“I needed my pool painted and I wanted my pool painted,” says Swamp Dogg. “I had a buddy who had his portrait painted in the middle of his pool back in Philadelphia. When I saw it, I fell in love with it, and I knew I got to have it.”

That compulsion sparked the genesis of this deeply unconventional film, co-directed by Isaac Gale, Ryan Olson, and David McMurray. The trio first connected with Swamp Dogg when Olson was approached to produce a music video—partly, amusingly, due to the name of his label, Totally Gross National Product.

“I went out to Swamp’s house to make a music video for the song ‘I’ll Pretend’ off the album Love, Life and Auto-Tune, which Ryan produced. That was our starting point,” says Gale.

“During that time, Swamp’s looking at the pool and he asks us, ‘Do you know anyone who paints pools?’ We knew Jesse (Willenbring), who is a gallery-represented painter and had a studio in LA. It just kind of clicked in my mind. Like, these guys are so great, we should come back and do some kind of short film with them and maybe we can figure out how to paint his pool.”

The goal was to keep the vibe loose and spontaneous, reflecting the laid-back, surreal energy of hanging around Swamp Dogg’s crew. The result is a film that mixes archival footage, chaotic verité sequences, and even animated interludes into something more akin to a visual mixtape than a traditional documentary.

Moogstar in SWAMP DOGG GETS HIS POOL PAINTED, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

“Stylistically, I think that just comes from Ryan and I being musicians,” says Gale. “It comes from us not necessarily being journalistic documentarians. We were cutting to a certain pace that really fit with the musical drops that we could find for a scene.”

One highlight is a Scooby-Doo-style animated retelling of a visit to Evel Knievel’s grave—rendered in what Gale calls a “super psychedelic” style courtesy of animator Joseph Midthun.

“Going through all my memorabilia and all that crap, they just decided I was interesting,” says Williams.

With help from archival researcher Debra McClutchy and Williams’ vast personal archive (“His house is like a time capsule,” says Gale), the filmmakers trace Swamp Dogg’s transformation from 1960s child prodigy to underground soul pioneer and genre-blurring provocateur.

“It just seemed like with Swamp Dogg, we were stepping into an alternative dimension that I had no idea about—a much cooler world than I live in or know about,” says Gale.

“The house needed no art direction at all. We didn’t bring any lights in or anything. Every detail in that house is incredible. There are stuffed animals in Ziploc bags, and we have to figure out why that is. Or, Swamp, MoogStar, and Guitar Shorty are all wearing clothes with their names on them, which just seems so… no one does that!”

Cameos from the likes of Johnny Knoxville, voice actor Tom Kenny, and Beavis and Butt-Head creator Mike Judge reflect the open-door nature of Swamp’s world.

“It was a little spooky sometimes, because (the crew) are wherever you go,” says Clemon. “You gotta watch what you say, how you breathe, make sure you don’t fart. Hold it in!”

Swamp Dogg in SWAMP DOGG GETS HIS POOL PAINTED, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

But the film also takes a poignant turn. Guitar Shorty passed away during production, after continuing to gig up until just two weeks before his death. His loss casts a long shadow over the film’s final act.

“We were really close; I was his caregiver. I didn’t want to ever leave his side until the last moment. I’m glad there were people around filming to get his life… he deserved that,” says Clemon.

“He would be gone all the time, carrying his blues and performing,” says Williams.

“He had the biggest heart in the world, and people used the hell out of him. When you would bring it to his attention, he would say, ‘Yeah I know, ain’t no problem.’ He would forgive and forget. Club owners did him wrong, wouldn’t pay him properly. All musicians go through that. He was a good man. A damn good man.”

Shorty’s final album, unfinished at the time of his passing, is set to be released posthumously with the help of Clemon and Williams. As for Swamp Dogg himself, the documentary offered him a new kind of reflection—something more sobering and sincere than any acid trip. 

“I knew that as a singer/performer, I was a good show opener, I was a good lead act, but I was never going to be a quote-unquote star. I was always going to be second banana. That way, when I thought about it, I kind of started my own category where nobody could really say if I was right or wrong. I love who I am. I didn’t like who I was most of the time,” says Williams.

And while drainage issues have forced multiple re-dos of the infamous pool since filming began nearly seven years ago, he’s still committed to seeing it through. “I can’t swim a lick, but I got to have a pool. It’s a status symbol. It’s also great for parties. Multi…something. It’s great to have.”

SWAMP DOGG GETS HIS POOL PAINTED is screening on May 22 at the Rio Theatre (Vancouver, BC)

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