Jake Xerxes Fussell – “Lover Farewell”

One of America’s great explorers of the past, Jake Xerxes Fussell returns to form today with the announcement of Good and Green Again, his follow-up to 2019’s Out of Sight. The album boasts Fussell’s first forays into original song territory, bringing on board a host of peers — familiar faces Casey Toll (Mt. Moriah), Libby Rodenbough, Nathan Golub, and newcomers Joe Westerlund (Megafaun, Califone) on drums, Joseph Decosimo on fiddle, Anna Jacobson on brass, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy adding vocals. James Elkington lends a guiding hand behind the scenes.

For the first taste of the album, Fussell returns to sketching out the shape of the American south, working through the veil of the past, riding the rails of songs that have hinted at the philanderer’s fate before. “Love Farewell” draws on Fussell’s curatorial instincts, but reinvents themes in a new light. The song stretches into view with a slow amble, a bit mellower than some past choices, but still with Jake’s burnt leather aura hanging low over it. Good and Green Again is out January 21st on Paradise of Bachelors.

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