Jake Xerxes Fussell – “Going To Georgia”

Jake Xerxes Fussell – “Going To Georgia”

In 2022, Jake Xerxes Fussell released his fourth album, Good And Green Again. Today, the folk musician is announcing its follow-up, When I’m Called, along with his signing to Fat Possum. The sprawling “Going To Georgia,” which closes out the LP, is out now.

“I learned the traditional song ‘Going To Georgia’ from a few different places so my version is something of a collage,” Fussell said. “There are a number of variants out there. Ralph Stanley played a version of it, as did the great song collector and revivalist/interpreter Paul Clayton. My main source was an early 1980s field recording of The Eller Family of Hiawassee, Georgia, brought to us by artist-documentarians Art and Margo Rosenbaum via their wonderful Folkways anthology Folk Visions & Voices: Traditional Music And Song In Northern Georgia.”

Art Rosenbaum had served as a mentor to Fussell before he passed in 2022. Fussell also found inspiration in his song-collecting folklorist parents. “When I was getting really deep into traditional music as a teenager, I tended to see it more in a continuum, like, ‘This is all tied into an ongoing world,’” he explained.

When I’m Called was produced by James Elkington, mixed by Tucker Martine, and has contributions from Elkington on guitar, piano, dobro, synth, organ, pedal steel, mandola, harmonica, and arrangements, Blake Mills on guitar, Joan Shelley on vocals, Ben Whiteley on bass, Joe Westerlund on drums and percussion, Robin Holcomb on vocals, Anna Jacobson on horns, Jean Cook on strings, and Hunter Diamond on woodwinds.

Check out “Going To Georgia” below.

TRACKLIST
01 “Andy”
02 “Cuckoo!”
03 “Leaving Here, Don’t Know Where I’m Going”
04 “Feeing Day”
05 “When I’m Called”
06 “One Morning In May”
07 “Gone to Hilo”
08 “Who Killed Poor Robin?”
09 “Going To Georgia”

TOUR DATES:
05/16 – Charlotte, NC @ The Evening Muse
05/17 – Asheville, NC @ The Outpost
05/18 – Talbotton, GA @ Talbotton Fest
05/19 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
06/21 – Roanoke, VA @ Spot on Kirk
06/22 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall
06/23 – Mt. Solon, VA @ Red Wing Roots Festival
06/25 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery
06/27 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge ~
06/28 – Catskill, NY @ Avalon Lounge ~
06/29 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
07/16 – San Diego @ The Casbah *
07/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Barnsdall Gallery *
07/18 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Brisol’s Cider House *
07/19 – Felton, CA @ Felton Music Hall *
07/20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel *
07/21 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s *
07/23 – Bend, OR @ Volcanic Pub *
07/24 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
07/25 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern *
07/26 – Bellingham, WA @ Wild Buffalo *
07/27 – Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall *
08/30 – London, UK @ Lafayette
08/31 – Lewes, UK @ Con Club Lewes nr Brighton
09/01 – Bristol, UK @ Lantern Hall
09/02 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
09/03 – Glasgow, UK @ Mono
09/04 – Manchester, UK @ The Deaf Institute
09/06 – Paris, FR @ L’Archipel
09/07 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique
09/08 – Rotterdam, NL @ Kantine Walhalla
09/26 – Lafayette, LA @ Acadiana Center for the Arts
~ with special guest Kath Bloom
* with special guest Robin Holcomb

When I’m Called is out 7/12 on Fat Possum.

Kate Medley

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