Florida-based bluesman Selwyn Birchwood’s genre-bending songwriting, soulful vocals, and psychedelic leanings make him come across like a 21st-century answer to Albert King. Laden with fried guitar licks and beefy horn sections, his acclaimed releases for Chicago’s Alligator Records evince a moody trademark style he likes to call “electric swamp funkin’ blues.” Lyrically, Birchwood makes a point of crafting his own modern blues narratives rather than adhering to the stale archetypes of the genre—“Corporate Drone,” “Police State,” and “I Got Drunk, Laid and Stoned” illustrate some contrasting approaches.