Doe hits the spot at Safari Sam's

[One Illinois-born fiftysomething attends a show given by another Illinois-born fiftysomething, and lives to blog about it:]

Given the way John Doe's music can inhabit your brain -- I've been humming "Golden State" for almost two days straight now -- it's no surprise how the X Man's presence carried the room Saturday night at Safari Sam's. Playing in a steamy room to an appreciative crowd that spanned at least a couple of generations, Doe and his parade of talented collaborators gave you a 90-minute warm-and-fuzzy.

There was original material -- including a healthy dose of stuff from the album many are calling his career-best, this year's "A Year in the Wilderness" -- there were covers, there were rockers and folk songs, and there was even a moment of reflection: "Having been taken for granted a couple times in Los Angeles," he told the crowd, "this is nice to see."

Doe, sweating through his dress shirt and justifiably magnanimous with his praise of his side players, gave back as much as he soaked up. I chuckled at one point when he seemed to get ahead of himself -- for some reason I thought of the jokey T-shirt that a local rock band gave me last fall for my 50th birthday. It said: "Middle age is all the rage."

I'm sure that Friday and Saturday, when he is fronting X at the House of Blues Anaheim, that'll be even more of a joke. But at Sam's on Saturday, in the genial company of members of Dead Rock West (drummer Bryan Head, bassist David J. Carpenter and vocalist Cindy Wasserman backed him after playing an opening set), Doe's songs were as vital as anything you'll hear from anybody. Kathleen Edwards joined him to duet on "Golden State," and Dave Alvin brought his estimable guitar talents onstage for a few numbers.

And I don't think anybody took one note for granted.

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Postscript: Doe also got a boost from Dead Rock West keyboardist Phil Parlapiano, who filled in for ailing Doe regular Nick Luca. Amazingly, Parlapiano hadn't rehearsed any of the songs he played on.

Luca, by the way, has an album coming out Sept. 25 by the quartet that bears his name. It's titled "Fractions;" he'll play the Knitting Factory on Oct. 23.

||| Stream a nice acoustic version of "Golden State" here.

Photos: Top, John Doe duets with Kathleen Edwards; above, Doe with Cindy Wasserman, Dave Alvin and David J. Carpenter (background). By Kevin Bronson / LAT.