Swamp Dogg Taps Jenny Lewis For ‘Blackgrass’ Single ‘Count The Days’

R&B legend Swamp Dogg shared a new single, a cover of Inez and Charlie Foxx’s 1967 release “Count The Days,” featuring Jenny Lewis. The song is set for Swamp Dogg’s forthcoming album, Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St, due out on May 31 via Oh Boy Records.

Produced by Ryan Olson (Poliça, Gayngs), Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St — Swamp Dogg’s first record on the John Prine co-founded Oh Boy Records — also contains guest spots from Margo Price, Vernon Reid, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and The Cactus Blossoms. The LP features an ace band including Noam Pikelny, Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas, Chris Scruggs, Billy Contreras and Kenny Vaughan.

“[B]ut it’s ultimately the 81-year-old Swamp Dogg’s delivery — sly and playful and full of genuine joy and ache — that steals the show,” press materials for the album noted.

“Believe it or not, I didn’t do anything but sing these songs the way I would have sung them if it was an R&B album,” Swamp Dogg said about crafting Blackgrass. “That’s just the way the music comes out of me, and it would have been unholy for me to try and imitate anybody else. Black music has had so many different labels put on it over the years that sometimes I’m onstage and I don’t know what the hell it is that I’m singing,” Swamp Dogg says with a laugh. “The only thing I know how to do is be myself.”

Swamp Dogg previously shared the Blackgrass single, “Mess Under That Dress.” He now follows with the oft-covered “Count The Days” featuring Jenny Lewis.

“I figured, once a hit, always a hit—and this song has been a hit three times with Inez and Charlie Foxx, Joss Stone, and Gene Pitney,” Swamp Dogg said. “After hearing Jenny Lewis’ voice, I knew it was destined to be a hit again.”

Watch Swamp Dogg and Jenny Lewis recording “Count The Days” at Nashville’s Sound Emporium in the official video below: