John Doe (from X) Full Band CD Release + Robert Ellis December 2, 2011

Like Clint Eastwood, John Doe is an unusually handsome American pop-culture figure with an unusually hardy career...the songs play Doe's steely frontiersman reserve against his big tenor..."-The New Yorker



John Doe is a founding member of the seminal L.A. punk rock outfit X and the country spin-off band The Knitters. Doe's solo career began with 1990's Meet John Doe. Since then he has 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..."

Doe produced the new album alongside long-time collaborator Dave Way (Fiona Apple, Macy Gray) at L.A.'s The Way Station and New Monkey studios. In addition to Doe, the record features vocals by Patty Griffin, Jill Sobule and Cindy Wasserman. Moreover, numerous world-renowned musicians joined Doe in the studio, including Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Tom Waits), Don Was (Rolling Stones), Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), and Steve Berlin (Los Lobos).

In the 1992 movie The Bodyguard (starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston), it is Doe's version of "I Will Always Love You" that plays on the jukebox when Costner's and Houston's characters are dancing. It was released on audio cassette by Warner Bros. in September 1992, but no version is believed to exist on CD. Doe later took part in Todd Haynes's 2007 movie I'm Not There, recording two Bob Dylan covers, "Pressing On" and "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine." Both recordings were included on the film's soundtrack, and the former was prominently featured in the film, with Christian Bale (as Pastor John Rollins) lip-synching Doe's vocals. "The Meanest Man in the World" by Doe was featured in Season 4 of the television series Friday Night Lights and included on the second soundtrack album.
http://www.theejohndoe.com/

The New York Times recently proclaimed that Houston, Texas native Robert Ellis sounds "equally inspired by Jackson Browne and George Jones." Not a bad reference point for an artist only twenty-two years old. The young songwriter's second release is an impressive and diverse concept album split between five breathtaking folk songs and five soon-to-be country standards. Listening to Photographs, one finds it difficult to pigeonhole Robert Ellis. It's even harder to remember that he's barely just begun.
http://www.robertellismusic.com/

Official Website: http://www.jamminjava.com/