I just saw a fekking AMAZING rock show at the Brighton Music Hall last night by JOHN DOE and his band. This was a solid, straight-ahead roots/rock show for 90:00 by a veteran musician who has, despite his 38+ years playing live and releasing albums under his own name, (and the band X, and the Knitters, and duets with his ex-wife, Exene Cervenka, and even a collaboration with the Sadies), still only drew a handful of people to this midsized club. A crying shame, given the extraordinary music on display. It might have been that schools are out, and Summer isn't going yet, but I still felt bad (compared to the overly sold out show by First Aid Kit last week. A good and fun band, but not even in Doe's stratosphere, talent-wise.
John is a man of several different musical personalities - he can play guitar and sing first-rate rock material as he still does in a longstanding LA-based punk band like X, an experimental and adventurous country/punk band like the Knitters (along with many old friends), or play with an alt.country band like the Sadies, or just perform his own staggeringly impressive material under his own name....and it ALL works, because he is a great songwriter, an impressive electric and acoustic guitarist.....BUT, it's his gorgeous VOICE that, above all, sends everyone home happy. His voice is such an amazingly flexible and rich instrument, and he makes it fit whatever material he is performing. A rare gift these days. in fact, I would say he is one of the under-appreciated singers in all of contemporary music (and I say this a day after seeing two other pretty good ones, Alison Krauss and a guy by the name of Willie Nelson).
Ok, the show. John ran through as much as possible of his enormous catalog, and promised not to talk very much because the previous night (in NYC), he 'said everything I want to say'...that means more songs tonight'. Huge roar, and he wasn't kidding. He would play several songs in a row without seeming to take a breath, including gems like 'Telephone By the Bed', 'Highway 5', 'Never Enough', ' Worried Brow', and 'Grain of Salt' among MANY others. And he either wrote or co-wrote every song he played. Nuff' said. Such a huge talent. His writing collaborators include people like Dave Alvin, Aimee Mann, Grant Lee Phillips, and Kathleen Edwards.
But the live show's pulse was John's exquisite singing, often sung in harmony with a talented young woman whose name I never caught, but who closely approximated Exene's vocal quality and register so closely, it was positively eerie! Just wonderful, fun and emotionally satisfying music by a veteran of the California rock scene (much like the Blasters), and who has just released a CD called 'The Best of John Doe...This Far', a 24 track collection covering his entire, storied career. A good place to start if you want to hit the ground running.
Just as a side note. John is (among his talents), a very good looking man (he's 61, scarily close to another good looking man writing this), and his face has also served him well in his attempts to become a TV and film actor. He has appeared in MANY small, independent films with small audiences, as well as some TV shows I do not know. So, to call him multi-talented is a vast understatement. And with a name like John Doe...!
