John
IE : So a whole new solo album ? I ’ ll bite — tell me more . JOHN DOE : It ’ s a little early , and it ’ s not gonna come out until January . But it ’ s called Fables in a Foreign Land , and it all takes place
eat , and raining all the time . The idea just came to me . Plus , I got to work with Terry Allen on a song , and Louis Perez wrote a verse of another song in Spanish . So it ’ s cool — you ’ ll like it . And ( famous punk label ) Fat Possum is putting it out . So I don ’ t know how this came to be , writing this record , but it had a lot to do with the isolation we all experienced and a lot to do with some gratitude for survival . And it actually wasn ’ t as personal because I was looking through someone else ’ s eyes , so it just sort of happened . And then I realized that there was a theme — I kept looking in the books that I write in , and I noticed all these similar
X , 2020 pre-Industrial era , in , say , 1890 , and it ’ s the opposite of steampunk . It ’ s about a kid , I dunno , 16 ? His parents are killed , and he ’ s forced to leave , and this is his journey . It ’ s not a beginning , middle , and an end , but it is what this person sees in a world that doesn ’ t have cars and all the other stupid distractions that we ’ ve called progress . IE : So , without good cellphone coverage to worry about , what hurdles does he face ? JD : Just staying alive ! Staying ** alive , sleeping on the ground , not having enough to
08 • 2021 situations . So I went with it . And this album couldn ’ t have come together in any other possible way . The bass player on it , Kevin Smith , plays with Willie Nelson , and the drummer is Conrad Choucroun , and he plays with Patty Griffin . So in April or May ( of 2020 ), I called up Kevin and asked what he was doing , and he said , “ Well , what do YOU think ?” So we just started playing together on his patio , and we did that for nine months . I wrote a bunch of songs , and we recorded in that same way . Nobody
Photo : Kristiy Benjamin
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8 illinoisentertainer . com august 2021