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Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Released this week: Johnny Dowd - No Regrets...
Johnny Dowd - No Regrets (Mother Jinx)
Texan guitar-slinger and dark, musical visionary Johnny Dowd presents his new studio album, 'No Regrets' an album about 'girls and women' on his own Mother Jinx Records. The Ithaca, NY based musician has been constantly evolving sonically since his early, lo-fi gothic Americana releases and 'No Regrets' marks another installment for an artist who has become one of America's finest observers of life in the dark recesses of the American Dream.
Recorded at The Shop, his own small recording facility and featuring the likes of Jennie Lowe Stearns, Mary B Lorson, and longtime collaborator Kim Sherwood-Case, No Regrets is one of his most personal records to date. What is clear from the opening answer machine message on 'Betty', No Regrets isn't gonna be some kind of soft, heart rendering album of love. Dowd doesn't do soft. Never has and never will. Instead, driven along relentlessly by intoxicating 60's drum machines alongside the effortless swing of drummer Willie B and multi instrumentalist Michael Stark (themselves longtime Dowd cohorts and members of the band Tzar), these are thirteen tales of 'love' past and long gone.
The pulsating rhythms and overall feel of the album is something Dowd is clearly very proud of. He may be in double figures when it comes to releasing albums but one thing is for sure, the spark, wit and unrelenting drive is still clearly there for Johnny Dowd. Each of his previous albums stand alone in terms of sound and quality, 'No Regrets' is a wonderful addition to a vast cannon of work that's right up there with some of America's finest wayward geniuses.
"Dowd s got all the swagger and star quality of acts a third his age." - The Sun
"There's nobody quite like Johnny Dowd..." - Uncut
"Johnny Dowd is like some self mutating virus of American music, restlessly bringing fresh twists to old forms, absorbing influences..." - The Independent.
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