JOHN DOE
''THE WESTERNER''
APRIL 29 2016
34:34
**********
01 - Get on Board 02:34
02 - Sunlight 03:23
03 - A Little Help 03:39
04 - My Darling, Blue Skies 03:12
05 - Go Baby Go 03:25
06 - Alone in Arizona 03:52
07 - Sweet Reward 02:42
08 - Drink of Water 03:41
09 - The Other Shoe 02:43
10 - Rising Sun 05:18
**********
guest appearances from Chan Marshall of Cat Power, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Cindy Wasserman of Dead Rock West and Tom Brosseau
**********
The Westerner is my psychedelic, soul record from the Arizona desert.
In his dreams, he still flies
In his dreams, he still dreams
standing at the edge of the world
tasting the ocean as it rushes in
standing at the edge of the world
feet in the sand, waiting on the rising sun -- Rising Sun
The Westerner is dedicated to Michael Blake, author of many books including Dancing With Wolves, and a scholar and advocate for Native American rights. He was also one of my best friends for over 30 years. Michael taught me how to ride horses (we knocked each other off them several times) and we taught each other about writing, music & art. Many of these songs are about him or use him as the main character, and his presence has been with me throughout the making of the record. It’s a wild, spread-out, desert & ocean life that we’ve lived,
Michael lived in Tucson, as did another great friend, Howe Gelb, who I asked to produce & play on The Westerner. Howe, the city of Tucson & particularly WaveLab Studios have a sparse, desert sound you may have heard from Giant Sand, Neko Case, Iron and Wine & Calexico. Since many of the new songs are set in the desert, recording there was a natural choice.
The first day I arrived in Tucson, I spent time with Michael who was in hospice care. Three hours later, as we began recording, I got a call that he had passed over. It was a gift to have seen him one last time and an intensity I’ve never experienced in a recording session.
Michael Blake & I always loved The Doors. When Ray Manzarek passed, we listened to them more than ever. One day I saw an image The Doors used for a Record Store Day release in 2014. I had already chosen the album title, The Westerner, and this mysterious image of a shirtless kid staring out at horses & mountains said everything about the west. Was this a hippie kid? Native American? Boy? Girl? Was it now or a hundred years ago? Regardless of the details, the image represented freedom, open space & the West.
Turns out the image came from a collaboration & poster from Shepard Fairey & Aaron Huey to support Native American rights via a campaign called PROTECT THE SACRED. I felt so drawn to the image that I contacted Shepard and Aaron, who agreed to let me use it for my album cover, to further spread the mission of Protect the Sacred. Here were four things that Michael valued the most: freedom, Native American culture, wild horses and The Doors.
So it’s all come together; the West, its original people, a person who forever changed the popular image of Native Americans, freewheeling space, The Doors and sparse, tight music for the sound track. I’m honored to be part of such a collaboration. – John Doe; Richmond, Calif. 1/16
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Mark Deming
Ever since he broke through to nationwide recognition with X's outstanding 1980 debut, Los Angeles, John Doe has been one of rock's greatest triple threats. Doe is a brilliant singer with a gift for writing great melodies, and he's an intelligent, evocative lyricist. Nearly all of Doe's albums find him displaying these talents in equal measure, but 2016's The Westerner is an uncommonly strong set of songs that that ranks with his finest work. Doe has rarely meshed the depth of his material with the power of his performances as well as he does here. While it isn't a thematically linked concept album, The Westerner's ten songs are all rooted in the American West, and there's a strength and resonant consistency to their sound and feel. Doe was a poet before he became a lyricist, and there's a poetic sensibility to the best tracks on The Westerner that sets them apart from much of his catalog. ("Sweet Reward," "Sunlight," and "The Other Shoe" are particularly effective in their impressionistic wordplay.) Doe co-produced The Westerner with Dave Way and Howe Gelb, and Gelb's influence is especially strongly felt on these sessions. The results don't particularly resemble Gelb's work with Giant Sand, but the same dusty mood and sunburnt tone hovers over this music, and it suits the tunes perfectly. And Doe brings a welcome compassion and insight to these stories of people struggling to make sense of their lives under the unrelenting glare of the sun and sand. Doe has always been one of rock's better storytellers, but The Westerner has a degree of heart, soul, and wisdom uncommon even for his work. Muscular but graceful, The Westerner is as effective as anything Doe has released in his solo career. It confirms that at the age of 63, he hasn't run out of ideas and is not afraid to challenge himself.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Meet John Doe
As one of the founding members of the Los Angeles punk band X, John Doe was one of the most influential figures in American alternative rock during the early '80s, but when he launched a solo career in the early '90s, he decided to pursue a rootsy, country-rock direction instead of continuing with punk. X's latter-day albums exhibited a rockabilly and country influence, but it wasn't until Doe's 1990 debut, Meet John Doe, that he recorded a pure country album.
Live at the Whisky a Go-Go
Meet John Doe was recorded during a hiatus in X's career. Following the release of the 1988 live album Live at the Whisky a Go-Go, the bandmembers temporarily parted ways. Initially, Doe concentrated on the acting career he began in 1986 with Oliver Stone's Salvador, appearing in Road House and the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire in 1989. The following year, Meet John Doe was released on DGC to positive reviews, yet it didn't appeal to an audience outside of X's cult, peaking at 193 on the pop charts. Later in 1992, X began playing live again and Doe's solo musical career went on hiatus, although he continued to act in movies like Pure Country, Liquid Dreams, Roadside Prophets, Wyatt Earp, and Georgia.
Hey Zeus!
Following X's 1993 reunion album, Hey Zeus!, Doe signed a solo contract with Rhino/Forward. In summer 1995, Doe released Kissingsohard, a harder and punkier album than his debut. A few months after its release, X released the live semi-acoustic set Unclogged, which would turn out to be their final album. The band split up a year later, but their original lineup (with Billy Zoom on guitar) reunited for a series of live shows in 1998 and toured periodically. Doe continued to focus on his solo career when not occupied with X or his acting career: Freedom Is... was released by the SpinArt label in 2000, the semi-acoustic Dim Stars, Bright Sky appeared on Artist Direct in 2002, and the subtle but aggressive Forever Hasn't Happened Yet arrived via Yep Roc in 2005. It was that same label that reissued Doe's 1998 KRS EP For the Rest of Us under the name For the Best of Us, the new version containing five additional songs that had been recorded during the same sessions.
A Year in the Wilderness
Doe stayed with Yep Roc for his next two albums as well, 2007's A Year in the Wilderness and 2009's Country Club, where he was co-billed with Canadian roots band the Sadies. A new solo album, Keeper, recorded at the Way Station and New Monkey studios in Los Angeles and featuring guest appearances from Patty Griffin, Jill Sobule, Smokey Hormel, Don Was, and Howe Gelb, appeared in 2011. The album featured the rocking leadoff single "Never Enough." In 2012, Doe teamed up with his X harmony partner (and ex-wife) Exene Cervenka for Singing and Playing, a low-key album featuring new songs as well as interpretations of favorites from the X catalog. In 2014 Yep Roc released The Best of John Doe This Far, a collection of highlights from his solo career. In the spring of 2016 Doe found himself looking back and looking forward; he released a new solo album, The Westerner, while also publishing a memoir. The book Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of LA Punk offered an inside look at the scene that produced X, with contributions from a number of his musical peers.
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
''THE WESTERNER''
APRIL 29 2016
34:34
**********
01 - Get on Board 02:34
02 - Sunlight 03:23
03 - A Little Help 03:39
04 - My Darling, Blue Skies 03:12
05 - Go Baby Go 03:25
06 - Alone in Arizona 03:52
07 - Sweet Reward 02:42
08 - Drink of Water 03:41
09 - The Other Shoe 02:43
10 - Rising Sun 05:18
**********
guest appearances from Chan Marshall of Cat Power, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Cindy Wasserman of Dead Rock West and Tom Brosseau
**********
The Westerner is my psychedelic, soul record from the Arizona desert.
In his dreams, he still flies
In his dreams, he still dreams
standing at the edge of the world
tasting the ocean as it rushes in
standing at the edge of the world
feet in the sand, waiting on the rising sun -- Rising Sun
The Westerner is dedicated to Michael Blake, author of many books including Dancing With Wolves, and a scholar and advocate for Native American rights. He was also one of my best friends for over 30 years. Michael taught me how to ride horses (we knocked each other off them several times) and we taught each other about writing, music & art. Many of these songs are about him or use him as the main character, and his presence has been with me throughout the making of the record. It’s a wild, spread-out, desert & ocean life that we’ve lived,
Michael lived in Tucson, as did another great friend, Howe Gelb, who I asked to produce & play on The Westerner. Howe, the city of Tucson & particularly WaveLab Studios have a sparse, desert sound you may have heard from Giant Sand, Neko Case, Iron and Wine & Calexico. Since many of the new songs are set in the desert, recording there was a natural choice.
The first day I arrived in Tucson, I spent time with Michael who was in hospice care. Three hours later, as we began recording, I got a call that he had passed over. It was a gift to have seen him one last time and an intensity I’ve never experienced in a recording session.
Michael Blake & I always loved The Doors. When Ray Manzarek passed, we listened to them more than ever. One day I saw an image The Doors used for a Record Store Day release in 2014. I had already chosen the album title, The Westerner, and this mysterious image of a shirtless kid staring out at horses & mountains said everything about the west. Was this a hippie kid? Native American? Boy? Girl? Was it now or a hundred years ago? Regardless of the details, the image represented freedom, open space & the West.
Turns out the image came from a collaboration & poster from Shepard Fairey & Aaron Huey to support Native American rights via a campaign called PROTECT THE SACRED. I felt so drawn to the image that I contacted Shepard and Aaron, who agreed to let me use it for my album cover, to further spread the mission of Protect the Sacred. Here were four things that Michael valued the most: freedom, Native American culture, wild horses and The Doors.
So it’s all come together; the West, its original people, a person who forever changed the popular image of Native Americans, freewheeling space, The Doors and sparse, tight music for the sound track. I’m honored to be part of such a collaboration. – John Doe; Richmond, Calif. 1/16
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Mark Deming
Ever since he broke through to nationwide recognition with X's outstanding 1980 debut, Los Angeles, John Doe has been one of rock's greatest triple threats. Doe is a brilliant singer with a gift for writing great melodies, and he's an intelligent, evocative lyricist. Nearly all of Doe's albums find him displaying these talents in equal measure, but 2016's The Westerner is an uncommonly strong set of songs that that ranks with his finest work. Doe has rarely meshed the depth of his material with the power of his performances as well as he does here. While it isn't a thematically linked concept album, The Westerner's ten songs are all rooted in the American West, and there's a strength and resonant consistency to their sound and feel. Doe was a poet before he became a lyricist, and there's a poetic sensibility to the best tracks on The Westerner that sets them apart from much of his catalog. ("Sweet Reward," "Sunlight," and "The Other Shoe" are particularly effective in their impressionistic wordplay.) Doe co-produced The Westerner with Dave Way and Howe Gelb, and Gelb's influence is especially strongly felt on these sessions. The results don't particularly resemble Gelb's work with Giant Sand, but the same dusty mood and sunburnt tone hovers over this music, and it suits the tunes perfectly. And Doe brings a welcome compassion and insight to these stories of people struggling to make sense of their lives under the unrelenting glare of the sun and sand. Doe has always been one of rock's better storytellers, but The Westerner has a degree of heart, soul, and wisdom uncommon even for his work. Muscular but graceful, The Westerner is as effective as anything Doe has released in his solo career. It confirms that at the age of 63, he hasn't run out of ideas and is not afraid to challenge himself.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Meet John Doe
As one of the founding members of the Los Angeles punk band X, John Doe was one of the most influential figures in American alternative rock during the early '80s, but when he launched a solo career in the early '90s, he decided to pursue a rootsy, country-rock direction instead of continuing with punk. X's latter-day albums exhibited a rockabilly and country influence, but it wasn't until Doe's 1990 debut, Meet John Doe, that he recorded a pure country album.
Live at the Whisky a Go-Go
Meet John Doe was recorded during a hiatus in X's career. Following the release of the 1988 live album Live at the Whisky a Go-Go, the bandmembers temporarily parted ways. Initially, Doe concentrated on the acting career he began in 1986 with Oliver Stone's Salvador, appearing in Road House and the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire in 1989. The following year, Meet John Doe was released on DGC to positive reviews, yet it didn't appeal to an audience outside of X's cult, peaking at 193 on the pop charts. Later in 1992, X began playing live again and Doe's solo musical career went on hiatus, although he continued to act in movies like Pure Country, Liquid Dreams, Roadside Prophets, Wyatt Earp, and Georgia.
Hey Zeus!
Following X's 1993 reunion album, Hey Zeus!, Doe signed a solo contract with Rhino/Forward. In summer 1995, Doe released Kissingsohard, a harder and punkier album than his debut. A few months after its release, X released the live semi-acoustic set Unclogged, which would turn out to be their final album. The band split up a year later, but their original lineup (with Billy Zoom on guitar) reunited for a series of live shows in 1998 and toured periodically. Doe continued to focus on his solo career when not occupied with X or his acting career: Freedom Is... was released by the SpinArt label in 2000, the semi-acoustic Dim Stars, Bright Sky appeared on Artist Direct in 2002, and the subtle but aggressive Forever Hasn't Happened Yet arrived via Yep Roc in 2005. It was that same label that reissued Doe's 1998 KRS EP For the Rest of Us under the name For the Best of Us, the new version containing five additional songs that had been recorded during the same sessions.
A Year in the Wilderness
Doe stayed with Yep Roc for his next two albums as well, 2007's A Year in the Wilderness and 2009's Country Club, where he was co-billed with Canadian roots band the Sadies. A new solo album, Keeper, recorded at the Way Station and New Monkey studios in Los Angeles and featuring guest appearances from Patty Griffin, Jill Sobule, Smokey Hormel, Don Was, and Howe Gelb, appeared in 2011. The album featured the rocking leadoff single "Never Enough." In 2012, Doe teamed up with his X harmony partner (and ex-wife) Exene Cervenka for Singing and Playing, a low-key album featuring new songs as well as interpretations of favorites from the X catalog. In 2014 Yep Roc released The Best of John Doe This Far, a collection of highlights from his solo career. In the spring of 2016 Doe found himself looking back and looking forward; he released a new solo album, The Westerner, while also publishing a memoir. The book Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of LA Punk offered an inside look at the scene that produced X, with contributions from a number of his musical peers.
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
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