''Sorry You Couldn't Make It'' is a studio album by American musician and producer

Swamp Dogg Jerry Williams Jr. (born July 12, 1942), generally credited under the pseudonym Swamp Dogg after 1970, is an American soul and R&B singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. Williams has been described as "one of the great cult figures of ...

. It was released on March 6, 2020 via

Joyful Noise Recordings Joyful Noise Recordings is an independent record label from Indianapolis, Indiana. The label was founded in 2003 in Bloomington, Indiana by Karl Hofstetter, who also played drums on many of the label's first releases. Joyful Noise maintains an a ...

in partnership with Pioneer Works Press. Recording sessions took place at Sound Emporium in Nashville. It features contributions from

John Prine John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...

Justin Vernon Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. Known for his distinct falsetto voic ...

Jenny Lewis Jennifer Diane Lewis (born January 8, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She was the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist for the indie rock band Rilo Kiley. Lewis gained prominence in the 1980s as a child a ...

, and Ryan Olson among others. The duet sung between Swamp Dogg and John Prine appearing at the end of the album ("Please Let Me Go Round Again") is one of John Prine's final in-studio recording sessions. Swamp Dogg had known Prine since 1972, when he covered the country singer's ballad " Sam Stone" on his album third LP ''Cuffed, Collared & Tagged''.

Critical reception

''Sorry You Couldn't Make It'' was met with generally favorable reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 79, based on eight reviews. The aggregator Album of the Year has the critical consensus of the album at a 77 out of 100, based on eleven reviews. Steven Edelstone of '' Paste'' praised the album saying "''Sorry You Couldn't Make It'' represents yet another late-career experiment in a lengthy one filled with them, a back-to-basics approach by an artist who's seen it all. There’s no telling where

goes from here, but if his most recent handful of releases are anything to go off of, it'll likely sound nothing like ''Sorry You Couldn't Make It''. But it also means that no matter what genre he tries on next, the results will be astounding". Scott Zuppardo of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' stated "Sure, he loves his horns, we all do, but his country roots are showing on this record, and it's glorious". John Lewis of ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' said "The lyrics are presented with such conviction that it becomes quietly devastating. Rather like Swamp Dogg himself". Allison Hussey of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' said "His new album ''Sorry You Couldn't Make'' It restores him to a more even keel, examining grief from greater distance while savoring life's little sweetnesses. Billed as Williams'

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

album, ''Sorry You Couldn't Make It'' hits its thematic marks within funkified arrangements".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

's Mark Deming said "''Sorry You Couldn't Make It'' declares there should be a place for Swamp Dogg in the country pantheon alongside

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Rec ...

, Stoney Edwards,

Darius Rucker Darius Carlos Rucker (born May 13, 1966) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Ca ...

, and the other brave artists who've confronted the color line in Nashville". Kaelen Bell of '' Exclaim!'' said "Though it still flirts with the blues,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

and R&B that he's built his name on, the record has a country-fried warmth, coloured by slide guitar and Southern rhythms. That those Southern rhythms are played mostly by chintzy drum machine, that they're undermined by hip-hop-biting guitar samples or artificial horns, is the record's vaguely outlandish appeal". Music critic Tom Hull said "Jerry Williams, started out as an Atlantic r&b producer, released a brilliant debut as Swamp Dogg in 1970, and has been fading in and out ever since, his best moments the ones farthest out. Plays it safe here with a round of soulful blues, but lured

in to cameo on two nostalgic ones, which are daring enough".

Track listing

Personnel

*Jerry "

" Williams Jr. – vocals Vocalists * Channy Leaneagh – vocals (tracks: 1, 7) *

– vocals (tracks: 1, 7) *Mina Moore – vocals (tracks: 1, 7) *

– vocals (tracks: 2, 4),

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(track 1),

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

(tracks: 2-10) *Carmen Marks – vocals (track 3) *Courtland Williams – vocals (track 3) *Harry Watkins – vocals (track 3) *Leona Leshon – vocals (track 3) *Sherron Crenshaw – vocals (track 3) *Taj' London – vocals (track 3) *

– vocals (tracks: 6, 10) Instrumentalists *Jim Oblon – guitar (tracks: 1, 4) *Chris Bierden – bass (tracks: 1–7, 9, 10) *Larry "MoogStar" Clemon – synth (tracks: 1–3, 5–9), congas (track 6) * Carmen J. Camerieri –

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

(tracks: 2, 3, 9) *Derrick Lee –

Hammond B-3 The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated ...

(tracks: 1, 3, 10), Rhodes piano (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10), piano (tracks: 3, 5–9), chorus arrangement (track 3) *Jacob Hanson – guitar (track 3) *Alistair Sung –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

(tracks: 3–5, 7) *

Sam Amidon Samuel Tear Amidon (born June 3, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Musical career In 2001, Amidon self-released ''Solo Fiddle'', an album of traditional Irish fiddle instrumentals. Amidon's first album of ...

– fiddle (track 4) Technicals * Ryan Olson – producer *Mark Nevers – engineering, mixing *Zack Pancoast – assistant engineering * Robert Weston – mastering *David McMurry – photography *Daniel Kent – design, layout *Ryan Hover – design, layout

References

External links

''Sorry You Couldn't Make It''
at

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

* {{Authority control 2020 albums Swamp Dogg albums Joyful Noise Recordings albums