIVAN BERUBE
hat little voice still comes up in my head sometimes and says, ‘You’re gonna die.’ So I say: ‘Yes I am, goddamnit, just not right this second.’” The cult phenom of soul known by most as Swamp Dogg has survived a half-century of exploratory destruction by stirring his own pot and pushing back against any boundary that comes within reach. One review of 1972’s Cuffed, Collared & Tagged read: “This album is by far the greatest piece of writing, arranging, producing, and sequencing genius that I’ve ever encountered. Anyone who has heard the first two Swamp Dogg albums will possibly say, ‘Impossible!’ But after listening to this, one will make the crossover to, ‘Incredible!’” Such raving praise was written by none other than Swamp Dogg himself, known officially as Jerry Williams Jr., and
printed on the back cover of his own record. “The only album that may possibly compare with this one is the one I’m contemplating doing in the late future,” he continued. “What you’ve just read is my trip, and if you can’t tolerate it, that’s your trip!” As an only child born to musical parents, his mother and stepfather were constantly hosting African American performers touring through Virginia on the southern Chitlin’ Circuit, offering up their house as a veritable home base. Williams set the scene in an exclusive interview from his home in Southern California: – Black artists didn’t have anywhere to stay since they weren’t allowed in hotels back then. The music was always playing at our house, either on records or the radio. It was like a party every weekend. His entire childhood became something like a backstage tour of the music industry, cutting singles as “Little 152
AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021
