#jake xerxes fussell

[dustedmagazine]

Jake Xerxes Fussell—When I’m Called (Fat Possum)

Folk musician and curator Jake Xerxes Fussell was initially known for recordings with a front porch vibe. On his latest, When I’m Called, some performances hew to traditional lines. The album’s opener, “Andy,” is a story about Andy Warhol by Maestro Gaxiola, depicting a pseudo-rivalry between the artists. Fussell plays it simply, just acoustic guitar and voice, giving the song a rustic rework.

Elsewhere, new and past collaborators perform with Fussell. Like his 2022 release, Good and Green Again, James Elkington produces, creating elaborate arrangements and contributing instruments to several of the songs. Other frequent collaborators join them, including horn-player Anna Jacobsen, guitarist Blake Mills, bassist Ben Whitely, who plays both electric and upright bass and drummer Joe Westerlund. Musicians new to Fussell’s orbit include string player Jane Cook and woodwind performer Hunter Diamond. Throughout, Fussell’s understated baritone allows the words practically to speak for themselves.

Fussell culls another selection from a different source than usual. Composer Benjamin Britten collected many folk songs, arranging them for classical and scholastic musicians. Britten’s collaboration with Jane Taylor, “Cuckoo,” is given the Fussell/Elkington treatment, obscuring its rather formal source. Joan Shelley provides backing vocals on the chorus.

One of Fussell’s mentor figures, the poly artist and folklorist Art Rosenbaum, passed away in 2022. Several songs from Rosenbaum’s collection are featured on When I’m Called: “Leaving Here, Don’t Know Where I’m Going” the Scottish ballad “Feeing Day,” “Gone to Hilo,” “Who Killed Poor Robin”, and the album closer “Going to Georgia.” Each is treated a each bit differently: “Leaving Here…” has a pastoral vibe that includes winds, harmonica, and piano, “Feeing Day” has sustained horn chords in the background, “Who Killed Poor Robin” incorporates an inexorable character in the rhythm section and Elkington playing tangy organ chords and autoharp, “Gone to Hilo” has guitar soloing from Fussell and Elkington on pedal steel and organ, and “Going to Georgia” has Mills providing an extra guitar, Cook strings, Elkington organ and feedback, and Whitely and Westerlund grounding the whole in an Appalachian mid-tempo pattern. While many of the songs are given relatively brief renditions, “Going to Georgia” allows the musicians a chance to stretch out a bit.

Fussell is still a captivating figure singing by himself with a guitar; I wouldn’t want to see his front porch abandoned. However, this album's changes in approach and material invariably work. These and the talents of his collaborators help When I’m Called to be one of Fussell’s strongest recordings to date.

Christian Carey

[the-golden-vanity]

I love your url :)! Do you have a favorite version of the shanty?

Thank you! I think my favorite version is this slow and dreamy interpretation by Jake Xerxes Fussell.

[musicwithoutborders]

Jake Xerxes Fussell, Washington I Good and Green Again, 2022

[inclusivefenders]

Jake Xerxes Fussell - "Frolic"

[beginningspod]

It's time for Beginnings, the podcast where writer and performer Andy Beckerman talks to the comedians, writers, filmmakers and musicians he admires about their earliest creative experiences and the numerous ways in which a creative life can unfold.

On today's episode, I talk to musician Jake Xerxes Fussell. Originally from Columbus, Georgia, Jake is the son of folklorist Fred Fussell, and as a teenager began playing and studying with elder musicians in the Chattahoochee Valley, apprenticing with Piedmont blues legend Precious Bryant, with whom he toured and recorded. In 2015, Jake released his debut self-titled album composed entirely of adapted folk and blues songs on Paradise of Bachelors, his home for his next three albums: What in the Natural World, Out of Sight, Good and Green Again. Earlier this summer, Fat Possum Records released his latest album When I'm Called, and listeners, it's a delight!

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[sinceileftyoublog]

Jake Xerxes Fussell Live Show Review: 10/17, Empty Bottle, Chicago

Jake Xerxes Fussell

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Over the years, Jake Xerxes Fussell's repertoire and sound have expanded, though he's never lost sight of his exploratory ethos. On his self-titled debut and sophomore effort What in the Natural World, he introduced himself as a contemporary troubadour, an interpreter who used original arrangements to surface the universal meaning out of old songs. 2019's Out of Sight was his first record with a full band, 2022's Good and Green Again his first to combine traditional songs with wholly original compositions. In July, Fussell brought it all together on his debut album for Fat Possum, When I'm Called; it's an album featuring a murderer's row of collaborators and songs that Fussell constructed backwards, coming up with melodies and riffs before adapting them to folk songs that fit.

On When I'm Called, legends Fussell knew who may or may not have met each other, like cowboy artist Maestro Gaxiola and painter, musician, and folklorist Art Rosenbaum (a mentor of Fussell's who passed away in 2022), are intimate bedfellows. Fussell lifts from the public domain, Benjamin Britten, and found poetry on a scrap of paper. Returning are close collaborators like James Elkington, in the producer's chair and playing seemingly everything from synth to harmonica, as well as Joan Shelley, singing alongside Fussell's baritone on "Cuckoo!". Uniting with Fussell for the first time are guitar luminary Blake Mills, whose abstract tones nestle between Fussell's acoustic guitar and Elkington's pedal steel on "Going to Georgia", and Hunter Diamond, whose woodwinds pop up just when you need them most, like a consistent smiling face around the neighborhood. In general, on When I'm Called, more than ever, the band gets room to meander, to take in their surroundings.

Fussell & Ben Whiteley

How, then, would Fussell, who usually plays solo, adapt the arrangements not just to a live stage, but for a crowd who has had months to take in the recorded versions? Indeed, Thursday's show at the Empty Bottle featured the youngest crowd I've ever seen at a Fussell headlining show. Some of that, perhaps, had to do with the venue itself and the start time of his set (after 10 P.M.). But something tells me, at this point, people are less inclined to hear beloved old songs and more amped for Fussell specifically, the guitar player who picks bright-eyed on "Jump for Joy", the singer who belts, "Well, wake up woman, take your big leg off of mine," on "Have You Ever Seen Peaches Growing on a Sweet Potato Vine?". (I went to get a beer at the bar as he sang, passing by a crowd member cackling, turning to their friend and declaring, "I love that line!") Well, for one, Fussell didn't play solo this time. He was always accompanied by bassist Ben Whiteley, who plays on When I'm Called. Whiteley's steady plucking eased us into "Michael Was Hearty", and his rhythms buoyed Fussell's chugging guitars on an unexpected, but great cover of Nick Lowe's new wave classic "I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass". As we were in Chicago, Elkington, too, joined Fussell on stage for a number of songs, providing contrasting guitar textures on "Cuckoo!" Even The Weather Station's Tamara Lindeman, all the way from Toronto, was in the crowd and came on for backing vocals.

Fussell

It's easy to say that what is usually a lonesome affair turned into a party, given that the number of people on stage at any given moment quadrupled from its usual number. The more I thought about it, though, whether it's four musicians crowding around each other or just Fussell perched on a stool, his shows are always communal. On Thursday, the most affecting and memorable moments of the night were spontaneous. Out of Sight's "Jubliee" started as a singalong and felt like a full-on hymnal towards the end, the crowd repeating, "Swing and turn, Jubilee / Live and learn, Jubilee," like it was a mantra of keeping-on. And then there was "Donkey Riding", a traditional song which does not (yet) have a studio version, inspiring the biggest, and somehow still most polite sing-and-clap-along of the night. The moment the crowd seemed to get a tad too rowdy, we shushed each other so we could hear one last instrumental flourish, one last guitar lick from the artist who continues to give us gifts we didn't even know we already had.

[musiconspotify]

Jake Xerxes Fussell - When I’m Called (2024) … his fifth album …

[dustedmagazine]

Sam Moss — Swimming (Self-Release)

Sam Moss imbues old-time-y music with a grace and simplicity, picking out unforced, unhurried melodies in acoustic guitar. His, “Dance” from the jump my favorite among these tracks, proceeds with a purity that stands outside time or era; it could be from decades ago or right now.

Molly Sarlé, of the bewitchingly harmonized Mountain Man, does similar magic here, shading Moss’ offhand tenor with delicate silver tracery. Slippery runs of acoustic bass—that’s Durham player Sinclair Palmer—through through the tune like grounding wire. The drums, from cosmic Americana mainstay Joe Westerlund, are unshowy but just right, giving motion to a ruminative mood and atmosphere. “I dance to forget pain/I dance to remember beauty/To remember not to be so vain/And I dance to hold you close to me,” Moss trills, in a way that doesn’t so much project as invite you in. Both the joy of communal movement and the melancholy of what it keeps at bay shimmers through the music.

Moss used to live in Southern New England and has lately relocated to Virginia. The move has put him into the orbit of Jake Xerxes Fussell, who plays electric guitar on “Lost,” a plaintive folk song bolstered by a mesh of African-sounding tonal percussion, and acoustic on the slow-waltzing lament, “World,” which closes the album. It’s a good pairing. Both artists are steeped in folk history and adept at pre-modern approaches to songcraft and musicianship. Yet both scrape away the museum patina from their songs, bringing them right up into a bright and sunny present. Both, too, have an ease in their delivery, where nothing seems forced or rushed, where melodies are allowed to develop as they will, where long notes are permitted to linger. To listen to either artist is to luxuriate in a clear, radiant present, despite the historical influences.

These are mostly acoustic songs, full of light and organic space. Moss dips once into heavier, bluesier textures in “Eyes,” which, alongside “Dance” ranks as one of the album’s strongest cuts. Here an electric guitar tone frays and blisters as a drum beat marches doggedly forward. A violin stutters and weaves in agitated fretfulness. Moss’ high, expressive voice takes on an angsty charge in this cut, lifting up into a troubled upper range.  In an album that mostly bubbles and bounces, transmuting passing troubles into sunny rambles, “Eyes,” digs deeper and is all the better for it.

Jennifer Kelly

[notbecauseofvictories]

the nice thing about the end of the year is that everyone puts out their "best of 2024" lists, which is a good chance for me to comb through and start listening to new music.

for example, I put together a playlist from the New Yorker's list, and discovered that I love Yasmin Williams, Adrienne Lenker, Waxahatchee and Jake Xerxes Fussell; now I've moved on to Billboard's list, and I'm chilling to LATIN MAFIA while assembling the playlist.

[obeetlebeetle]

bowie @sexcromancy tagged me in a share-ten-songs game, and im choosing to shuffle my seasonal playlist rather than my on repeat!

Rodeo Clown - flipturn Jubilee - Jake Xerxes Fussell Sorry You're Sick - Ted Hawkins Night Or Day - Franz Ferdinand Guns Out - Young The Giant Rush Hour 3 - The Beths Honey Understand - NoSo Morning Light - Doja Cat Flatlands - Chelsea Wolfe S.F.C.B.G - Qualité Motel

im tagging @avantguardisme, @waitingforgalois, @resemblingthegrave, @justsomeguycore, @lesbianboyfriend and @gideonthefirst! i BELIEVE the original prompt is to shuffle your on repeat, but honestly, go nuts

[kick-a-long]

My friend puts together end of the year album rankings. I asked him if I could share it here and it’s pretty awesome. Check it out.

Best Albums of 2024

1. MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks (A beach house up in Buffalo and a houseboat docked at the himbodome)

2. Rosali - Bite Down (Rosali and Jim Schroeder’s guitar explosions)

3. Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood (my spine’s a rotting 2x4)

4. Advance Base - Horrible Occurences (intruders and ghosts)

5. The Decemberists - As it Ever Was, So it Will Be Again (wait for the reapers to mow)

6. Geordie Greep - The New Sound (jazz rock for creeps)

7. Mount Eerie - Night Palace (winter on a vacation island)

8. Cindy Lee - Jubilee (geocities Twin Peaks)

9. Chelsea Wolf - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She (goth metal trio hop)

10. Foxing - Foxing (Carson MTV, Bizkit NYE, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK)

11. Merce Lemon - Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild (seeds between all my teeth)

12. Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch (a decaying lost record)

13. Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us (I Scream Piano)

14. Jack White - No Name (like a White Stripes)

15. The Smile - Wall of Eyes (like a Radiohead)

16. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere (Prog metal for waking)

17. Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future (sadness as a gift)

18. This is Lorelei - Box for Buddy, Box for Star (all fucked up)

19. Fontaines D.C - Romance (an inhaler for a panic attack)

20. The Lemon Twigs - A Dream Is All I Know (1 in 1000 beach boys imitations sound this good)

21. Glass Beach - Plastic Death (the soundtrack to Metropolis)

22. Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown (Portis-folk)

23. Los Campesinos! - All Hell (a psychic wound)

24. Katy Kirby - Blue Raspberry (cancer has entered the chat)

25. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World (a fragile thing)

26. Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven (loud bark, soft bite)

27. Hurray for the Riff Raft - The Past is Still Alive (two weeks just to catch the Buffalo)

28. Friko - Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here (Bright Eyes-core)

29. Being Dead - EELS (Godzilla Rises)

30. Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk (chill wave pop)

31. Father John Misty - Mahashmashana (an accidental dose with a drop of Imagine Dragons)

32. Arab Strap - I’m totally fine with it don’t give a fuck anymore (bliss?)

33. Cloud Nothings - Final Summer (reliable post-hardcore)

34. Cassandra Jenkins - My Light, My Destroyer (Sophisti-Kate Bush)

35. Tyler, the Creator - Chromakopia (intruder noid)

36. Tucker Zimmerman - Dance of Love (the idiot’s maze)

37. Christopher Owens - I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair (welcome back Chrissybaby)

38. Ben Seratan - Allora (screaming guitars)

39. Fred Thomas - Window in the Rhythm (a guitar left in the rain)

40. Jake Xerxes Fussell - When I’m Called (don’t place your affections on a green growing tree)

41. The Smile - Cutouts (like a Radiohead)

42. Young Jesus - The Fool (shit, I feel like a million bucks. I think I’ll take the bus down to New Orleans. Yeah I think I’ll buy some drugs)

43. Storefront Church - Ink & Oil (Scott Walker-core)

44. Parannoul - Sky Hundred (Korean shoegaze)

45. MGMT - Loss of Life (a bubblegum dog)

46. SUMAC - The Healer (Sludge Metal for sleep)

47. Julia Holter - Something in the Room She Moves (spinning these morning)

48. Haley Heyndrrickx - Seed of a Seed (a garden)

49. Sour Windows - Revival of a Friend (Midwest emo)

50. Dummy - Free Energy (Baggy Madchester)

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard :: Linda Thompson Special

Y'all, I'll be back on the Dublab airwaves this Sunday 4-6pm PST for another installment of Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard, which Chad DePasquale and I put together every dang month. I am unclear who listens to this thing (hey I'm unclear who reads D&GFTT, now that you mention it), but I enjoy doing it, getting some sounds out there for anyone who needs/wants it.

This month, as a follow-up to my recent interview with her, I've made a mix of Linda Thompson deep cuts/rarities/favorites that stretches from the late 1960s to the singer's new one, Proxy Music. There's plenty of Richard Thompson in there, but also Bert Jansch, Sandy Denny and even Elton freaking John. A good listen — it'll be archived via Dublab a few days after it airs, but what the heck, it's more fun to tune in as it happens, right? (Semi-related: I encourage you to check out my infamous brother's ongoing Sandy Saturdays series, which is only rarely published on Saturdays.)

Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard is free to all; Aquarium Drunkard, as of this spring, is a member-based website these days. I'm biased of course, but AD is better than ever in 2024 — just this week we've published my Danny Paul Grody interview, a Jake Xerxes Fussell Q&A, an insightful appreciation of Herbie Hancock's Fat Albert Rotunda and a look at Anne Phillips' hidden gem of jazz noir, Born To Be Blue. And more!