Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted: Review 

Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson’s Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted is an intimate, sensitive and artful look beyond the facade of a one-of-a-kind artist.

Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted pulls us into the wonderfully eccentric and wildly unpredictable world of Swamp Dogg and his friends, who all live in what Swamp Dogg’s daughter, Dr. Jerri Williams, calls his “bachelor pad of aging musicians”. In Swamp Dogg’s house lives Swamp himself, whose 65 years in the music industry have influenced every genre of music from soul to country to hip-hop, as well as his housemates, the one-of-one Moogstar (Larry Clemon), and blues legend Guitar Shorty (David Kearney). 

Both Moogstar and Guitar Shorty temporarily moved in with Swamp Dogg one day, years ago, and simply never left. The documentary shows their days are filled with artistic collaboration, wild antics, and, above all else, an unyielding passion for music. Gale and Olson have both worked with Swamp Dogg in the musical realm, the former having produced Swamp Dogg’s 2018 album “Love, Loss & Autotune” and the latter having been brought in to direct a music video for the track “I’ll Pretend” on the same album. 

After spending time with Swamp Dogg and his housemates, the two filmmakers realized there was a story to be told here and only one way to tell it. With an absurdist, old-school MTV-editing style and a non-linear approach to a music documentary, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted is chock-full of passion, empathy and introspection. 

When Jerry Williams Jr. entered the music scene, no one knew what to do with him. Growing up in the 1940s and 50s, there didn’t seem to be a place for a young black artist like Jerry. He gained his experience with live performances in his youth at the black-only beaches, but his first-ever record was only played on white radio stations. When he looked for community in either group, he couldn’t find it. 

As his star began to rise, Jerry decided to buy himself some time to figure out who he really was and where he felt he belonged by adopting the Swamp Dogg persona. Swamp Dogg was the more assertive version of the young man who didn’t know quite where he fit in.

While the Swamp Dogg persona was adopted to help him buy time to find who the real Jerry Williams Jr. was, I’d argue his attempt to escape from his identity actually led him to understand himself much deeper than he ever could before. 

As he rose to fame, the public persona allowed him to detach and be a present father and husband. He prioritized his family and put success on the back burner when he needed to because he understood that this life of his was meant to be spent with the people he loved and the music, while a vital part of his very essence, was not the driving force for his life. 

When he did find success, he did all the things a newly successful young man might do; he bought nine cars, picked out a mansion on Long Island in New York, spent all his money on his loved ones and lived life how the rich guys did in the movies he saw growing up. However, as Swamp looks back on his life throughout Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted, he gives a caveat to every moment of success he achieved. 

In his youth, he thought everything he bought would automatically make him feel better and when it didn’t, he realized how little he truly cared about success in that sense. It was never about having the biggest album or going on the grandest tour, but staying true to himself as well as his beliefs and making the music that moved him. 

Throughout the documentary, you see how Swamp grew into himself and made a man out of the myth of Swamp Dogg. The moment he realized what truly mattered to him was when he took pressure off his own career and started worrying about the things that grounded him, like his family and marriage. It freed him to create more genuinely and freely. 

Swamp Dogg’s journey to self discovery is a testament to what it is like to be rich in life. While he has gained a cult following and had successes in his career, the thing he wants to be known for, as made very clear, is being a great father and husband. 

There’s a particular tenderness crafted in Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted. Gale and Olson’s appreciation and admiration for Swamp is palpable and their artistic, out-of-the-box approach to dissecting his life and career truly feels like the only way to tell the life story of the one and only Swapp Dog. 

I went into this film expecting a fun, lighthearted watch and left it with a deep appreciation of how truly understanding yourself can change your life. At one point in the documentary, Swamp says, “It’s all so fun being yourself, but you got to find yourself,” which is a quote that has stuck with me since I first heard it. 

With the most endearing documentary subjects you could possibly imagine, an absolutely killer soundtrack and a powerful message about the freedom that comes from owning who you are, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted is one of the best documentaries of the year so far. 

Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted will be released in select US theatres on May 2 (Nuart, LA) and May 9, 2025 (IFC Center, NY), with additional cities from May 16.