One of soul music’s most singular and quietly influential figures, Jerry Williams is a record industry veteran who made his recording debut in the mid ‘50s and has been producing idiosyncratic soul records under the Swamp Dogg moniker since the late ‘60s. Like Allen Toussaint in New Orleans and George Clinton in Detroit, Williams was a fiercely talented songwriter, musician and producer who, with the help of a tight-knit community of like minded musicians, pioneered a deeply personal brand of soul music that fused the musical traditions of Southern R&B and Gospel with an obstinately independent philosophical outlook. It found its expression in his highly unorthodox songwriting, which often tackled themes such as racism and social and sexual mores in a surprisingly direct and confrontational style. Swamp Dogg’s discography had been out of print for decades when Williams decided to resurrect it on his own SDEG imprint in the late ‘90s. The Excellent Sides of Swamp Dogg series brings the majority of Williams’ discography back into print for the first time. The first volume collects Williams’ first two solo albums, 1970’s Total Destruction To Your Mind and 1971’s Rat On on a single disc.