Finally, singer-songwriter John Doe has made his long-awaited acoustic album. "Dim Stars, Bright Sky." Available now, guest vocalists on the album include Jakob Dylan (The Wallflowers), Jane Wiedlin (Go-Go's), Juliana Hatfield, and Rhet Miller (Old 97's).
"Every time I would release a solo record," says Doe (one of the most influential figures in American alternative rock as leader of seminal L.A. punk band X), "people would ask, 'Is it acoustic?' I would look at the ground, look back at them and reply, 'No...it's a rock record with some quieter moments.' Well, this time I can just say 'Yes.'"
An intimate, even romantic album, "Dim Stars, Bright Sky" leans toward the singer-songwriter genre more than the alt-rock or alt-country Doe has usually been labeled over his previous four albums. "The misconception about my solo work is that it's alt-country. I suppose this album is the closest to that incorrect idea, but for me it's more Elliott Smith than Gram Parsons."
Featuring piano, pedal steel, acoustic guitar, string bass, mandolin, organ and drums, highlights among the 10 selections include "This Far" (with Mann), "Magic" (with Dylan), "7 Holes" (referring to the number of holes in one's head), and "Faraway (From the North Country)." The theme? "Relationships, as always," he says, "how they stay together and fall apart."
Playing on "Dim Stars, Bright Sky" (produced by Doe, Joe Henry, and Dave Way) are guitarist Smokey Hormel (Beck, k.d. lang), keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac (Eric Clapton, Alanis Morissette), pedal steel player Ben Peeler (The Mavericks), bassists Dave Carpenter (Will Downing) and Dave Pilch (Joe Henry, Jane Silberry), and drummers Abe Laboriel Jr. (Paul McCartney, Vanessa Carlton) and Joey Waronker (Beck, Elliott Smith). Hormel and Waronker were also members of The John Doe Thing, whose 2000-released "Freedom Is..." was Doe's most recent album.
Doe will perform selected dates to support "Dim Stars, Bright Sky" along with upcoming concerts with The Knitters and X. An actor as well, Doe will also be seen this August in the major motion picture "The Good Girl" starring Jennifer Aniston. John Doe All Music Guide Biography 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.
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 band 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.
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 Artists 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. 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 is co-billed with Canadian roots band the Sadies. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Source: http://www.artistdirect.com/artist/bio/john-doe/424128
