Johnny Dowd

Johnny Dowd
Background information
Born	March 29, 1948 (1948-03-29) , Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Origin	Ithaca, New York, United States
Genres	Alternative country
Website	www.johnnydowd.com

Johnny Dowd (born March 29, 1948 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American alternative country musician from Ithaca, New York. Typical of his style are experimental, noisy breaks in his songs and strong gothic (in the sense of dark and gloomy) elements in the lyrics as well as in the music. There is also a strong undercurrent of black humor and the absurd in his work.

Although his early albums were most celebrated in the alternative country community, he has never quite fit into any particular genre. As a singer-songwriter, his music is more often compared to that of Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Captain Beefheart.

Early life

Born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1948, Dowd's family moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1950, and then to his father's hometown of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma in 1953. He received a record player for Christmas in 1956 and began buying records at a local appliance store. Although the first LP he owned was by the Ray Conniff Singers, it was the music of Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and James Brown that changed his life. He cites James Brown's Live at the Apollo as his lifelong favorite album.

In 1965, along with his mother and sisters, Johnny returned to Memphis after his parents' divorce. After serving in the U.S. Army and living in California he drove across the United States in the early 1970s with longtime friend Dave Hinkle and settled permanently in Ithaca, New York where his mother and sisters had also relocated. Dowd and Hinkle began moving furniture for a living, later naming their business the Zolar Moving Company.

Band history

Dowd formed a band in the 1970s named The Jokers, which included Johnny (guitar), his sister Jennifer Edmondson (drums) and Dave Hinkle (bass). By 1988 the band had become Neon Baptist, whose members included Johnny Dowd, Cally Arthur, Dave Hinkle, Mike Edmondson and Jennifer Edmondson. Max Ormond and Kim Sherwood-Caso were in later lineups. Neon Baptist was one of the founding acts of the GrassRoots Festival, where Dowd has performed annually since 1991.

By the time Neon Baptist disbanded in 1995, Dowd was recording songs alone in the office of his moving company. These songs first appeared in 1995 on a home-made demo cassette as Wrong Side of Memphis, credited to Johnny Dowd as a solo artist. Kim Sherwood-Caso contributed background vocals on two songs. Most of these tracks were either re-mixed or completely re-recorded for the CD version of the same album, which was initially pressed as a self-released CD and then officially released on Chicago's Checkered Past label in 1997. The album was also released on Koch Records in early 1998 and then in Europe on Munich Records. Favorable reviews led to some of his first European appearances in 1998.

In the wake of widespread critical acclaim to Wrong Side of Memphis Dowd released his second album, Pictures From Life's Other Side, in 1999, also to strong reviews. This year also saw the first of Dowd's US and European tours. After the self-released (and very experimental) Down In The Valley in 2000 came Temporary Shelter later that year. A Dutch TV documentary on Johnny Dowd was filmed in 2000, and in early 2001, the New York Times highlighted Dowd as one of four "Country Singers Who Still Display a Country Heart".

The Pawnbroker's Wife album was released in 2002, followed by Wire Flowers: More Songs from the Wrong Side of Memphis in 2003. The same year, Dowd was handpicked by The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening (a self-described fan of Johnny's music) to perform in the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. 2003 also saw Dowd's first major film appearance with the release of Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus. The album Cemetery Shoes was released in 2004; in 2006 Cruel Words was released and went on to win the Album/Alt.Country award in the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards the following year. Johnny also went on to be a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards.

In 2006 Johnny Dowd, drummer Brian Wilson (aka Willie B) and Jim White formed a band called "Hellwood". Their album, Chainsaw of Life was recorded in a cabin in New York, the walls of which were covered in musician obituaries. Hellwood toured the album in Europe. Johnny has also incorporated some of the songs from Hellwood into his own live setlist.

In April 2007 Johnny joined Beukorkest (/Punch- or batteringOrchestra/), a collaboration of various Dutch musicians and artist like André Manuel and Def P. fronted by Stuurbaard Bakkebaard en Rik van Iersel. They did a tour in the Netherlands consisting of 9 shows. In 2008 an album was released of tracks from various gigs. Beukorkest formed again in 2008 with a new team of musicians this time without Johnny.

Tourdates of Beukorkest 2007:
04-05-2007 - Mezz Breda; 04-06-2007 - Brogum Zierikzee; 04-07-2007 - Goudvishal Arnhem; 04-08-2007 - Paaspop Schijndel; 04-11-2007 - Vera Groningen; 04-12-2007 - 013 Tilburg; 04-13-2007 - Witte Theater IJmuiden; 04-14-2007 - Hedon Zwolle; 04-15-2007 - Ekko Utrecht;

The album "A Drunkard's Masterpiece" was released in Spring 2008 in America, Canada and Europe, followed by a European tour in April and May. Due to touring with Jamie Lidell, Willie B did not accompany the band.

In October 2008 Johnny announced a trio called Black Elastic. Kim Sherwood-Caso played guitar in addition to singing, Mike Edmondson, who played with Johnny some years ago, played guitar. This lineup played several shows in the Ithaca, NY area until an expanded Johnny Dowd band formed, composed of Kim Sherwood-Caso (guitar, vocals), Mike Stark (keyboards), Matt Saccuccimorano (drums) and Willie B (baritone guitar).

A new album titled "Wake Up The Snakes" will be released in Europe in March through Munich Records. A European tour is planned for May 2010.

Dowd and Billy Cote (formerly with Madder Rose) recorded a song, Bound For Hell, for a Love and Rockets tribute album, "New Tales To Tell: A Tribute To Love and Rockets," released in the fall of 2009. The track did not appear on the physical CD but as a download-only.

They are continuing to work on an as-yet untitled project together.

Discography

Studio albums

• Wrong Side of Memphis (Checkered Past - USA, Koch Records - USA, Munich Records - Europe) 1997, 1998 and 1998 respectively
• Pictures from Life's Other Side (Koch Records - USA, Munich Records - Europe) 1999
• Down in the Valley (self-released) 2000
• Temporary Shelter (Munich Records - Europe, Koch Records - USA) 2000, 2001 respectively
• The Pawnbroker's Wife (Munich Records - Europe, Catamount - USA) 2002
• Wire Flowers: More Songs from the Wrong Side of Memphis (Munich Records - Europe) 2003
• Cemetery Shoes (Munich Records - Europe, Bongo Beat Records - USA) 2004
• Cruel Words (Bongo Beat Records - USA, Munich Records - Europe) 2006
• A Drunkard's Masterpiece (Munich Records - Europe, Bongo Beat Records - USA) Spring 2008
• Wake Up the Snakes (Munich Records) Spring 2010
• More or Less -Poetry/Music- (Zylaxi Records) Spring 2010

Collaborations

• Hellwood - Chainsaw of Life With Jim White and Willie B (Brian Wilson) (Munich, 2006)

Live albums

• Johnny Dowd Live (self-released) 2001
• Live at the Night & Day Cafe, Manchester, UK (self-released) 2005
• Johnny Dowd Live at Schuba's 2000 (digital released) 2008
• Ratten Spiegel (self-released) 2009

45s/EPs

• Hell or High Water/Divorce, American Style (Nicole, 1999)
• Mother Love/Daddy's Girl (Sub Pop, 2001)

Exclusive tracks and guestappearances

• Various - The UNSOUND(tm) Series Volume 2: Guitars! (To M'Lou Music, 1999)
• Various - Awesome #1 (a Munich compilation) (Munich, 2001)
• Various - Gimme Shelter (17 Amazing covers of classic songs by The Rolling Stones (Uncut 2002)
• The Pine Valley Cosmonauts - The executioners last songs Vol. 1 (Bloodshot records, 2002)
• Various - Hope isn't a Word (Comes with a Smile Vol. 11) (Comes with a smile, 2004)
• Jim White Presents music from Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (Luaka Bop, 2005)
• Chicken Legs Weaver - Nowhere (as producer) (Riverside records, 2006)
• Mark Lotterman - Pain & Entertainment (The house of music, 2007)
• Various - There's A Hole In Heaven Where Some Sin Slips Through: Townes van Zandt tribute (Glitterhouse records, 2007)
• Jackie Leven - Oh What A Blow That Phantom Dealt Me! (Cooking Vinyl, 2007)
• Jackie Leven - Lovers at the Gun Club (Cooking Vinyl, 2008)
• Beukorkest - Der Kleine Hausmeister (Munich, 2008)
• Soundtrack The Devil's Muse collaboration with David J Soundtrack included on Deluxe 2-Disc DVD Set (Halo 8, 2008)
• Love and Rockets tribute album, “New Tales to Tell" track 2-05 (digital release only) Bound for Hell (with Billy Coté) (Justice Records, October 2009)
• The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project - We Are Only Riders (Glitterhouse Records, 2009)

Also appears on

• Uncut February 2001 Track 7; Big Wave (UNCUT UG-26 32)(Uncut, 2001)
• Balling The Jack (The Birth Of The Nu-Blues) Track 19; Picture From Life's Other Side (Ocho, 2002)
• Total Lee! (Lee Hazelwood tribute) Track 5; Sleep in the Grass (City Slang Recordings, 2002)

DVDs

• Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2003), BBC documentary about roots music in the US hosted by Jim White, special guests besides Johnny Dowd are The Handsome Family, David Eugene Edwards and others.
• Take Root festival 2004 Tracks 17 and 18; A Man and his Wife, Johnny B. Goode Recorded October 2, 2004 Assen, The Netherlands. (Music Matters, 2004)

Books

• Johnny Dowd - Poems (self released, 2002) 15 Poems with Illustrations by Stahl Caso

External links

• Official website