Johnny Dowd can make a lot of a noise as a one-man band on his new album That's Your Wife on the Back of My Horse. Fiercely DIY and underground Dowd's fourteenth studio album once again deals with lies, death, sex, money, the devil and god. He is a singer with a voice that strays off pitch on a regular basis, with twang that is stretched to the limit. He plays a distorted guitar as his main instrument songs and cheesy but catchy pre-programmed keyboards, the latter riding shotgun as a drum machine.
He doesn't beat about the bush. "I just want to get laid" in Sunglasses is softened just a bit by the ooh-ooh's provided by Anna Coogan. Violence is rampant in Words Are Birds, a horrific tale about a white trash family who runs into enough trouble for an entire village. Dowd is the voice of Joe Six-pack, an outsider who is keen observer and story teller. "There is no message to this song" (Dear John Letter is a contradiction: it states that life's unfair and shit happens.
Dowd is a troubadour in his own right, a Tom Waits-alike raconteur who won't back down, telling the world that "it sucks to get old" in Poor, but Proud. No problem if you cry for lost youth (Teardrops), but keep your guard up. He still might still steal your wife in the end.
Johnny Dowd: vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard
Anna Coogan: vocals
Teardrops coda: Willie B (drums), Mike Edmondson (keyboard), Johnny Dowd (guitar)
That's Your Wife on the Back of My Horse is released on Mother Jinx Records. Release date: March 9. Buy it from his website.
- That's Your Wife on the Back of My Horse
- White Dolomite
- Cadillac Hearse
- The Devil Don't Bother Me
- Empty Purse
- Why>
- Sunglasses
- Nasty Mouth
- Words Are Birds
- My Old Flame
- Dear John Letter
- Female Jesus
- Poor, but Proud
- Teardrops
- 01/18 Felicia's (CD release party), Ithaca, NY
- 03/13 Americana Vineyards, Interlaken, NY
- 04/09 Kulturrampe, Krefeld, Germany
- 04/10 N9, Eeklo, Belgium
- 04/11 Guitar Bar, Nottingham, UK
- 04/12 Islington, London, UK
- 04/13 The Bank Eye (Suffolk), UK
- 04/14 Prince Albert, Brighton, UK
- 04/15 The Musician, Leicester, UK
- 04/16 La Peniche, Lille, France
- 04/17 Blue Collar Hotel, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- 04/18 (to be announced)
- 04/19 (to be announced)
- 04/20 El Lokal, Zurich (CH)
- 04/21 Dreikonigskeller, Frankfurt, Germany
- 04/22 Harksheide, Norderstedt, Germany
- 04/23 Paradiso Upstairs, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 04/24 Poppodium de Peppel, Zeist, The Netherlands
- 04/25 Heartland Festival @ Metropool, Hengelo, The Netherlands