Send "John Doe " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 For a working artist, success can be a curse as well as a blessing. Every time Paul McCartney steps into the recording studio, he has the Mount Rushmore-sized spectre of The Beatles looking over his shoulder. And every time Bob Dylan releases an album, he knows that critics from every magazine, newspaper, and website on the planet are going to remind him his new work can’t hold a candle to Blonde on Blonde or Blood on the Tracks. John Doe has never suffered that level of success or scrutiny, but as the co-founder of X, he was perhaps the most visible and gifted singer-songwriter of L.A.’s incendiary punk rock scene in the early 1980s. On songs like “Johnny Hit and Run Pauline” and “We’re Desperate”, Doe and partner Exene Cervenka defined a generation of disillusioned, discontented youth who didn’t fit into Ronald Reagan’s — or their parents’ — vision of a clean cut, conservative America. Doe’s career since the band’s 1987 breakup has, in some ways, been a model second act for a maturing artist. Like his sometime bandmate Dave Alvin (best known as a Blaster, but also a member of X for one album and a co-founder with Doe and Cervenka of the folkie side project the Knitters), Doe relaxed the intensity of his sonic assault but sharpened his lyrical gaze. His debut solo album, 1990’s Meet John Doe, and his 2002 work, Dim Stars, Bright Sky, are both low-key gems of country-flavored rock that explore the lives of the rebellious characters who peopled X’s songs after the realization that their rebellion was not only without a cause but also without any real effect....full text |
| Pastemagazine |
| John Doe’s punk days might be long behind him, but there’s only so much mellowing out that he’s capable of. He might not be mired in drugs and desperation like he was when he sang for L.A. punks X, but he makes adult life and grown-up relations sound like worthy struggles on Keeper. Even when he’s embracing open-chord strumming, sighing steel guitar and pledges of dedication that bring to mind Jackson Browne on opener “Don’t Forget How Much I Love You,” he still sings it with the gusto he once used to sneer at LA scenesters. Doe has always had a bit of a Hank Williams air around him, and he’s assembled a group of California country rock pros, including members of Los Lobos and Giant Sand, to support him this time. Which is a bit of a problem, actually. Many of the arrangements on Keeper are from the mid-tempo, “support the song by staying out of the way of the song” school, which means that a lot of it sounds nice, but little of it has much punch on its own. (Though kudos to whoever got rough with the bar-room piano on “Handsome Devil.”) Which means it’s up to Doe to provide any sort of oomph, which he does handily on the baby-come-on shuffle of “Jump Into My Arms” or the make-up-your-damn mind mashnote “Walking Out The Door.” Keeper gets repetitive at times, but Doe’s passion never sounds rote....full text |
| Allmusic |
| In the liner notes to Keeper, John Doe's ninth solo album, he thanks producer Dave Way "and the players and singers, they made this happen." Doe is being a bit too modest, considering his always impressive gifts as a vocalist and songwriter, but just as 2009's Country Club was one of his finest solo efforts, in large part because of the strength of his musical partners the Sadies, the crew of musicians on Keeper is powerful enough to push Doe to the top of his game, and it does make a difference. Keeper opens with the one-two punch of "Don't Forget How Much I Love You," a country-flavored love song with a rock & roll heart, and "Never Enough," a rollicking slice of punk-informed roots rock that's snide and joyous at once, and it's been a long time since Doe has sounded like he's had this much fun on plastic. Many of the other cuts on Keeper take a more somber tone, but even on low-key numbers like "Little Tiger" and "Moonbeam," Doe connects the material with confidence and genuine passion, and "Lucky Penny" and "Cottage in the ‘Dale" display a guarded optimism he doesn't allow himself especially often in the studio. And with artists like Patty Griffin, Greg Leisz, Howe Gelb, Steve Berlin, Jill Sobule, and Don Was as part of the studio ensemble on Keeper, it's no wonder Doe is so pleased with their contributions. John Doe simply doesn't make bad records, but not all of them are as heartfelt and comfortable as Keeper, and the title is apt -- this captures a great singer and songwriter on a hot streak, and you'd have to go back to his 1990 solo debut to hear a John Doe album that's as eclectic, accomplished, and satisfying as this....full text |
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