Swamp Dogg
Encyclopedia
Jerry Williams, Jr., is a soul music artist who is better known by his pseudonym Swamp Dogg.
Born in Portsmouth, Virginia
, Williams made his first recording in 1954 under the moniker "Little Jerry", a 78 rpm single on the Mechanic label titled "HTD Blues" / "Nats Wailing". In 1963 he began using the moniker "Little Jerry Williams", recording with Loma Records, and by 1966 he had dropped the "Little" to record as Jerry Williams.
In 1970 he took on the persona of "Swamp Dogg" and released his first LP record, Total Destruction to Your Mind. The cover of his 1971 album, Rat On!, featuring Williams on the back of an oversized white rat, was ranked as one of the worst album covers of all time. Moving from one record label to another during the next 26 years of his recording career, he finally settled on his own record label S.D.E.G. Records [Swamp Dogg Entertainment Group]. His latest recording is titled Give Em As Little As You Can...As Often As You Have To...or...A Tribute To Rock 'n' Roll (2009), although he is rumored to be working on new material, including a collaboration with the author Ben Greenman
.
Williams is also a noted songwriter and record producer. In an interview on NPR
's Studio 360
, Williams stated he was raised on country music
: "Black music didn't start 'til 10 at night until 4 in the morning and I was in bed by then.. . . If you strip my tracks, take away all the horns and guitar licks, what you have is a country song." Williams also produces country music
and has been nominated for a Grammy, along with Gary US Bonds, for writing the Johnny Paycheck
record "She's All I Got
". Other artists he has worked with include Doris Duke
, Irma Thomas
, Z. Z. Hill, Dee Dee Warwick
, and Arthur Conley
.
Born in Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth, Virginia
Portsmouth is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 95,535.The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S...
, Williams made his first recording in 1954 under the moniker "Little Jerry", a 78 rpm single on the Mechanic label titled "HTD Blues" / "Nats Wailing". In 1963 he began using the moniker "Little Jerry Williams", recording with Loma Records, and by 1966 he had dropped the "Little" to record as Jerry Williams.
In 1970 he took on the persona of "Swamp Dogg" and released his first LP record, Total Destruction to Your Mind. The cover of his 1971 album, Rat On!, featuring Williams on the back of an oversized white rat, was ranked as one of the worst album covers of all time. Moving from one record label to another during the next 26 years of his recording career, he finally settled on his own record label S.D.E.G. Records [Swamp Dogg Entertainment Group]. His latest recording is titled Give Em As Little As You Can...As Often As You Have To...or...A Tribute To Rock 'n' Roll (2009), although he is rumored to be working on new material, including a collaboration with the author Ben Greenman
Ben Greenman
Ben Greenman is an American writer and magazine editor.-Biography:Greenman was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Miami, Florida. He attended Miami Palmetto High School and then Yale University where he worked on the Yale Herald...
.
Williams is also a noted songwriter and record producer. In an interview on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Studio 360
Studio 360
Studio 360 is an American weekly public radio program about media, the arts and culture hosted by novelist Kurt Andersen and produced by PRI Public Radio International and WNYC in New York City. The program's stated goal is to "Get inside the creative mind" and uses arts and culture as a lens to...
, Williams stated he was raised on country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
: "Black music didn't start 'til 10 at night until 4 in the morning and I was in bed by then.. . . If you strip my tracks, take away all the horns and guitar licks, what you have is a country song." Williams also produces country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and has been nominated for a Grammy, along with Gary US Bonds, for writing the Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck was the legal name of Donald Eugene Lytle , a country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member most famous for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It"...
record "She's All I Got
She's All I Got
"She's All I Got" is a moderate up-tempo song written by Gary U.S. Bonds and Jerry Williams, Jr. in which the male narrator pleads to someone else not to take away his lover. It has been recorded by several artists. The first version, released in 1971 by Freddie North, was a Top 40 U.S. pop hit,...
". Other artists he has worked with include Doris Duke
Doris Duke (soul singer)
Doris Duke is an American gospel and soul singer, best known for her 1969 album I'm A Loser.-Biography:She was born as Doris Curry in Sandersville, Georgia, and reportedly started singing with gospel groups including the Queen of Gospel Albertina Walker and Caravans, though this has been questioned...
, Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas is an American Grammy Award-winning soul and rhythm and blues singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans"....
, Z. Z. Hill, Dee Dee Warwick
Dee Dee Warwick
Dee Dee Warwick was an American soul singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey as Delia Mae Warrick, she was the sister of Dionne Warwick, niece of Cissy Houston and cousin of Whitney Houston....
, and Arthur Conley
Arthur Conley
Arthur Lee Conley was an American soul singer, best known for the 1967 hit "Sweet Soul Music".-Career:...
.