JAKE XERXES FUSSELL & TWAIN

JAKE XERXES FUSSELL

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Reared in Georgia and now settled in North Carolina, Jake Xerxes Fussell has established himself as a devoted listener and contemplative interpreter of a vast array of so called folk songs, lovingly sourced from a personal store of favorites. On his latest album, When I’m Called—his first LP for Fat Possum, and his first as a parent—Fussell returns to a well of music that holds lifelong sentimental meaning, loosely contemplating the passage of time and the procession of life’s unexpected offerings. 

The album was produced by James Elkington and mixed by Tucker Martine. In addition to Elkington, it features the playing of Ben Whiteley (The Weather Station), Joe Westerlund (Bon Iver, Califone), and others. Blake Mills contributes guitars on several tracks. Joan Shelley and Robin Holcomb provide backing vocals. 

“…Fussell is the rare contemporary to approach folk in its pure form, shunning self-penned compositions about bummer relationships to concentrate on material handed down from bygone, hardened times.” – The New Yorker

“(Fussell) is one of the great magpies of American song, collecting forgotten, tarnished gems with a folklorist’s zeal… his renditions aren’t so much cover versions as composites…” – The Guardian

“…maybe the leading interpreter of American folk music right now.” – Ann Powers, NPR

TWAIN

“There is nothing remarkable about my life that is necessary to know in order to appreciate the songs,” says Matthew Davidson of Twain. He describes the project as “a modern folk-opera of indefinite length consisting of songs and images from my life, a self-caricature of the musician and writer Matthew Davidson.”

Twain made his label debut with Rare Feeling in 2017. The album was aptly hailed by NPR as “at once human and otherworldly,” by Consequence of Sound as “devastating, delicate, meditative,” and by Uproxx as “cosmic folk, bright and sparkling, but with all the caterwauling and rough bits that the most stoic traditionalist might desire.” 

Following the beloved release, Twain played Newport Folk Festival and toured alongside artists including Buck Meek, Langhorne Slim, and Courtney Marie Andrews. Davidson is a former member of The Low Anthem and Spirit Family Reunion and a contributor to Big Thief, whose latest album Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You features Davidson’s distinct contributions on six songs. 

Of the the most recent Twain album title Noon, Davidson explains, “Noon is where I am, more-or-less, in my natural life span and in my creative life span. I picture noon being at the very bottom of a bowl, the resting point of a pendulum. Not the apex of an arc, or the crest of a hill.

Looking back from this point in my life, I can see all of the hurt and confusion I’ve helped create on the way to my own noon. To borrow a phrase from Elena Ferrante: I don't have any sympathy for the person I was then.  Arriving at noon for the first time in my life, I sense everything reversing and the possibility to change and cure and heal is real for the first time. 

This album is a prayer from noon for the rest of the day. The song “The Magician” is about that. The song “The Priestess” is about an agent who helps with that. The fact that the music I’ve made has put literal gas in the literal tank is a fact that I never take for granted. It feels like magic to me, the closest thing I’ve figured out to practicing magic.”