John Doe of punk rock pioneers X will release a new solo album and today, shared the video for its first single, “Never Coming Back,” today.

Fables in a Foreign Land is set to be released on May 20.

“This song starts the record for a reason, it embodies the spirit and events of what’s to come,” Doe says of “Never Coming Back.” It begins a journey that will be without comfort, where you are running from something dark, that is approaching fast. You can’t go back because there’s nothing to go back to. The entire record is set during the end of the 1890s. Thanks to Terry Allen for the extra words.”

Doe enlisted guest writers Garbage’s Shirley Manson, X bandmate Exene Cervenka, Terry Allen and Louie Pérez of Los Lobos, while Kevin Smith (Willie Nelson) played bass and Conrad Choucroun played drums as support on the record. Most of the 13 tracks were written over the last three years by Doe.

“All of these songs take place in the 1890s,” Doe says of the upcoming concept album. “There’s a lot of sleeping on the ground, a lot of being hungry, a lot of isolation. All of that fits into the kind of isolation and lack of modern stimuli that I think people started rediscovering during the pandemic lockdown: realizing that as parts of your life start getting taken away, what’s important and what you live for becomes paramount.

“These songs take place alone, wandering, searching and hungry accompanied by horses not machines. Ultimately, I hope to send the listener to an unknown place with unpredictable characters and let them all live in that foreign land.”

Fables in a Foreign Land Track List

Never Coming Back
Down South
See The Almighty
Guilty Bystander
There’s A Black Horse
El Romance-0
Missouri
The Cowboy and the Hot Air Balloon
After The Fall
Destroying Angels
Travelin’ So Hard
Sweetheart
Where The Songbirds Live

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