September 29, 1998

Wrong Side Of Memphis

From the word on the US lo-fi grapevine, it would seem that 50-year-old DIY bluesman Johnny Dowd is the real McCoy....

6 / 10 FROM THE WORD ON THE US lo-fi grapevine, it would seem that 50-year-old DIY bluesman Johnny Dowd is the real McCoy. He's from Texas, via Memphis, Oklahoma and a chequered past. He's got him a wagonload of stripped-down ditties about murder and sin, Jesus and Jesse James, recorded on banjo and bucket in a corrugated iron shed in the bayou...

...Or make that on a four-track in Ithaca, NY, after clocking off from his respectable moving man day job. For, despite Dowd's considerable appeal as a low-life bard, he's basically your dad's old drinking buddy doing Nick Cave impressions. Clichis abound on tracks like 'Wages Of Sin' ("Play some guitar, Johnny") and 'Just Like A Dog', while Hank would roll in his grave upon hearing 'John Deere Yeller', in which a girl's locks are compared to the shade of a certain brand of digger.

That said, he's your dad's drinking buddy doing a pretty good Nick Cave impression on 'First There Was' or 'Papa, Oh Papa', so we'll indulge him until the next undiscovered hillbilly bluesman comes along.

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