The Old Beloved Path

Over a decade into his career, Jake Xerxes Fussell remains peerless in the world of folk music. The North Carolinians interpretations of songs, both familiar and arcane, sound unlike anyone elses, and more often than not, unlike themselves. There is plenty of blues, folk, and country in his fingerpicking style and his baritone voice radiates Southern warmth, but he doesnt really come across as a roots artist, at least not in the ways people have come to expect. Fussell is too idiosyncratic and curious for so common a label. With a relaxed delivery completely devoid of striving, he circumvents both staunch traditionalism and the eager pathos of the indie folk crowd. Songs simply marinate in the fields of his imagination, then flow through his voice and hands to emerge as distillations no one else could produce. The Old Beloved Path is Fussells sixth LP and second for Fat Possum Records, and while his records rarely quicken the pulse, this one is particularly muted. After a series of collaborations with Chicagos James Elkington, he has found another sympathetic partner in Ben Whiteley, a Toronto multi-instrumentalist and producer known for his work with acts like the Weather Station and Joan Shelley. Beginning with the original instrumental "No 1," Fussell sets an unhurried pace that carries the record and soothes like a balm. The arrangements are typically austere and played mostly live behind him by a band that includes Whiteley on bass, drummer Dominic Billitt, fiddler Isa Burke, and guest instrumentalists like Wayne Horvitz and Bens father Ken Whiteley, both on harmonica. As on each of his albums, Fussell has unearthed obscure traditional gems like "Rosin Some," "Early Early in the Spring," and "Of All the Beast-es in the World," reimagining them in his strange, avuncular, and sometimes beautiful style. Perhaps more surprising is the inclusion of "Rock Island Line," an American folk standard of the ilk he generally avoids. But even this familiar tune becomes transformed when interpolated with an old English nursery rhyme, turning it into a fresh Fussell-ian artifact. True to its title, The Old Beloved Path is familiar and inviting, but holds enough mystery to keep us heading down it. ~ Timothy Monger