Jake Xerxes Fussell has a remarkable ability to make songs that have existed for generations feel as though he has just discovered them. On The Old Beloved Path, his sixth album and second for Fat Possum, the North Carolina guitarist and singer once again digs into traditional folk, blues and country material, but the result sounds less like preservation than personal archaeology. Produced by Ben Whiteley, the album surrounds Fussell’s distinctive fingerpicked guitar and warm baritone with carefully chosen touches of fiddle, bass, piano, harmonica, percussion and reed organ. The effect is spacious and unhurried, allowing these old songs to acquire an almost dreamlike quality without losing their connection to the music’s roots.
The album opens with “No. 1,” the sole original composition, an instrumental that establishes the record’s atmosphere with ringing guitar, reed organ and harmonica. From there, Fussell approaches familiar material with the same curiosity he brings to obscure songs. “Rock Island Line,” a song recorded countless times, is slowed to a gentle crawl and interwoven with an old English nursery rhyme, transforming something instantly recognizable into something distinctly his own. “Boll Weevil” receives similarly patient treatment, while “Every Time I Go to Town” retains the song’s dark subject matter—the narrator’s distress over the mistreatment of his dog—without turning it into melodrama. Fussell’s gift is knowing when to leave a song alone and when a small shift in rhythm, phrasing or arrangement can reveal an entirely different character.
Some of the album’s most intriguing moments come from songs that are less familiar. “Boney,” an old maritime work song concerning Napoleon Bonaparte, becomes an understated, hypnotic performance, its rhythmic foundation almost pulling the song forward beneath Fussell’s measured delivery. “Rosin Some” moves at a languid pace with Isa Burke’s fiddle adding a ghostly dimension, while “Early, Early in the Spring” is more buoyant, its understated synthesizer and acoustic instrumentation creating a gentle forward motion. “Sandy Land” is particularly atmospheric, with guitar and bass harmonica giving it the spacious, cinematic quality of an old Western landscape. Even the brief closing children’s song, “Of All the Beast-es in the World,” is treated with enough care to feel like a natural conclusion rather than an afterthought.
What separates Fussell from the wave of musicians who have mined traditional music for inspiration is his refusal to treat these songs as either sacred artifacts or raw material for reinvention. He seems to inhabit them, listening for the strange details and possibilities already buried inside. Whiteley’s production reinforces that approach: the arrangements are restrained, but the small instrumental additions give the recordings depth and color without overwhelming Fussell’s guitar. The performances feel relaxed rather than studied, as if the songs have been allowed to settle into their final forms at their own pace.
The Old Beloved Path is an inviting record, but its familiarity comes with a little mystery. Fussell takes music that has traveled through countless voices and hands and finds another route through it, one defined by patience, curiosity and an unmistakable personal touch. There is nothing flashy about these performances, and that is precisely their strength. By slowing down and listening closely to the songs he has chosen, Jake Xerxes Fussell makes the old feel newly alive. – Jason Felton