Swamp Dogg

Raunchy, satirical, political, and profane, Swamp Dogg is one of the great cult figures of American music. The creation of R&B producer and songwriter Jerry Williams, Jr., most of Swamp Dogg's work is pure Southern soul, anchored by tight grooves and accentuated by horns, though he showed a greater dependence on drum machines and synthesizers from 1989's I Called for a Rope and They Threw Me a Rock onward, showed his love of eccentric electronics on 2022's I Need a Job … So I Can Buy More Auto-Tune, and did an about-face into acoustic roots music with 2024's Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St. Williams incorporated the ideals of '60s counterculture -- drugs, sex, and politics -- into the framework of deep soul, establishing his blueprint on 1970's Total Destruction to Your Mind. He landed no hits but acquired a rabid cult following.