Sorry You Couldn't Make It

by Swamp Dogg

Overview

It's a little secret neither side will often acknowledge, but the dividing line between vintage Southern country music and vintage Southern soul and R&B is extremely narrow, and the two sides have more similarities than differences. In both genres, love, infidelity, the nuts and bolts of survival, and having a well-deserved good time on a Saturday night are among the most common and important themes, and both rely on emotional honesty above all else. Jerry Williams knows a lot about all this -- he wrote and produced soul hits for Doris Duke, Dee Dee Warwick, and Irma Thomas, but in 1972 he was nominated for a Country Music Association award, along with Gary "U.S." Bonds, for writing the Johnny Paycheck smash "Don't Take Her (She's All I Got)." While Williams is a respected professional in the music business, Swamp Dogg is his considerably more eccentric alter ego, allowing his more outre ideas to run free, and the Dogg loves country music as much as Williams does. In the early '80s, Swamp Dogg cut a country album for Mercury Records that the label opted not to release, but he had better luck with Joyful Noise in 2020, which brought out Sorry You Couldn't Make It, an effort steeped in country influences. There are more than a few R&B touches here, too, especially on "Good Better Best" and "Family Pain" (the latter a bitter screed against drug addiction), and there are some curious production choices that suggest he's still exploring the possibilities of 2018's Love, Loss and Auto-Tune, especially on "I'd Rather Be Your Used to Be" and "Memories," the latter one of two tracks where Dogg duets with John Prine. (Significantly, Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, was a major collaborator on Love, Loss and Auto-Tune and is part of the studio crew on this project as well.) If this is a bit of a weird country album, well, it wouldn't be Swamp Dogg if weird wasn't a significant ingredient. As a songwriter, he's still a great talent who always finds some home truth in his lyrics, and if his voice at 77 years old is fraying just a bit at the edges, he hasn't forgotten how to make the emotions of his songs clear and thoroughly heartfelt (and he sounds a whole lot better than Prine, who is four years younger). It's hard to imagine country radio, then or now, embracing "Sleeping Without You Is a Dragg," but as far as dealing with heartache among adults, it's a number in the great Nashville tradition. Sorry You Couldn't Make It declares there should be a place for Swamp Dogg in the country pantheon alongside Charley Pride, Stoney Edwards, Darius Rucker, and the other brave artists who've confronted the color line in Nashville. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	03/06/2020
Label:	JOYFUL NOISE RECORDS
UPC:	0753936905030

Tracks

1. Sleeping Without You Is a Dragg
2. Good, Better, Best
3. Don't Take Her (She's All I Got)
4. Family Pain
5. I Lay Awake
6. Memories
7. I'd Rather Be Your Used to Be
8. Billy
9. A Good Song
10. Please Let Me Go Round Again

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Swamp Dogg   Primary Artist,Vocals
Derrick Lee   Fender Rhodes,Piano
Sam Amidon   Fiddle
Jenny Lewis   Vocals
John Prine   Vocals
Justin Vernon   Piano,Guitar,Vocals
Jacob Hanson   Guitar
Harry Watkins   Vocals
Moogstar Clemon   Congas,Synthesizer,Synthesizer Horn
Taj London   Vocals
Jim Oblon   Guitar
Channy Leaneagh   Vocals
Chris Bierden   Bass
Mina Moore   Vocals
Alistair Sung   Cello
Sherron Crenshaw   Vocals
Leona Leshon   Vocals
Courtland Williams   Vocals
Carmen Marks   Vocals
Carmen Camerei   Horn

Technical Credits

Derrick Lee   Arranger
Mark Nevers   Mixing,Engineer
Bob Weston   Mastering
Ryan Olson   Producer
Daniel Kent   Design
Ryan Hover   Design
Zack Pancoast   Assistant Engineer
David McMurry   Photography