About this Artist
JOHN DOE is a prolific singer, songwriter, actor, poet, and founding member of the seminal L.A. punk-rock band X. He formed the band in 1977 and they continue to play and record, having released over 13 full-length records together over the years. In 2003, X’s first two albums were ranked by Rolling Stone as being among the 500 greatest albums of all time.
In addition to X, Doe is a member of the country-folk-punk band The Knitters which he started in 1982 with two of his band members from X, vocalist Exene Cervenka and drummer DJ Bonebrake, as well as guitarist Dave Alvin from roots rock band The Blasters and The Flesh Eaters and stand-up bassist Jonny Ray Bartel from The Red Devils.
Doe’s solo career began with 1990 album Meet John Doe, and he has since released nine albums and garnered worldwide acclaim. Entertainment Weekly calls his work “rip-roarin’ and warm-hearted”; Q deems it “the tightest, finest, and most morally acute music of the last 20 years”; and The Boston Globe praises its “striking emotional territory.”
Much of his music explores the artistic and emotional common ground between punk rock and American roots music with its simple yet powerful – and in this case animalistic – themes of love, loss, destruction, and redemption. John Doe is also a successful actor, and has appeared in countless films and TV programs, including Roswell, Great Balls of Fire, Roadside Prophets, Salvador, Boogie Nights, The Specials, The Good Girl, Gypsy 83, Pure Country, and more.