JOHN DOE - Fables In A Foreign Land LP

Limited edition of 300 black with gold swirl colour vinyl.

Punk rock pioneer with X, songwriter, poet, actor, solo artist, published author... folk musician. With Fables in a Foreign Land, the debut release from The John Doe Folk Trio, his tales are now set in the pre-Industrial era. And though many of the 13 songs were written over the last three years, the sound was born in loose weekly backyard jams on Kevin Smith’s (Willie Nelson and Family) patio.

“I guess ‘Fables in a Foreign Land’ is my version of folk music. It started by being sick of musicians that play too much and having to orchestrate or arrange songs. ‘What if it was just less?’

Everyone says less is more, but you have to figure out for yourself what that means. I didn’t do a deep dive into folk music and concern myself with what was ‘traditional,’ it was just an outgrowth of trying to strip the songs down to the basics.”

Singles include contributions from outsider country polymath Terry Allen on “Never Coming Back,” Los Lobos’ Louie Perez on “El Romance-O,” and fellow X bandmate Exene Cervenka and Shirley Manson (Garbage) on “Destroying Angels”.

"Though Doe’s new record is entitled Fables In a Foreign Land, the use of the word “fables” is almost tongue-in-cheek. The record is a historical imagination; taking place in the 1890s, these songs are sung by a wanderer, a stranger who collects histories and sings them into the open air. Recorded live in one room, Fables In a Foreign Land has a campfire and dirt road quality – these songs crackle like sparks toward a dark sky and burn under a midday sun. The record functions as an anthology of hurts and triumphs in a wide and lonely land." - Atwood Mag