Artist John Doe

Autumn De Wilde

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John Doe

When punk band X was shredding through Los Angeles in the early ’80s, few could’ve imagined that founding member John Doe would end up trading lines on TV shows a few decades later. Vocalist-bassist Doe has kept busy, still performing with X and his country-folk band The Knitters while popping up as a real-deal actor in everything from ER to Law & Order to One Tree Hill. Doe has released two collaborative albums in recent years—2009’s Country Club with onetime Neko Case-backing band The Sadies, and the 2011 A Day At The Pass with perky singer-songwriter Jill Sobule. While the former exhibits an increasingly contrified style—also apparent on Doe’s latest solo release, Keeper—the latter sees him lending his rich, weathered voice to songs with an airy, timeless pop quality, even if they are often plagued by shallow lyrics. (“You’ve got a house full of junk / a room full of junk / a closet full of junk / and it’s never enough.”)

Updated 11/21/2011