Alternative to landscape fabric

I was watching Hometime on PBS Saturday afternoon. They had built a stone wall about 3 feet high . On the near side they were seeding a lawn. On the outer side , they were planting large perennials such as joe pie weed and perennial sunflowers to make a transition into a wilder area. They were using drip irrigation and an extensive amount of cedar mulch to spread round the perennials. As a weed barrier, they didn't want to use landscape fabric because as we know landscape fabric can cause a lot of problems when you're not putting a 3 inch layer of mulch on each year. Their alternative was to use 60 pound craft paper. The theory being that under the initial 3 inches of mulch, the paper would act as a weed barrier long enough for the perennials to get established and go crazy. Great idea, don't you think?