Johnny Dowd starts his "Family Picnic" tour this weekend in Rotterdam
01-04-2019There’s never been a more apt description of Johnny Dowd’s mission statement than the title of his 2016 album, Execute American Folklore. Ever since his glorious wrong turn on Wrong Side Of Memphis, he’s been taking a chainsaw to the stuff. Last year’s brilliantly iconoclastic, Twinkle, Twinkle was no exception. His latest, Family Picnic is a homecoming of sorts. To Wrong Side territory. But if this is the sound of Dowd looking back, you’re in for quite a carnival ride.
As Dowd says himself: “I had to dig pretty deep for this one. Not sure how many more tunes I have in me. Tick tock. This record took an unexpected turn to the past — my past. It’s kind of like Wrong Side of Memphis 30 years down the road. Surprisingly little has changed for me (emotionally, that is). I’m still drawn to the same themes — unrequited love, murder, general foolishness. Waltzes and shuffles and boom chuck beats abound. Ice cream chord changes. Plus Kim Sherwood -Caso - and Mike Edmondson. What’s not to like? An Americana classic, if I do say so myself.”
This week Johnny Dowd starts his Family Picnic in Rotterdam and will play shows in NL, Belgium, UK and Germany:
06/04: Rotterdam (NL) @ Koffie en Ambacht
08/04: London (UK) @ The 100 Club*
10/04: Durham (UK) @ Launderette Sessions*
11/04: Bristol (UK) @ The Thunderbolt*
12/04: Leek, Staffordshire (UK) @ Foxlowe Arts Centre*
13/04: Bovey Tracey (UK) @ The Dolphin
14/04: Nottingham (UK) @ Running Horse
15/04: Sheffield (UK) @ Greystones**
17/04: Lewes (UK) @ The Con Club
18/04: Liverpool (UK) @ 81 Renshaw
19/04: Gent (BE) @ Café Het IJle Land
20/04: Zeist (NL) @ De Peppel
21/04: Karlsruhe (DE) @ Kohi
22/04: Helmond (NL) @ Lokaal 42
*with Park Doing
** with Jerry Leger