[What In The Natural World album art; painting by Roger Brown]
“Achingly beautiful…a record that yields a procession of hidden treasures. Fussell has an uncanny ability to illuminate the present by propping up a window against the past. Whatever the raw material’s vintage, the protagonist’s pursuit of abstract notion – freedom, empowerment, danger, fulfillment – is every inch as pertinent today.” –Uncut (9/10)
“It’s difficult to imagine another contemporary interpreter delivering a tale of desperation and sadness with such tenderness, warmth, and grace. Jake Xerxes Fussell is a national treasure.” –Aquarium Drunkard
“Fussell freely adapts early American roots music, teasing out new melodic subtleties and overseeing small-band arrangements that bring crystalline folk-rock glow to decades-old songs.” –Chicago Reader
“Jake Xerxes Fussell, the otherworldly guitar player, has an innate ability to infuse traditional folk songs and older works with a revived sense of purpose, a freshly calibrated compass.” –FLOOD
Jake Xerxes Fussell’s second full-length album, What in the Natural World, is out today via Paradise of Bachelors and now available to stream and download in full.
Alongside the release of the album, Oxford American has featured the Durham, North Carolina singer and guitarist with a special emphasis on the fifth track, “Bells of Rhymney.” This arcane coal miner’s lament shares its text, by Welsh poet Idris Davies, with the song popularized by Pete Seeger and the Byrds, complete with personified, protesting bells, but here Jake supplies his own gospel-tinged musical setting.
“I lived in Mississippi for about ten years and several years before I left I was playing music a lot with this guy Reverend John Wilkins (who is a Memphis-based Gospel musician). His father is Robert Wilkins, who recorded back in the twenties as a blues singer and later as a gospel musician. So I had to really familiarize myself with that sort of ‘guitar evangelism.’ The approach that I’m using in ‘Bells of Rhymney’ is straight out of that idiom.”
—Jake Xerxes Fussell as told to Oxford American
Fussell will head out on a spring UK and EU tour co-headlining with Daniel Bachman, followed by a summer US tour in support of Joan Shelley (full list of dates below). He will celebrate the album release with a full-band performance (featuring fellow PoB artist Nathan Bowles and Casey Toll of Mt. Moriah) at the Nightlight in Chapel Hill today, March 31, supported by Asheville guitarist Sarah Louise and Carolina Soul DJs.
Stream/Download Jake Xerxes Fussell’s What In The Natural World –
http://smarturl.it/PoB031
Listen to Jake Xerxes Fussell’s “Jump For Joy” –
https://youtu.be/L-cfhokanYs
Listen to Jake Xerxes Fussell’s “Furniture Man” –
https://soundcloud.com/paradise-of-bachelors/furniture-man/s-Ddy4d
Listen to Jake Xerxes Fussell’s “Have You Ever Seen Peaches Growing on a Sweet Potato Vine?”–
https://soundcloud.com/paradise-of-bachelors/have-you-ever-seen-peaches-growing-on-a-sweet-potato-vine/s-OiQ3Q
Jake Xerxes Fussell US Tour Dates:
March 31 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Nightlight (full band Record Release show) w/ Sarah Louise
April 8 – Oxford, MS @ End of All Music (in-store) w/ Nathan Bowles
April 8 – Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry’s w/ Nathan Bowles
May 31 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop*
June 1 – Milwaukee, WI @ Collectivo*
June 2 – Minneapolis, MN @ Bryant Lake Bowl*
June 3 – Chicago, IL @ Old Town*
June 4 – Cedar Rapids, IA @ CSPH Hall*
June 6 – Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews*
June 7 – Kansas City, MO @ Knuckleheads*
June 8 – St. Louis, MO @ KDHX Stage*
June 9 – Paducah @ Maiden Alley Cinema*
June 10 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners*
June 11 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement*
June 13 – Decatur, GA @ Eddie’s Attic*
June 14 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle*
June 15 – Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java*
June 16 – Freehold, NJ @ Concerts in the Studio*
June 17 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall*
June 18 – Northampton, MA @ Parlor Room*
June 20 – Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle*
*supporting Joan Shelley
Purchase What in the Natural World:
From PoB/artist (LP/CD/MP3): http://www.paradiseofbachelors.com/pob-031
Other online options (physical/digital/streaming): http://smarturl.it/PoB031
Jake Xerxes Fussell online:
PoB Artist page: http://www.paradiseofbachelors.com/jake-xerxes-fussell
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