John Doe, “Walking Out the Door”

Three decades after the fire-breathing glory days of L.A. punk icons X, that band’s founding frontman may have made his peace with the concept of “maturity,” but that doesn’t mean John Doe has grown stale. Sure, as a solo singer/songwriter, he’s long since learned the value of leavening his rock & roll bravado with some subtle country and folk shadings. But, as “Walking Out the Door,” from his latest Yep Roc release, Keeper, makes clear, he’s still eminently capable of kicking up some dust. This roadhouse-rocking cut echoes everything from swaggering, Sun-era Johnny Cash to Mike Bloomfield’s blistering blues-rock riffs on Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, and shows that, at 57, Doe hasn’t forgotten the “rock” portion of his roots-rock recipe. – Jim Allen

"Walking Out The Door" John Doe