Singer, guitarist, and folk music interpreter Jake Xerxes Fussell shares two new songs, “Breast of Glass” and “Frolic,” from his forthcoming album, Good and Green Again, out January 21st on Paradise of Bachelors. Produced by James Elkington (Jeff Tweedy, Michael Chapman, Steve Gunn, etc.), Good and Green Again is Fussell’s most conceptually focused and breathtakingly rendered album to date, a transcendent place on a musical map of melancholy, quietude, and foot-stomping joy. Following previously released album opener “Love Farewell,” “Breast of Glass” features beautiful, sparse horn arrangements written by Fussell and Elkington and performed by Anna Jacobson. “Frolic,” one of the three airy instrumentals on Good and Green Again, punctuates the program, offering respite and light in the form of crisp, shuffling play-party tunes.
Listen to “Breast of Glass”
Listen to “Frolic”
Fussell has distinguished himself as one of his generation’s preeminent interpreters of traditional (and not so traditional) “folk” songs, a practice which he approaches with a refreshingly unfussy lack of nostalgia and preciousness. By recontextualizing ancient vernacular songs and sources of the American South, he allows them to breathe and speak for themselves and for himself; he alternately inhabits them and allows them to inhabit him. In all his work, Fussell humanizes his material with his own profound curatorial and interpretive gifts, unmooring stories and melodies from their specific eras and origins and setting them adrift in our own waterways. The robust burr of his voice, which periodically melts and catches at a particularly tender turn of phrase, and the swung rhythmic undertow of exquisite, seemingly effortless guitar-playing pull new valences of meaning from ostensibly antique songs and subjects.
For Good and Green Again, Elkington and Fussell enlisted engineer Jason Richmond and a group of formidable players hailing from Durham, North Carolina (where Fussell lives) and elsewhere, including regular band members Casey Toll (Mt. Moriah, Nathan Bowles) on upright bass, Libby Rodenbough (Mipso) on strings, and Nathan Golub on pedal steel. They were joined by welcome newcomers Joe Westerlund (Megafaun, Califone) on drums, Joseph Decosimo on fiddle, Anna Jacobson on brass, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, who contributes additional vocals.
Listen to “Love Farewell”
Pre-order Good and Green Again
Jake Xerxes Fussell Tour Dates (new dates in bold):
Fri. Jan. 21 – Chapel Hill, NC @ The Nightlight
Sat. Jan. 22 – Richmond, VA @ The Camel
Sun. Jan. 23 – Washington, DC @ Pie Shop
Tue. Jan. 25 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA
Wed. Jan. 26 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Knitting Factory
Thu. Jan. 27 – Boston, MA @ Club Passim
Fri. Jan 28 – Keene, NH @ Nova Arts
Sat. Jan. 29 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Caffe Lena
Thu. Feb. 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gold Diggers *
Sat. Feb 19 – Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop *
Tue. Feb 22 – Portland, OR @ The Old Church *
Sun. May 1 – Kilkenny, IE @ Kilkenny Roots
Mon. May 2 – Kilkenny, IE @ Kilkenny Roots
Tue. May 3 – Dublin, IE @ Bello Bar
Wed. May 4 – Belfast, UK @ Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
Fri. May 6 – Manchester, UK @ Gulliver’s
Sat. May 7 – London, UK @ Oslo
Sun. May 8 – Glasgow, UK @ Glad Cafe
Mon. May 9 – York, UK @ Fulford Arms
Wed. May 11 – Ultrecht, NL @ Tivoli (Club Nine)
Fri. May 13 – Nijmegen, NL @ Merleyn
Sat. May 14 – Cologne, DE @ King Georg
Mon. May 16 – Hamburg, DE @ Aalhaus
Tue. May 17 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
* w/ special guest Tom Brosseau
Keep your mind open.
[Subscribe? Why not?]
[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]
