Johnny Dowd

Event information

Singer/songwriter Johnny Dowd was almost 50 when Wrong Side of Memphis, his debut solo record of wracked country-folk-rock tunes, drew comparisons to Nick Cave in the alternative press. To a degree, that parallel was justified, as Wrong Side of Memphis devoted itself to murder songs and tales of doomed sinners. Dowd had grown up in Texas, Memphis, and Oklahoma before operating a trucking business in upstate New York, and his songs veered close to the source of American creepiness. Yet gallows humor and Dowd's crackly voice tended to undercut any traces of self-importance, while his debut album -- dominated by his singing and guitar, yet featuring spooky dabs of organ and synthesizer that placed him outside of the rootsy Americana camp -- immediately established Dowd as an important cult figure whose weirdness seemed to be wrought from true experience.
“A moving man from Ithaca, New York, embarks on the scariest ride of the year in this homemade work of genius.” —, Billboard
“Wonderfully warped yet remarkably accessible.”—, MOJO
“With his lean, mean, funky songs about drinking, religion and wheelchairs, Mr. Dowd comes across like Johnny Cash reinvented by Quentin Tarantino. Nasty.” — Nuts