Jerry Williams’—aka Swamp Dogg—first love was country music, listening to it as a Navy family kid growing up in Portsmouth, Virginia. “My granddaddy, he just bought country records out the asshole,” Swamp remembers. “Every Friday when he came home from the Navy yard he’d stop off and get his records, like ‘Mule Train’ by Frankie Laine, or ‘Riders in the Sky’ by Vaughn Monroe.” His first time performing on stage, in fact, was a country song at a talent show when he was six years old: “I did Red Foley’s version of ‘Peace in the Valley.’” 

 Whilethe 77 year-old Williams’ most enduring persona is the psychedelic soulsuperhero Swamp Dogg—a musical vigilante upholding truths both personal andpolitical since 1970’s immortal album, TotalDestruction To Your Mind—he will tell anybody who will listen that he’sconsidered himself country this entire time. “If you notice I use a lot ofhorns,” Swamp says. “But actually, if you listen to my records before I startstacking shit on it, I’m country. I sound country.” 

 Swampbegan his professional singing career as Little Jerry Williams back in the ‘50sbefore working as an A&R man for Atlantic Records in the late ‘60s. Hisbiggest hit is actually a country song: 1970’s “Don’t Take Her (She’s All IGot).” Written with his best friend Gary U.S. Bonds, the track is country inthat woeful, underdog-baring-their-soul sort of way that for some reason onlycountry songs really ever allow themselves to be. Freddie North covered itfirst and made it a Top 40 pop song, but Johnny Paycheck took it all the way to#2 on the country charts in 1971.

 Following2018’s critically acclaimed, Ryan Olson-produced Love, Loss, And Auto-Tune—his first LP to debut on 11 Billboard charts (including at #7 on'Heatseekers’) and his first chart ink since his 1970 song “Mama's Baby -Daddy's Maybe”—Sorry You Couldn’t Make Itallows Swamp to finally dive into the sound he grew up playing. With thesupport of Pioneer Works Press, they recorded the album at Nashville’s SoundEmporium with Olson as producer once again, and backed by a crack studio bandled by Derick Lee, a keyboard virtuoso who worked as the musical director ofBET’s Bobby Jones Gospel Show for nearly four decades. Nashville guitarfirebrand Jim Oblon combusts his way through lead duties, while frequentcollaborator Moogstar and special guests Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), John Prine,Jenny Lewis, Channy Leaneagh and Chris Beirden of Poliça, and Sam Amidon jointhe action throughout.

 Aband of 14 players, including Vernon, Lee, Beirden, and Moogstar, among others,provides the background for Swamp’s devastating new take on “Don’t Take Her(She’s All I Got).” Lead single “Sleeping Without You Is A Dragg” is one ofSwamp’s most heartfelt songs to date and features Vernon on piano as well asbacking vocals by Lewis and Leaneagh. He duets with country-folk legend Prineon two songs (“It’s the first time I seen John since the sixties!” laughsSwamp): the indelible, psychedelic ballad “Memories” and the reflective “PleaseLet Me Go Round Again.” Originally written and demoed in his forties, “PleaseLet Me Go Round Again” is a plea for one more chance at life, sung with acuteemotional connection. 

 Theseare narratives about love, of missing the one you love, of compassion, familyand friends, and even the kind of love that transcends death. “I was lookingfor a new way for Swamp Dogg to go,” he explains. “Apart from me singing andwriting most of the songs, I didn’t participate—in other words, I told ‘em,‘Don’t ask me, I wanna see what happens without my influence.’ It was hard forme to do, ego-wise.”

Sorry You Couldn’t Make It sees Swamp come full circle, and closes what has felt tohim like unfinished business. “They didn’t have any blacks in country until Charlie Pridecame along,” he says. “But in time, all things change and that's what hashappened to country music.” Surveying today’s Nashville reality, Swamp seesopportunity: artists as divergent as Darius Rucker and Lil Nas X are convergingin a genre that he once worried might never give him his shot. “I'm anxiousbecause it's like I've taken all my money and put it on one horse,” he says.“But I believe in this horse.”

It's always fun to hear how people describe Tami Neilson when they first hear her perform.  As one member of the press exclaimed, she is “a red-hot honky-tonker landing somewhere between Patsy Cline and Wanda Jackson with a little bit of Peggy Lee sophistication.”

 The multi-award winning Canadian born and New Zealand based artist is well-known for her scorching live shows and was lauded as “a fire-breathing belter on her own terms” by Rolling Stone. 

​Early recordings saw her in a self-created territory between mainstream country and alternative country.  Mostly recorded around the kitchen table back home in Canada with brother Jay,  who is also an acclaimed producer and songwriter. Soon the awards started coming in New Zealand for albums that added breadth to her “country singer” label such as Best Female Artist, Best Country Album, Best Country Song, an APRA Silver Scroll (songwriting) award and Album of the Year nominations. Her work has received rave reviews across the globe and her songs have also appeared in the Netflix series Wanted and TV series Nashville.

​In Summer 2022 she released her highly anticipated album KINGMAKER. The first single "Beyond The Stars", a duet with Willie Nelson, was well-received by fans of both artists. They sang the duet live at Luck Reunion in March, and video of that performance has since gone viral.

 Having performed with Mavis Staples, Robbie Williams, Colin James, and many more. , no one forgets the first time they saw Tami Neilson. She can hush a room with an original song that channels the hurting spirit of Patsy Cline or the sensuality of Peggy Lee, or bring the audience to its feet on a rockabilly raver.

​"In short, she tore it up from the floor up. " - No Depression

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"Tami Neilson is one of the greatest singers on this entire planet, irrespective of genre or geographic region." - Saving Country Music