Cruel Words (2006)

Drawn to the shadows? Then you might run into Johnny Dowd — an out-of-a-dimestore-novel character who started making albums eight years ago, at 50. Here Dowd continues crafting extraordinary Beefheartian Gothic-rock tales of the disenfranchised. There's plenty of his discomfiting growl and dark wit (''Momma snorting coke and eating a Moon pie'') on Cruel Words. But on his sixth disc — his most tuneful and accessible — there are raucous sing-alongs too, including one with the Mekons' Sally Timms and Jon Langford (''Drunk''). It's an outsider-art show come to life.