In its eight-year existence, Yep Roc Records has opened doors for newcomers and given them an avenue toward a national name: Thad Cockrell, Chatham County Line, The Comas. Yep Roc has also opened its doors for that aging lot already sporting an (inter)national name, though: Nick Lowe, Paul Weller, Robyn Hitchcock and, now, John Doe. Doe–one-half of X, the Los Angeles taut-as-tension, husband-and-wife punk nobility Doe stuck with off-and-on until 1993–has returned with his fifth solo album in 15 years, and it’s his best yet. Forever Hasn’t Happened Yet is an honest, blunt rendering by a guy who has walked and crawled his own road of heartbreak, hurt and homecoming and lived to forewarn you about the pitfalls. The result falls somewhere between Dylan’s Time Out of Mind and John Hiatt’s Bring the Family, revealing Doe as the rare over-40 punk rocker with the ability to reinvent himself and sound inspired. Doe plays The Pour House in Raleigh on Saturday, March 26. Jake Brennan & The Confidence Men open, with the Nick Luca Trio also opening and then backing Doe. Tickets are $15; doors open at 8 p.m.
