Pick Your Poison

Selwyn Birchwood

Pick Your Poison


Bursting with exhilarating, genre-expanding blues and roots anchored by Selwyn’s gruff, urgent vocals and fiery guitar and lap steel playing.  Thirteen striking original songs roam through raw roots rock, infectious Southern R&B, sweaty funk jams, searing blues and after hours ballads, forging a groundbreaking new sound created by one of the most sensational new blues talents in ages.  "A remarkable contemporary bluesman...a powerhouse guitarist and soulful vocalist...highly recommended"—Rolling Stone


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1. Trial By Fire 4:18

Perched on my shoulder
With bat-like wings
Whispering, whispering
Devilish things
She don’t love you
She don’t love you, how could she love you?
She don’t love you, she never loved you
She don’t love you
Lord, she never did
Don’t tell me no lies…
Trial by fire
Trial by fire, but I’m still alive
Lord I’m still alive
Get thee behind
And I tell that ol’ devil
“get thee behind!”

2. Even The Saved Need Saving 4:26

Even the saved could use some saving
The saved need saving
It’s a hell of a world that we’re living in
When the saved need saving

Too many pointed fingers for my taste
Throwin’ stones and castin’ blame
A little love could go a long way
Too many pointed fingers for my taste

Ya got to practice what you preach
Break the habit of hypocrisy
Get back doing faith, faithfully
And practice what you preach

Even the saved (Even the saved)
Oh Even the saved (Even the saved)
Ya gotta get together (Even the saved)
Gotta get together (Even the saved)
Even the saved (Even the saved)
Ohhh, It’s a hell of a world that we’re livin’ in
When the saved need saving

3. Guilty Pleasures 5:10

I don’t like no whiskey
I just like the taste
I don’t like no reefer
Except every day
I don’t like the game
I just like to play
I don’t care for strangers
But I dig the strange
And I don’t know what else to tell ya
They’re just guilty pleasures

I don’t like to gamble
I just like my luck
I don’t like romance
I just love to love
I don’t like the skin bar
I just like what I see
I don’t care for the pusher
But he gives me what I need
And I don’t know what else to tell ya
They’re just guilty pleasures

4. Pick Your Poison 4:02

Toxic, is a friend of my mine
Running through my veins till the morning light
Anger, normally stays inside
But comes to wreak havoc every once in a while
Conscience, done run away from me
Half way through that bottle of Jimmy Beam
Blurry, is what I’m seein’ now
I’m all tore up just level with the ground
It’s the enemy, but I miss it like a best friend
Shot in the dark time and time again
What will it be? Lord, Pick your poison

Sickness, come to visit now
Lickin’ my wounds I put on myself
Memory, is failin me
Ready for another round of misery
Regret, is an early bird
Apologizin’ for everything I said and done
Habit, has got its claws in me
And I’m scrapin’ for a little peace and sanity
It’s the enemy, but I miss it like a best friend
Shot in the dark time and time again
What will it be? Lord, Pick your poison

5. Heavy Heart 4:59

I can tell you’re hurtin’
I can hear it in your voice
And it’s oh so tragic
We’d reached our breaking point
Cuz I love you babe
And I did from the very start
With a heavy heart, you and me
We must be apart

Ya laugh, shrug it off
You say it’s fine and it’s alright
But I know damn well
You wagin’ war inside
And I care, cuz I love you babe
And I did from the very start
With a heavy heart, you and me
That we must be apart

You said nothing lasts forever
But I disagree
Cuz you’ll forever be in my memories
Cuz I love you baby
And I did from the very start
With a heavy heart, you and me
That we must be apart

6. Haunted 3:28

I got skeletons in my closet
Monsters under my bed
Angels in my heart
And demons in my head
It’s been four damn weeks since I had some sleep
This bed is too cold alone
Just my apologies for company
Now this house is not a home

They tell me move on
But I can’t move on
They say I gotta let it go
But I won’t let go
My feet are to the fire
I’m haunted by my desires

I stay sick but ain’t got no fever
Cant make the strength to leave my bed
Haunted by the would’ves, could’ves, and should’ves
Battling in my head
Daymares during the daytime
Nightmares come at night
My imagination gets the best of me
But my reality eats me alive

7. Are Ya Ready? 3:45

There is a turn in the tide
A new sun on the rise
Are ya ready?
There is a storm taking form
Breaking from the norm
Are ya ready?
Oh, there’s a grit against the grain
Breakin from the chains
Are ya ready?
There is a turn in the tide
A new sun on the rise
Are ya ready?

There is a trend taking hold
Breaking from the mold
Are ya ready?
A movement taking stage
A turning of the page
Are ya ready?
There is a sign of the times
A shifting paradigm
Are ya ready?
There is a trend taking hold
Breaking from the mold
Are ya ready?

8. Reaping Time 4:47

Way down down down down down
South of the Georgia line
I heard the sound sound sound sound sound
Of a poor man cryin’
With a picture of a woman
That he once loved
He carried anger, an address, a motive, and a gun

Oh, it’s reaping time
It’s reaping time
Yeah, the seeds have been sewn and grown
And it’s reaping time

He weeped weeped weeped weeeped weeped
For what he’s bout to do
As he reads reads reads reads reads
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
He could see see see see see
Through the Georgia rain
What would be be be be be
The one that he would slay

Drunk with whiskey, betrayal, heartache, and the pain
Oh, his face lit up with a flash..
Lord, a flash and a bang
The man lived his days and didn’t forget it
His victim lived just long enough to taste regret

9. R We Krazy¿ 4:34

I find myself talking to myselves
They’re the only ones that know the shape I’m in
Where do I go and what do I do?
My woman gone left and my mind done left too
And that question is ringin’ in my head again
R we krazy? (yeah)
At least I think I am

Lonely is an island
After while it can get to you
I named all my guitars so I’d have someone to talk to
They said it’s time for intervention
Perhaps we should seek some help
We’re on the wrong side of sanity
We’ve become a danger to ourselves
R we krazy? (yeah)

At least I think I am
I think I is

10. Police State 3:06

Sayin’ you got the right to remain silent
Seems they got the right, lord, to remain violent
Gotta shake these shackles before it’s too late
Or we’ll be trapped in a police state

If we don’t learn from history
Lord it’s bound, bound to repeat
Take a look around ya, what do you see?
A nation buzzing with brutality

Can’t ignore the headlines
Citizens getting beat
Can’t help but wonder
Who’s policing the police?
How does this happen in the land of free?
Got us heated up and mad enough
To protest it in the street

I’m not talkin bout black
I’m not talkin bout white
I just wanna do my part to bring the dark

The darkness to the light
I’m not talkin bout left
Don’t wanna hear about right
I’m talkin bout wrong and right
And the sacrifice of innocent human life

11. My Whiskey Loves My Ex 3:16

It’s the same dance everyday
Like I’m stuck on repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat
Try to forget about that woman
That used to live with me
I’m fine till the night time
When I’ve had a few to drink
My heart gets to racin’, pacin’, palpitatin’
And I begin to think
It’s clear in the morning, going through my texts
My whiskey loves my ex

Can finally live how I wanna live
And be how I wanna be
I tell myself I’m happy
I finally have broken free
But I’m not sure and that’s for certain
The only thing certain is that I’m hurtin
Then I get to waitin’, hatin’, medicatin’
And I begin to think
It’s clear in the morning, going through my texts
My whiskey loves my ex

Woke up this morning
Drunk from the night before
My room was spinnin’
I had one leg on the floor
Calls made from my cell phone
And a hole punched in my door
I know it’s over
But this drink won’t let it go
It’s clear in the morning, going through my texts
My whiskey loves my ex

12. Lost In You 3:57

I wake in the morning to an empty bed
Fighting all the aching that’s in my head
Searching for myself
I hope I find me again
Cuz I’m lost in you

I look in the mirror and I don’t recognize who’s standing there
Eyes red and swollen with an empty stare
Searching for myself
Hope I find me again
Cuz I’m lost in you

I don’t feel no pain
In fact these days I don’t feel much of anything
Just a ghost of a man that I used to be
Searching for myself
I hope find me again
Cuz I’m lost in you

13. Corporate Drone 4:06

I used to work 60 hour weeks
So my boss could drive a Benz
Take one day, sick at home asleep
He wanna write me up again
I won’t buy into a world where cash is king
Killing myself to make a living
I won’t just be a cog in the machine
If the machine don’t give a damn about me

Ain’t gon’ be no corporate drone
Rather strike it out on my own
Ain’t gon be no corporated drone

Don’t wanna hear my opinions
No matter how right or true
They don’t pay me to think y’all
Oh, he pays me to do
They love to make cuts
Like they don’t got a dime to spare
They cut my days and they cut my pay
They even wanna cut my hair


All songs by Selwyn Birchwood, Selwyn Birchwood Music, BMI

Selwyn Birchwood: Guitar, Vocals, Lap Steel Guitar
Regi Oliver: Saxophones, Flute, Background Vocals
Huff Wright: Bass Guitar, Background Vocals
Courtney "Big Love" Girlie: Drums, Percussion, Background Vocals

Produced by Selwyn Birchwood
Recorded at Phat Planet Studios, Orlando, FL
Engineered by Aaron Gandia
Assistant engineers:  Jay Yerkes & Ed Krout
Mixed by Blaise Barton, Selwyn Birchwood and Bruce Iglauer at Joyride Studio, Chicago, IL
Mastered by Collin Jordan and Bruce Iglauer the The Boiler Room, Chicago, IL
Cover Artwork by Grego Anderson, Mojohand.com
Photos by Paul Natkin
Design by Kevin Niemiec
Executive Producer: Bruce Iglauer


Selwyn Birchwood thanks: I'd like to thank God for granting me the opportunity and ability to follow my dreams and share my music with the world. Thank you to my family for always being there, no matter what. Thank you to my band: Regi Oliver, Huff Wright, and Courtney Girlie, for sticking it out through the good times and bad out on the road to keep the music alive! Thank you to Bruce Iglauer and the team at Alligator Records and thank you Rick Booth and to the team at Intrepid Artists for their endless hard work and support! Thank you to Joe Louis Walker for your encouragement and advice. Thank you to Sonny Rhodes, The Blues Foundation, Betty Fox, Suncoast Blues Society, WMNF, OBBS, Ed Krout and Aaron Gandia at Phat Planet and all of our fans at home and abroad for your help and support throughout this musical journey! 

www.selwynbirchwood.com
www.facebook.com/selwynbirchwoodband
twitter.com/selwynbirchwood

Selwyn Birchwood is booked by Intrepid Artists
(704) 358-4777, staff@intrepidartists.com, www.intrepidartists.com