News

Living Blues magazine, in its just-released issue #303, announced the winners of the 2026 Living Blues Awards. Five Alligator Records artists received a total of six awards. 

GRAMMY-nominated artist Shemekia Copeland won both the Critics' and Readers' Polls for Blues Artist Of The Year (Female).

D.K. Harrell won the coveted Album Of The Year Award, topping the Critics' Poll with his Alligator Records debut release, Talkin' Heavy.

Southern Avenue was named Blues Band Of The Year, leading the Critics' Poll.

Marcia Ball won the Readers' Poll Award for Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboard), and Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith (of The Cash Box Kings) won the Critics' Award for Most Outstanding Musician (Drums).

Shemekia Copeland
Critics' Poll and Readers' Poll Winner:
Blues Artist Of The Year (Female) 
 

Southern Avenue
Critics' Poll Winner:
Blues Band Of The Year

D.K. Harrell
Critics' Poll Winner:
Album Of The Year/Best New Recording: Talkin' Heavy

Marcia Ball
Readers' Poll Winner:
Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboards)


 


The Cash Box Kings
Critics' Poll Winner:
Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith
Most Outstanding Musician (Drums)

 

30-Minute Special Includes Performance Footage
And Interview With Copeland

        

Award-winning blues and roots vocalist Shemekia Copeland appears in the new PBS television special, Bruce Springsteen: Finding America In Song. Copeland eloquently discusses the power and meaning of the great spiritual Wade In The Water, and its purpose in America today. She performs the song to bone-chilling heights in footage from the June 5 all-star concert celebrating the opening of The Bruce Springsteen Center in Long Branch, NJ. 

Watch the full 30-minute special here:

Living Blues magazine, in its just-released issue #302, announced the nominees for the 2026 Living Blues Awards. This year, Alligator Records' artists received a total of 16 nominations. GRAMMY-nominated artists Shemekia Copeland and Southern Avenue received three nominations apiece, as did guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tommy Castro. Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Ronnie Baker Brooks received two.

Marcia Ball, D.K. Harrell, Rick Estrin and Kid Andersen (both of Rick Estrin & The Nightcats) and Oscar Wilson (of The Cash Box Kings) each received one nomination.

Copeland, Castro and Baker Brooks are all nominated for Blues Artist Of The Year. Southern Avenue's nominations include Band Of The Year.

Additionally, Castro, Harrell and Southern Avenue all received nominations for Album Of The Year.

Living Blues fans may vote with the Readers' Ballot, available at livingblues.com, by June 15, 2026. Alligator artists and their nominations follow: 

Shemekia Copeland
Blues Artist Of The Year (Female)
Best Live Performer
Most Outstanding Blues Singer
 

Southern Avenue
Band Of The Year
Best Live Performer
Best Blues Album of 2025: Family





Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
Blues Artist Of The Year (Male)
Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar)
Best Blues Album Of 2025: Closer To The Bone

 

Ronnie Baker Brooks
Blues Artist Of The Year (Male)
Best Live Performer

D.K. Harrell
Best Blues Album Of 2025: Talkin' Heavy

Rick Estrin & The Nightcats
Rick Estrin - Most Outstanding Musician (Harmonica)
Kid Andersen - Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar)





Marcia Ball
Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboards)




 


The Cash Box Kings
Oscar Wilson - Most Outstanding Blues Singer


 

Alligator Artists Win Top Awards:
B.B. King Blues Entertainer Of The Year — Ronnie Baker Brooks
Blues Album Of The Year -— D.K. Harrell Talkin' Heavy
Song Of The Year — Can't Catch A Break, Tommy Castro And Kid Andersen

On Thursday, May 7, The Blues Foundation announced the winners of the 47th Annual Blues Music Awards. Alligator Records artists received seven awards, including three of the night's top honors.

World-renowned blues star Ronnie Baker Brooks received the coveted B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year Award.

Young blues phenomenon D.K. Harrell won the awards for Blues Album Of The Year and Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year for his critically acclaimed Alligator debut, Talkin' Heavy.

Tommy Castro (of Tommy Castro & The Painkillers) won the award for Song Of The Year for Can't Catch A Break (from his album Closer To The Bone) co-written with Christoffer "Kid" Andersen (of Rick Estrin & The Nightcats). Castro also won the award for Blues Rock Artist Of The Year.

Derrick "D'mar" Martin (drummer of Rick Estrin & The Nightcats) won Best Instrumentalist—Drums. 

And Marcia Ball, who was also inducted into The Blues Foundation's Hall Of Fame, won the award for Best Instrumentalist—Piano. 

The 47th Annual Blues Music Awards were held in Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday, May 7 at The Cannon Center For The Performing Arts.

Alligator artists and their awards follow: 

Ronnie Baker Brooks
B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year 

D.K. Harrell
Album Of The Year: Talkin' Heavy
Contemporary Blues Album: Talkin' Heavy

 

Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
Song Of The Year: Can’t Catch a Break (written by Tommy Castro & Christoffer "Kid" Andersen)
Blues Rock Artist: Tommy Castro

 

Rick Estrin & The Nightcats
Instrumentalist—Drums: Derrick D'mar Martin

Marcia Ball
2026 Blues Hall Of Fame Inductee
Instrumentalist—Piano

New Song And Video, Bad Decisions, Premieres Today

        

“Rollicking and riveting, profound and hard-driving…a defiant, first-class singer and full-throttle harmonica player.”
—Living Blues 

“A soulful vocalist, powerhouse harmonica virtuoso and gifted songwriter.”
—Blues Matters (UK) 

“Blistering originals…melding hard-core Chicago blues with soul. The results are raw and forceful.”
—No Depression 

On Friday, July 10, 2026, world-class blues star, harmonica, vocal and songwriting master Chris O'Leary will release Blue Collar, his second Alligator Records album. Blue Collar finds the Marine combat veteran, ex-Federal police officer and former lead singer of Levon Helm’s legendary Barn Burners turning his myriad life experiences into timeless blues tales. The album will be available on translucent blue vinyl, CD and at all digital service providers. Pre-order your copy here.

On record and on stage, O’Leary commands attention, singing with pure, unadulterated soul and playing harmonica with full-throttle, locomotive power. O'Leary's all-original songs are musically irresistible, often funny, and filled with honest truths and sage advice. They are an intoxicatingly refreshing, one-of-a-kind, high-energy, deep-dish gumbo of Chicago blues, Memphis soul and New Orleans funk.

“I’ve lived the craziest life,” says Chris O’Leary. “Going to war, performing and touring with (The Band’s) Levon Helm, befriending and learning from blues legend James Cotton, now recording for Alligator. It’s something I’ll never take for granted.”

Blue Collar's first single, the truthful and humorous Bad Decisions, premieres today, along with a new video. According to O'Leary, "I've been writing about my poor judgement for years, only this time it’s the actual name of the song." Watch the video below: 

The self-produced Blue Collar delivers 11 original, emotionally complex songs featuring O’Leary’s powerful harp work and soul-testifying vocals. The music is fueled by his dynamic band, exuding swaggering confidence at every turn. The songs, says O’Leary, are “all personal, all real-life.” On the late-night warning After 2 A.M., O’Leary sings of all the trouble one person can get into after making a few ill-advised choices once the sun goes down. The funny-because-it’s-true How’d I Ever Get Along?, and the barn-burning, swampy Live Baby Gators (featuring accordionist Wayne Toups), turn the heat up.  Adding to the proceedings, O’Leary’s friend and mentor Bob Margolin brings his Muddy Waters-infused guitar work to the slow and soulful Nothing But A Memory. And O’Leary’s legendary Alligator labelmate, Lil’ Ed Williams, brings his slide guitar firepower to the autobiographical One More Cup Of Coffee.  
 
From his Virginia home to stages all over the world, O’Leary has become one of the blues world’s pre-eminent harmonica players, superlative original songwriters, deep-down soulful singers, and most in-demand live performers. The award-winning O’Leary has been playing professionally since the 1990s, with five pre-Alligator solo albums to his credit. His 2024 Alligator debut The Hard Line steamrolled blues fans around the world with its deeply personal, potent original songs, crackerjack musicianship, devastatingly soulful, hair-raising vocals and a wry, spot-on sense of the absurd. 
 
O'Leary has always been a monster road warrior, performing hundreds of shows a year all over the world. Outside of the U.S., he’s played in Canada, Ireland, Spain, France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Portugal. According to Blues Music Magazine, O’Leary delivers “excellent, high-energy performances…he finds the groove on every song…powerful, first-rate virtuosity.”  

No Depression magazine says, “O’Leary’s voice contains startling emotion...reaching an intensity and emotional rawness [that’s] primal. The performances practically vibrate with an authenticity that stays with you.”   

Song A Highlight Track From Birchwood's New Album,
Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues

        

Florida musician Selwyn Birchwood is one of the most soulful bluesmen on the planet.
—AllMusic

Dramatic, volcanic electric guitar wizardry...gruff, burly vocals and incendiary guitar and lap steel virtuosity are showcased to maximum effect.
—Living Blues

Birchwood is one of the strongest innovators in contemporary blues today.
—NPR Music
 

Today, Monday, April 27, visionary guitarist, lap steel master, vocalist and cinematic songwriter Selwyn Birchwood releases his new video for the song Talking Heads.The track is a highlight from Birchwood's new Alligator album, Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues. The album, Birchwood's fifth for Alligator Records, was released on Friday, March 27. It is available on CD, translucent yellow vinyl LP, and at all digital service providers.

The video for Talking Heads was also produced and directed by Birchwood, who says of the song, "Talking Heads is a visual representation of the type of “news” that we are bombarded with every day from my viewpoint. Truth and fact have become subjective terms auctioned to the highest bidder and broadcast to the masses.”  Watch the video below: 

Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues features 10 wildly imaginative, laser-focused, vibrant original songs, produced by Birchwood and recorded in Florida. From the psychedelic soul sermon of The Church Of Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues to the wide-open honesty of Damaged Goods to the up-to-the-minute observations of All Hail The Algorithm and Talking Heads, Birchwood and his band play with honest, emotional intensity. On Labour Of Love he looks at the pains and joys of parenting, while The Struggle Is Real serves as an anthem for our times. Birchwood’s tough, slide guitar opus, What I’ve Been Accused Of, the slow burning, romantic Soulmate and the blazing Should’ve Never Gotten Out Of Bed, all show Birchwood as one of contemporary blues’ most prolific, significant and innovative artists.

Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues is Birchwood’s own fully realized artistic statement, and the first of his Alligator albums that he has produced by himself. “Producing allowed me to really take the wheel and steer the music to the exact destinations that I wanted to go. It allowed me to present these songs with the full, three-dimensional sound that I have wanted all along. This album is the full realization of the sound I have been cultivating. It tiptoes the tightrope between gritty gutbucket blues and contemporary grooves to create a soundscape that honors the roots but allows listeners to experience the music from a modern vantage point. Sharing songs with this much honesty allows us all to connect to music on a higher level…to feel a little less isolated and a little more ‘seen’ in what can be a hard life at times.” 

Live, Birchwood is a true force of nature. A favorite among blues fans and jam band fans alike, his ability to win over an audience—any audience—is proven night after night. With his warm, magnetic personality, Birchwood is as down-to-earth as his music is electrifyingly jaw-dropping. With his band feeding off his energy, the 6’3” musician roams the stage barefoot, ripping out memorable guitar licks with ease, his soulful, rocks-and-gravel vocals impossible to ignore. When he sits down to play his signature model Caladesi lap steel, he magically lifts the crowd into a sweat-soaked state of blissful elation. Mega-star Joe Bonamassa raves, “Selwyn Birchwood has become one of mQy favorite discoveries. He puts on a great show.” See his tour dates here.

According to Guitar World, “Blues star Selwyn Birchwood is the real deal. He puts his own fresh spin on the blues, taking the tradition and making it into something new.” 

New Album, Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues, To Be Released March 27, 2026
        

Dramatic, volcanic electric guitar wizardry...gruff, burly vocals and incendiary guitar and lap steel virtuosity are showcased to maximum effect.
—Living Blues

Selwyn Birchwood is one of the preeminent voices in contemporary blues. He plays like a man possessed…cleverly blending elements of traditional blues, funk, Stax-flavored R&B and psychedelic rock into a cohesive and compelling, expansive and cathartic artistic statement.
—Guitar Player

Selwyn Birchwood is one of the best blues players today. Ferocious blues guitar…powerful voice…blistering licks galore.
—Vintage Guitar 
 

Today, Monday, March 16, visionary guitarist, lap steel master, vocalist and cinematic songwriter Selwyn Birchwood announced dates for the first leg of his 2026 Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues Tour. Birchwood—whom Rolling Stone calls "a remarkable, contemporary bluesman…a powerhouse young guitarist and soulful vocalist"—will kick off the tour on March 20 in his home state of Florida before playing dates on the East Coast and into the Midwest.

The new, powerful, self-produced Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues, Birchwood's fifth Alligator Records album, will be released on Friday, March 27. The trail-blazing music will be available on CD, translucent yellow vinyl LP, and at all digital service providers.

Live, Birchwood is a true force of nature. A favorite among blues fans and jam band fans alike, his ability to win over an audience—any audience—is proven night after night. With his warm, magnetic personality, Birchwood is as down-to-earth as his music is electrifyingly jaw-dropping. With his band feeding off his energy, the 6'3" musician roams the stage barefoot, ripping out memorable guitar licks with ease, his soulful, rocks-and-gravel vocals impossible to ignore. When he sits down to play his signature model Caladesi lap steel, he magically lifts the crowd into a sweat-soaked state of blissful elation. Mega-star Joe Bonamassa raves, "Selwyn Birchwood has become one of my favorite discoveries. He puts on a great show."   

Says Birchwood, "You would be hard-pressed to find an album or a band that sounds exactly like mine, and that has been and always will be the goal. I pride myself in writing songs so that when you hear a band like us, you hear a band that sounds just like...US!"

2026 ELECTRIC SWAMP FUNKIN' BLUES TOUR

Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues features 10 wildly imaginative, laser-focused, vibrant original songs, produced by Birchwood and recorded in Florida. From the wide-open honesty of Damaged Goods to the up-to-the-minute observations of All Hail The Algorithm and Talking Heads, Birchwood and his band play with honest, emotional intensity. On Labour Of Love he looks at the pains and joys of parenting, while The Struggle Is Real serves as an anthem for our times. Birchwood’s tough, slide guitar opus, What I’ve Been Accused Of, the slow burning, romantic Soulmate and the blazing Should’ve Never Gotten Out Of Bed, all show Birchwood as one of contemporary blues’ most prolific, significant and innovative artists.  
 
Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues is Birchwood’s own fully realized artistic statement, and the first of his Alligator albums that he has produced by himself. “Producing allowed me to really take the wheel and steer the music to the exact destinations that I wanted to go. It allowed me to present these songs with the full, three-dimensional sound that I have wanted all along. This album is the full realization of the sound I have been cultivating. It tiptoes the tightrope between gritty gutbucket blues and contemporary grooves to create a soundscape that honors the roots but allows listeners to experience the music from a modern vantage point. Sharing songs with this much honesty allows us all to connect to music on a higher level…to feel a little less isolated and a little more ‘seen’ in what can be a hard life at times.”

According to Guitar World, “Blues star Selwyn Birchwood is the real deal. He puts his own fresh spin on the blues, taking the tradition and making it into something new

        

Today, Monday, March 9, Atlanta-based blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Tinsley Ellis releases his new video for Sweet Ice Tea, a highlight track from Ellis' new album, Labor Of Love (released January 30). Labor Of Love is Ellis' second acoustic album (after 2024's Blues Music Award-nominated Naked Truth), and his first acoustic album to contain all original material. The album is available on CD, Georgia peach-colored vinyl LP and at all digital service providers. It is available to order here. 

Since the release of Labor Of Love, many outlets including No Depression, AllMusic, Living Blues, Blues Music Magazine, Relix and numerous publications across the UK and Europe have featured Ellis and his mesmerizing acoustic music. Vintage Guitar magazine put Ellis on the cover of its February 2026 issue. 

Sweet Ice Tea debuted on the nationally syndicated radio program, Acoustic Café, in over 120 markets. Labor Of Love hit #1 on the NACC Blues Genre Chart (North Americana College & Community),  #1 on The Big Blues Radio Chart and appears on the Folk Alliance International Radio Chart’s Top 50. It’s also at or near the top on blues radio chart across the globe in France, Australia, Canada and the UK.

According to Ellis, “Sweet Ice Tea is a hill country blues stomper with a plaintive shout-out to the love of my life -- Soul Food! We hope it makes the listener hungry for more songs from my new Labor Of Love album!”  The video for the song was directed by filmmaker Tony Bieser, who also directed Ellis' previous videos for Too Broke and Hoodoo Woman. Watch Sweet Ice Tea below. 

With Labor Of Love, Ellis delivers a raw, edgy, self-produced set of 13 original compositions, all performed with pure emotional honesty. The songs spin modern tales of floods, conflagrations, voodoo spirits, personal travails and heaven-sent prayers. From the feral opener Hoodoo Woman to the John Lee Hooker-groove of Long Time to the evocative, Skip James-inspired To A Hammer to the Son House-style stomp of Sunnyland, Ellis inhabits his songs in a way that is simply astonishing.  

Each performance carries the weight, experience and hard-earned wisdom Ellis learned over four decades on the road, making Labor Of Love as profoundly deep and moving as any music he has made in his career. It covers the gamut of emotions, finding good times in the hard times, mixing gentle beauty with foot-pounding ferocity.

Ellis continues performing solo all over the country in his aptly named “Two Guitars And A Car” tour. For Ellis, playing solo, acoustic blues has helped him tap into the raw essence of the music. “I love doing these shows,” Ellis says, “I can be more expressive and emotional as a solo acoustic artist. I just love the sound of acoustic guitar. I always have.” Find Ellis' tour dates here.

“No matter what I play, I like to have an edge, "Ellis says. "For me, just playing this music is a labor of love. I sat at the feet of Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf. I got into this music because of them. I always told myself if I could just make a living playing the blues, I’d be, at least in my own mind, successful.”

Premier Guitar believes he’s more than reached that goal, declaring, “Ellis is a legend of American blues music...he’s an American music treasure. He delivers a sermon on the power and glory of the blues, and is one of modern blues’ greatest performers.”  

On Wednesday, February 18, The Blues Foundation announced the nominees for the 47th Annual Blues Music Awards. Alligator Records artists received an astounding 24 nominations, more than any other label. 

Southern Avenue (Band Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Contemporary Blues Album), Tommy Castro & The Painkillers (Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Blues Rock Artist) and D.K. Harrell (Album Of The Year, Contemporary Blues Album, Contemporary Blues Male Artist) were honored with three nominations each. 

Ronnie Baker Brooks (B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year, Instrumentalist—Guitar), Chris Cain (Contemporary Blues Male Artist, Instrumentalist—Guitar) and Carolyn Wonderland (Contemporary Blues Album, Contemporary Blues Female Artist), received two nominations each.

Rick Estrin, leader of Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, received two individual nominations (B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year, Traditional Blues Male Artist), while the band's drummer, Derrick "D'mar" Martin, and guitarist, Christoffer "Kid" Andersen, each received one. Additionally, Andersen is nominated for Song Of The Year for Can't Catch A Break, his co-write with labelmate Tommy Castro.

Marcia Ball (Instrumentalist—Piano), who will also be inducted into The Blues Foundation's Hall Of Fame, received one nomination, as did Shemekia Copeland (Instrumentalist—Vocals), Roomful Of Blues (Traditional Blues Album), Nick Moss Band bassist Rodrigo Mantovani and The Selwyn Birchwood Band's saxophonist, Regi Oliver.

The 47th Annual Blues Music Awards will be held in Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday, May 7 at The Cannon Center For The Performing Arts.

Click here for a full list of awards and  nominees. Alligator artists and their nominations follow:

Southern Avenue
Band Of The Year: Southern Avenue 
Song Of The Year: Upside (written by Tierinii Jackson, Tikyra Jackson, Ori Naftaly, Dylan Altman & Marshall Altman)
Contemporary Blues Album: Family




Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
Album Of The Year: Closer To The Bone
Song Of The Year: Can’t Catch a Break (written by Tommy Castro & Christoffer "Kid" Andersen)
Blues Rock Artist: Tommy Castro

 

D.K. Harrell
Album Of The Year: Talkin' Heavy
Contemporary Blues Ablum: Talkin' Heavy
Contemporary Blues Male Artist

Rick Estrin & The Nightcats
B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year: Rick Estrin
Traditional Blues Artist: Rick Estrin
Instrumentalist—Guitar: Christoffer "Kid" Andersen
Instrumentalist—Drums: Derrick D'mar Martin



Ronnie Baker Brooks
B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year 
Instrumentalist—Guitar


 


Chris Cain
Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Instrumentalist—Guitar


 

Carolyn Wonderland
Contemporary Blues Album: Truth Is
Contemporary Blues Female Artist





Marcia Ball
2026 Blues Hall Of Fame Inductee
Instrumentalist—Piano





Roomful Of Blues
Traditional Blues Album: Steppin' Out!






Shemekia Copeland
Instrumentalist—Vocals 

Selwyn Birchwood
Instrumentalist—Horn: Regi Oliver

The Nick Moss Band Featuring Dennis Gruenling
Instrumentalist—Bass: Rodrigo Mantovani

        

Today, Friday, January 30, Atlanta-based blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Tinsley Ellis releases his new all acoustic album, Labor Of Love. This is Ellis' second acoustic album (after 2024's Blues Music Award-nominated Naked Truth), and his first acoustic album to contain all original material. The album will be available on CD, Georgia peach-colored vinyl LP and at all digital service providers. It is available to order here. His new radio single, the original Too Broke, hits the airwaves today. Additionally, Vintage Guitar magazine features Ellis on the cover of their newest issue (February 2026).

According to Ellis, Too Broke has lyrics everyone can relate to now. It was inspired, he notes, by blues great Tommy Johnson's Big Road Blues. A new video of the song, directed by filmmaker Tony Bieser, debuted yesterday via Relix magazine. Watch the video below.

With Labor Of Love, Ellis delivers a raw, edgy, self-produced set of 13 original compositions, all performed with pure emotional honesty. The songs spin modern tales of floods, conflagrations, voodoo spirits, personal travails and heaven-sent prayers. From the feral opener Hoodoo Woman to the John Lee Hooker-groove of Long Time to the evocative, Skip James-inspired To A Hammer to the Son House-style stomp of Sunnyland, Ellis inhabits his songs in a way that is simply astonishing.

Each performance carries the weight, experience and hard-earned wisdom Ellis learned over four decades on the road, making Labor Of Love as profoundly deep and moving as any music he has made in his career. It covers the gamut of emotions, finding good times in the hard times, mixing gentle beauty with foot-pounding ferocity.

During a break from the recording of the new album, Ellis spent time in Bentonia, Mississippi, birthplace of Skip James and home to blues legend Jimmy “Duck” Holmes. Ellis soaked up the spirit of this tiny Delta town, hanging out with Holmes and getting a deep insight into genuine Bentonia blues. While there, Ellis performed with Holmes at his famous Blue Front Café, soaking up every moment. “Once I got home,” notes Ellis, “I went right back to the studio and incorporated everything that I just experienced into my music.”

For the album, Ellis used six different open tunings on his beloved 1969 Martin D-35, his 12-string Martin D-12-20, and his 1937 National Steel O Series guitars. He also, for the first time in his career, played mandolin on three of the album’s songs. The instrumentation and the tunings, he notes, create endless possibilities, and he finds himself constantly invigorated by the music.

Ellis has been traveling on his own, performing solo all over the country in his aptly named “Two Guitars And A Car” tour. For Ellis, playing solo, acoustic blues has helped him tap into the raw essence of the music. “I love doing these shows,” Ellis says, “I can be more expressive and emotional as a solo acoustic artist. I just love the sound of acoustic guitar. I always have.” Find Ellis' tour dates here.

“No matter what I play, I like to have an edge, "Ellis says. "For me, just playing this music is a labor of love. I sat at the feet of Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf. I got into this music because of them. I always told myself if I could just make a living playing the blues, I’d be, at least in my own mind, successful."

Premier Guitar believes he’s more than reached that goal, declaring, “Ellis is a legend of American blues music...he’s an American music treasure. He delivers a sermon on the power and glory of the blues, and is one of modern blues’ greatest performers.” 

New Song, Church Of Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues, Premieres Today

        

Selwyn Birchwood is one of the preeminent voices in contemporary blues. He plays like a man possessed…cleverly blending elements of traditional blues, funk, Stax-flavored R&B and psychedelic rock into a cohesive and compelling, expansive and cathartic artistic statement.”
—Guitar Player

Birchwood is one of contemporary blues’ foremost innovators. Funky, Southern-flavored electric blues…infectious rhythms and inventive soloing.
—Blues Music Magazine

Selwyn Birchwood is one of the best blues players today. Ferocious blues guitar…powerful voice…blistering licks galore.
—Vintage Guitar 
 

On Friday, March 27, 2026, award-winning visionary bluesman Selwyn Birchwood will release Electric Swamp Funkin' Blues, his fifth Alligator Records album. Rolling Stone calls Birchwood “a remarkable, contemporary bluesman…a powerhouse young guitarist and soulful vocalist.” Now, this mesmerizing guitarist, lap steel master and cinematic songwriter unleashes the powerful new self-produced album, Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues, further blazing his own musical trail. The album will be available on CD, translucent yellow vinyl LP, and at all digital service providers.

The first single from the album, the psychedelic soul sermon The Church Of Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues, premieres today, along with a striking new video. The song is Birchwood's statement-of-purpose and an open invitation for everyone to join the congregation. As Birchwood sings with foot-pounding fervor, “the music is the mission....[it's the] creation of joyful jubilation.”

Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues features 10 wildly imaginative, laser-focused, vibrant original songs, produced by Birchwood and recorded in Florida. From the psychedelic soul sermon of The Church Of Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues to the wide-open honesty of Damaged Goods to the up-to-the-minute observations of All Hail The Algorithm and Talking Heads, Birchwood and his band play with honest, emotional intensity. On Labour Of Love he looks at the pains and joys of parenting, while The Struggle Is Real serves as an anthem for our times. Birchwood’s tough, slide guitar opus, What I’ve Been Accused Of, the slow burning, romantic Soulmate and the blazing Should’ve Never Gotten Out Of Bed, all show Birchwood as one of contemporary blues’ most prolific, significant and innovative artists.

Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues is Birchwood’s own fully realized artistic statement, and the first of his Alligator albums that he has produced by himself. “Producing allowed me to really take the wheel and steer the music to the exact destinations that I wanted to go. It allowed me to present these songs with the full, three-dimensional sound that I have wanted all along. This album is the full realization of the sound I have been cultivating. It tiptoes the tightrope between gritty gutbucket blues and contemporary grooves to create a soundscape that honors the roots but allows listeners to experience the music from a modern vantage point. Sharing songs with this much honesty allows us all to connect to music on a higher level…to feel a little less isolated and a little more ‘seen’ in what can be a hard life at times.” 

Live, Birchwood is a true force of nature. A favorite among blues fans and jam band fans alike, his ability to win over an audience—any audience—is proven night after night. With his warm, magnetic personality, Birchwood is as down-to-earth as his music is electrifyingly jaw-dropping. With his band feeding off his energy, the 6’3” musician roams the stage barefoot, ripping out memorable guitar licks with ease, his soulful, rocks-and-gravel vocals impossible to ignore. When he sits down to play his signature model Caladesi lap steel, he magically lifts the crowd into a sweat-soaked state of blissful elation. Mega-star Joe Bonamassa raves, “Selwyn Birchwood has become one of my favorite discoveries. He puts on a great show.”

Says Birchwood, “You would be hard-pressed to find an album or a band that sounds exactly like mine, and that has been and always will be the goal. I pride myself in writing songs so that when you hear a band like us, you hear a band that sounds just like…US!”

According to Guitar World, “Blues star Selwyn Birchwood is the real deal. He puts his own fresh spin on the blues, taking the tradition and making it into something new.” 

        

“Ellis delivers a powerful punch of deep roots blues and wicked guitar...a foot-stomping, raucous good time...a joyous and triumphant celebration of acoustic music. You’ll feel it down to the bone.”
—Living Blues

“Glorious, raw and propulsive acoustic blues...killer vocals and biting, dazzling guitar work.”
—AllMusic

“Stripped down and raw...gruff, unembellished vocals...glistening melodies fingerpicked with delicacy...so genuine it seems like a long lost recording.”
—Blues Music Magazine 

Today, Atlanta-based blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Tinsley Ellis announced the first leg of his 2026 Labor Of Love tour. His new all acoustic album, Labor Of Love, will be released on Friday, January 30, 2026. The solo tour kicks off with three home base Georgia shows before heading to Washington, DC, New York and the East Coast, then through Chicago, Minneapolis, and the Midwest, then into Denver, Phoenix, Albuquerque and on to Florida.

Labor Of Love is Ellis' second acoustic album (after 2024's Blues Music Award-nominated Naked Truth), and his first acoustic album to contain all original material. The album will be available on CD, Georgia peach-colored vinyl LP and at all digital service providers. It is available for pre-order here. 

Since the 2024 release of Naked Truth, Ellis has been traveling on his own, performing solo all over the country in his jokingly named “Two Guitars And A Car” tour. For Ellis, playing solo, acoustic blues has helped him tap into the raw essence of the music. “I love doing these shows,” Ellis says, “I can be more expressive and emotional as a solo acoustic artist. I just love the sound of acoustic guitar. I always have.”  

TINSLEY ELLIS  -- 2026 LABOR OF LOVE TOUR

With Labor Of Love, Ellis delivers a raw, edgy, self-produced set of 13 original compositions, all performed with pure emotional honesty. The songs spin modern tales of floods, conflagrations, voodoo spirits, personal travails and heaven-sent prayers. From the feral opener Hoodoo Woman to the John Lee Hooker-groove of Long Time to the evocative, Skip James-inspired To A Hammer to the Son House-style stomp of Sunnyland, Ellis inhabits his songs in a way that is simply astonishing.  

Each performance carries the weight, experience and hard-earned wisdom Ellis learned over four decades on the road, making Labor Of Love as profoundly deep and moving as any music he has made in his career. It covers the gamut of emotions, finding good times in the hard times, mixing gentle beauty with foot-pounding ferocity.

During a break from the recording of the new album, Ellis spent time in Bentonia, Mississippi, birthplace of Skip James and home to blues legend Jimmy “Duck” Holmes. Ellis soaked up the spirit of this tiny Delta town, hanging out with Holmes and getting a deep insight into genuine Bentonia blues. While there, Ellis performed with Holmes at his famous Blue Front Café, soaking up every moment. “Once I got home,” notes Ellis, “I went right back to the studio and incorporated everything that I just experienced into my music.”

For the album, Ellis used six different open tunings on his beloved 1969 Martin D-35, his 12-string Martin D-12-20, and his 1937 National Steel O Series guitars. He also, for the first time in his career, played mandolin on three of the album’s songs. The instrumentation and the tunings, he notes, create endless possibilities, and he finds himself constantly invigorated by the music.

“No matter what I play, I like to have an edge. For me, just playing this music is a labor of love. I sat at the feet of Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf. I got into this music because of them. I always told myself if I could just make a living playing the blues, I’d be, at least in my own mind, successful.”

Premier Guitar believes he’s more than reached that goal, declaring, “Ellis is a legend of American blues music...he’s an American music treasure. He delivers a sermon on the power and glory of the blues, and is one of modern blues’ greatest performers.”