Johnny Dowd

Singer/songwriter Johnny Dowd reached nearly fifty before his first solo outing, the wracked country-folk-rock collection Wrong Side of Memphis, earned Nick Cave comparisons within the alternative press. That resemblance held weight, given how completely the record focused on murder songs and stories of doomed sinners. Having spent his early years in Texas, Memphis, and Oklahoma, Dowd later ran a trucking company in upstate New York, and his material stayed close to the roots of American creepiness. Still, gallows humor together with his crackly voice kept any hint of self-importance in check, while the debut—centered on voice and guitar yet colored by eerie touches of organ and synthesizer that set it apart from the rootsy Americana crowd—quickly marked him as a significant cult artist whose strangeness felt drawn from lived experience. With his follow-up, 1999’s Pictures from Life’s Other Side, Dowd moved a step back from the brink by enlisting a full band and a female backup singer to shape a punchier sound less anchored in folk traditions. His vocals and words stayed almost as unsettling as before. Temporary Shelter, released in early 2001, and The Pawnbroker’s Wife, which appeared the next year, both favored a more accessible, studio-polished approach. Cemetery Shoes came out in 2004, and four years later A Drunkard’s Masterpiece arrived, built from three extended pieces that showcased Dowd’s signature blend of dark, mutant alt-country. In 2010 he issued Wake Up The Snakes.