In 2003, Swamp Pop pioneer Tommy McLain self-released his album Moving to Heaven. An extremely rare piece of Louisiana music history, Moving to Heaven only existed as a CD that Tommy himself pressed 500 copies of more than two decades ago. Tommy sold the CDs at his shows on the bayou and that was the only place to purchase this mysterious album. Featuring extremely DIY production techniques and spooky synthesizer sounds, this was Tommy McLain at his most raw and spiritual. Tommy wrote every song and plays every instrument on Moving to Heaven as he vocalizes about life, death and forgiveness.
Many years later, Elvis Costello found a CD of Moving to Heaven in a Louisiana record store and fell in love with the music. Costello was a fan of Tommy ever since hearing him back in the ‘70s on the compilation Another Saturday Night, but he knew that Moving to Heaven was something special. Costello and Tommy would eventually meet in 2010 at a Bobby Charles tribute concert where Costello professed his love of Moving to Heaven to Tommy in-person. “I would go to local, secondhand record shops looking for albums by people like Tommy McLain,” Costello told the New York Times in 2022.
Yep Roc Records is excited to announce the first-ever CD reissue of Moving to Heaven. PThe album has been remastered for vinyl by Mike Westbrook at MW Audio. This rare artifact of the Swamp Pop genre is finally found and sounds better than ever. Even with extremely raw production techniques at play, Tommy McLain continues to showcase his "dusty voice that still sounds strong" (MOJO) and that "if red velvet had a sound, it would be Tommy McLain's voice" (NPR).
