Sitting in his blue-carpeted living room next to a vintage jukebox stocked with tunes he wrote or produced - including Johnny Paycheck’s “ She’s All I Got” and “ In Between Tears” by Irma Thomas - Williams said the album grew out of a typically wacky impulse: What would happen if, like so many veteran singers, he made an old-school crooner’s album - but warped the vocal performances in the manner of Zapp and George Clinton? It’s the best thing I’ve done since the ’70s.” “Yeah, I suppose it does,” Williams acknowledged on a recent afternoon. The strangely touching result, laced with electronic bleeps and beats that make Williams sound like a bummed-out android, represents a radical reframing of the psychedelic Swamp Dogg style. “Total Destruction to Your Mind,” which came out in 1970, announced the arrival of an outspoken sonic adventurer “Rat On!” doubled down on Swamp Dogg’s outré vision with a heartfelt provocation called “God Bless America - for What?” The image will be familiar to fans of Williams’ alter ego, the funk eccentric Swamp Dogg, who put it on the cover of his cult-favorite 1971 album “Rat On!” Back then, this skilled singer and pianist was looking to rebrand himself after years as a journeyman R&B act and producer for the likes of Gene Pitney (“ She’s a Heartbreaker”) and Doris Duke (“ To the Other Woman ”). And out back there’s the swimming pool, empty of all but a few inches of murky water, with a painting on the bottom depicting Williams astride an enormous white rat. There’s the cozy bedroom into which a white grand piano has been squeezed. There’s the entryway lined with gold and platinum records. Step through the front door, though, and it’s apparent that somebody unusual lives here. From the outside, not much distinguishes Jerry Williams Jr.’s ranch-style home from those around it on a quiet suburban street in Northridge.

Weird swamp song