When you cue up the first song on this CD, ”The Cat Is Back,” you’re not liable to be much impressed. The sound of this album is far too thin, with Selwyn’s unremarkable voice pushed way out front.

The song, a Selwyn original, is pretty pedestrian. And although George “Harmonica Red” Heard’s harp solo is in the pocket, Selwyn guitar is nowhere to be heard.

If Cooper’s “THE hot guitar player from Louisiana,” as the cover proclaims, then where the hell is he? Thankfully, the CD improves from there, though the problems refuse to fade away completely.

“Louisiana Swamp Blues” works best when Selwyn and Co. simply crank up the shuffles and stop trying to impress; instrumentals like “Squall in'” give Cooper, guitarist for Clifton Chenier, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Rockin’ Dopsie, plenty of room to stretch out. Most everything else is problematic.

Cooper’s originals are all as rote as ”The Cat Is Back”, and the covers don’t fare well. “Mardi Gras In New Orleans” is at least interesting, taking its unlikely cues from Cow Cow Davenport’s “Cow Cow Blues” and allowing Harmonica Red to duplicate the famous Fess piano lines. (And ”The Sky Is Crying”, played straight, is always a good guitar showcase.) But the umpteenth version of “Kansas City” is limp, and his tribute to Cookie Thierry on Cookie and the Cupcakes’ “Mathilda” should have never left rehearsal.

There’s a lot of promise here, for sure, but Selwyn seems to function best as a sideman. And there’s no shame in that game.