Johnny Dowd serves up a slice of Homemade Pie in his new animated video — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
Dutch artist Rik Van Iersel does Johnny proud with his colourfully idiosyncratic interpretation of the title song from Johnny’s latest album. Beside being a renowned painter, Rik is a talented drummer who has collaborated with John on many projects over the years.
“I call my new album Homemade Pie because I recorded it at my house and I like pie,” Dowd says. “I could have called it Pie A La Mode but I didn’t. I think this is the best batch of songs I’ve written in long time. I had plenty of time last year to dig in so that’s what I did. I had one rule for writing and recording this record: No second guessing. In other words: DON’T BE CLEVER (nobody likes a wiseass). Musically the album was influenced by the music I grew up with: Soul, blues, country and a little garage rock. Like most records, it’s best listened to loud, with windows down and nothing but open road ahead. I hope you like it. If not, no hard feelings.”
In other Dowd news, the singer-guitarist will join Amy LaVere and Will Sexton during their residency at Abilene in Rochester, N.Y., from June 10-12. Both bands follow up at The Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y., on June 13, then The Lucky Hare in Hector on June 16. Dowd has also booked Sun Studios in Memphis for a session with Amy and Will later this year.
Over the last 30 years, the singer-songwriter has been creating records that defy trends, a unique catalog of work that stands head and shoulders above many of his lauded contemporaries. Now in his 74rd year on God’s good earth, Dowd has lost none of the vigor, enthusiasm, and attitude that has seen him forge his position as one of America’s most inquisitive artistic minds, a musical explorer who has charted expeditions to genre-defying destinations that, at their heart, question, challenge, and dissect notions of the American Dream.
Born in Ft. Worth in 1948 and raised in Oklahoma, he attended high school in Memphis, crossed the pond to serve in the U.S. Army and then headed to California before landing in Ithaca, N.Y. At some point in these varied travels he picked up a guitar and never put it back down again. As Johnny says, “My childhood was normal as was my adulthood. At some point I learned to play guitar. The future is uncertain.”
He released his first album Wrong Side of Memphis in 1997, and in the wake of critical acclaim his second album in 1999, Pictures From Life’s Other Side, also to positive reviews. That year saw the first of Dowd’s U.S. and European tours. A Dutch TV documentary on Dowd was filmed in 2000, and in early 2001, the New York Times highlighted him as one of four Country Singers Who Still Display a Country Heart.
He continued to release a record every year while touring both the U.S. and Europe, making his his major film appearance in 2003 with Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus and winning the the alt-country award in the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards with Cruel Words in 2007, as well as acting as a judge for the eighth annual awards. Over the years, he has toured, recorded, produced or collaborated with such musical luminaries as Jon Langford, Sally Timms, Jim White and Amy LaVere to name a few (not in order of importance, and an unforgivably abbreviated list). He has contributed to numerous tribute albums, most recently The Wanderer: A Tribute To Jackie Leven.
Watch Homemade Pie above, read my review of the album HERE, watch my exclusive interview with Johnny Dowd HERE, hear more from Dowd below, and find him at his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Bandcamp.
