2024 Charity Shop Purchases # 62 - Johnny Dowd - Wrong Side of Memphis
George was in town over the weekend. We had arranged to go for a meal and as everybody else was running late I was charged to get there on time to ensure that we did not loose our table.
However I am happy to report that as I got off the bus I found a little bit of time to quickly scan the two rows of CDs in Barnardos. Among the usual detritus I was amazed to see Wrong Side of Memphis the 1998 debut album by Johnny Dowd on the Dutch Munich label.It was snapped up
Helpfully the CD back cover includes some blurb which saves me having to search for something to write:
A moving man from Ithaca, New York, embarks on the scariest ride of the year in this homemade work of genius - Top Ten Release of 1997 Chris Morris , Billboard
.. dark, telegraphically visual songs that come off like a fusion of Johnny Cash and Lou Reed stepping out of the pages of a Charles Burns graphic novel .. Top Ten Release of 1997 Jackson Griffith, Tower Records/Pulse!
The jaw-dropping intensity of his dark, twisted country blues makes Johnny Dowd an outright godsend. This exquisite debut is proof that not every story has been told - Top Ten Indie Release of 1997 David Sprague, Request
The intense description is apt as the only time I saw Johnny play (in the Barfly in Glasgow) he was so intense that my pal Big Pete had to retire upstairs to the bar (that's his excuse anyway).
Shame that second track wasn't available to me back in the Transport Tuesday days.
Seeing Johnny live is an interesting experience. When I saw him last he did Judy Garland's "Smile" in the style of the Cockney Rejects and another number where he just shouted "Hot pants! I wanna get spanked!" over and over again. It was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteGood find.
ReplyDeleteI thought so!
DeleteBloggin' John Medd and I caught a cracking Johnny Dowd show in Nottingham a few years back. Here's a bit of what I wrote after that memorable evening. '...prolific, maverick, alt-country oddball doesn't begin to adequately describe the man and the music he makes. He's a dark poet, as funny as hell and as serious as your life...' Johnny looked pretty frail that night as I recall, so I'm pleased to note that he's still out on the road in 2024.
ReplyDeleteI feel that your quote is even more worthy than those I copied and pasted for the post Swede!
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