John Doe has always been a folk musician in the sense that he writes strong, straightforward songs about the stuff of everyday lives, and he performs them in a manner that prizes passion and honesty over instrumental fussiness. That applied to his work with
X when he was cranking out loud, blazing rock & roll, and if the sound of the spare acoustic arrangements on 2022's
Fables in a Foreign Land is different on the surface, the feel and the effect is more similar than one might expect.
Doe recorded
Fables in a Foreign Land primarily live in the studio, joined by Kevin Smith on upright bass and
Conrad Choucroun on drums, and the simplicity of the arrangements brings
Doe's vocals and lyrics to the forefront, where they shine under close scrutiny.
Doe still has one of the finest voices in roots music, and his instrument is in fine condition here, while his phrasing wisely emphasizes the emotions in his narratives without stretching them into something forced or histrionic.
Fables in a Foreign Land is acoustic music with the spirit of rock & roll even when he has turned down the volume, and
Doe's songs are set in the American frontier of the pre-industrial era even as they evoke the dreams and hardships of the 21st century. (The great Texas tunesmith
Terry Allen co-wrote "Never Coming Back" with
Doe, while
Louie Perez of
Los Lobos pitched in to help pen "El Romance-O.")
Fables in a Foreign Land sounds like it was captured more than it was produced, the work of three musicians (sometimes more when
Carrie Rodriguez steps in with her fiddle, or
Josh Baca with his accordion) finding common ground in these songs without stepping on each other's toes.
Doe and his accompanists sound fully engaged even when this music is whisper-quiet, and it's impressive that a record that sounds this casual is so compelling. If you were hoping that
John Doe would deliver something like
X's
Under the Big Black Sun, you might be disappointed, but you could also argue that's just what he's done here, only with the sound of a campfire trio setting up his songs of love, death, and perseverance instead of a howling punk band. ~ Mark Deming