Swamp Dogg is set to return on June 19 with Swamp Dogg Contemplates The Afterlife, his 27th album under that name and another chapter in a seven-decade career that’s long outgrown any single definition. Born Jerry Williams Jr., he’s continued to work with a restlessness that resists nostalgia or winding down, instead pushing into new conceptual territory. The first listen comes through two new tracks, “Searching For Heaven” and “Acid Tongue,” which together offer a snapshot of the record’s range and his continued refusal to sit in one lane.
Released today as a virtual double A-sided single, the songs underscore that genre-fluid approach. “Searching For Heaven,” an original composition and the album’s lead track, sits closest to its central idea.
“Acid Tongue” was written by Jenny Lewis who guested on Swamp Dogg’s 2024 album Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St. Lewis’s original version dates from 2008 and was brought to Swamp Dogg’s attention by S-Curve chief Steve Greenberg, who is lead producer on Swamp Dogg Contemplates The Afterlife.
Swamp Dogg remarked, “Jenny Lewis has become a friend of mine so when Steve suggested I record her song ‘Acid Tongue’ I was open-minded about the idea. She cuts to the heart of the matter, the matter being loneliness and the overall human condition. She provides more wisdom in her song than a thousand doses of LSD could ever give you and that ain’t no bullshit.”
The initial Juneteenth release of the new album is digital, with a vinyl version projected to be available the following month in celebration of Swamp Dogg’s 84th birthday on July 12. He’ll be performing at a special birthday show at LA’s Venice West on July 11.
The album will be pressed on gold vinyl which prompted Swamp Dogg to say, “I’ll finally have a gold album.” In truth, while Swamp Dogg has never received a gold disc as an artist, he’s been awarded gold records for recordings by other artists in which he either produced, wrote or was the source of samples, including Gene Pitney, Johnny Paycheck, Tracy Byrd, Freddie North, Z.Z. Hill, DMX, and MC Breed.
2026 TOUR DATES:
June 17 – New York, NY – Blue Note Jazz Festival at Sony Hall
June 18 – Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theater
June 19 – Greenfield, MA – Green River Festival
June 20 – Portland, ME – SPACE Gallery
June 21 – Manchester, VT – Earth Sky Time Farm concert series
July 11 – Venice, CA – Venice West (Swamp Dogg’s 84th Birthday Concert)
