Tommy McLain "Moving to Heaven"

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