anyone heard it yet? i like the song "mama don't".

no, but I read a review for it on that robot site you posted and it has me interested.

i know, it sounds like it could be promising but it could also be absolute garbage.

Chalk up another one for the Yep folks:

Jason Ringenberg
Robyn Hitchcock
Marah
Go-Betweens
John Doe
The Fleshtones

They're puttin' together one helluva stable.

Yeah.

and:

uh hmmmmmmm............

Two Dollar Pistols, anybody????

(to the uninitiated, a great traditiona/alt country band from North Carolina)

i have that Forty-Fives album. i listened to it once, very drunk, and wote about it on this site. i don't remember if i liked it or not.

Didn't Westerberg put out a Yeproc album? Ken Stringfellow? There's a shitload of "used to be in that band" artists on that label.

yeah and by and large those albums suck balls. that's the source of my consternation.

saw Doe open for Lucinda Williams last week and the stuff we was playing was pretty good. not more than that though - didn't make we want to rush out and buy the album although Lucinda raved about it.

Man, it's John Doe. I dunno if it's possible that it could be THAT bad. Mediocre, maybe.

Anyone else have that SWAG album that YepRoc released a few years back? I love that damn record.

let's not forget big sandy & the fly-rite boys. they've got some jams.

Good stuff

I was a big X fan, but have always been dissappointed in John Doe's solo work, but this one for me is the best thing he's put out on his own. It features a lot of guest spots, and even has a duet with Neko Case on a song that was written with Exene that sounds like a bit of modern X with some drum machine beats. Most of it is pretty laid back and folky/twangy, with more of a ragged edge than his other solo stuff, which has always come across kinda bland and flat to me. If you're just an X fan, you may not care about this one...no punk rock to be found here. However, if you like rootsy countrified stuff and are looking for something nice and laid back, this could be just what ya want.

New Knitters album (July 12) and tour:

The Modern Sounds of The Knitters (Zoe Records)
The Knitters are back. After a 20 year recording hiatus, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, and DJ Bonebrake, all of the legendary punk band X, have joined forces with Grammy® winner Dave Alvin and Jonny Ray Bartel to release their first album since 'Poor Little Critter on the Road,' their 1985 debut. John Doe testifies: "The Knitters, like their music, don't do anything hasty. Since our last record's been out for a while and it did pretty good, we figured it was just about time to put out another." Their new album, 'The Modern Sounds of The Knitters,' revisits the alternative country sound they helped create with a new batch of originals, plus covers as far-ranging as Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" and The Stanley Brothers' "Rank Stranger." Also included are re-workings of the X classics "Burning House of Love" and "In This House That I Call Home," and "The New Call of the Wrecking Ball," a sequel to The Knitters' classic from their debut.

Easy Goin' Sunday
Give Me Flowers While I'm Living
Try Anymore (Why Don't We Even)
In This House That I Call Home
Dry River
Skin Deep Town
Rank Stranger
The New Call of the Wreckin' Ball
Long Chain On
I'll Go Down Swinging
Burning House of Love
Little Margaret
Born to Be Wild

I saw John Doe when he was touring his first solo album Meet John Doe, and it remains one of the best shows I've ever witnessed. At the time his band included Jon Dee Graham (True Believers) and Richard Lloyd (Television) on guitars, and they burned that small club down. The songs from that debut were incredible too, but the album itself was too safe and tentative.

Since then, every JD solo album has had the same basic flaw: not enough melodic hooks to make the MOR country/folk fly. But I keep buying 'em, fully believing that one day he'll put out the album he's capable of. Maybe (doubtfully) this new one is it.