Jake Xerxes Fussell

Jake Xerxes Fussell is a singer, guitarist, and composer based in Durham, NC. His intuitivecreative process often draws from traditional music and archival field recordings-incorporating elements of songs from the past into new work. He is, according toAnnPowers of NPR, "maybe the leading interpreter of American folk music right now..."

Fussell’s albumWhen I’m Calledwas released to critical acclaim by Fat Possum Records inthe summer of 2024. The album was produced by James Elkington and featuresBlake Mills(guitars), Ben Whiteley (bass), and Joe Westerlund (drums), along with additional vocalsfrom Joan Shelley and Robin Holcomb.

His most recent recording “Close My Eyes” (a song by the late Americancomposer/cellist/singer Arthur Russell) was released in March of 2025 as a digital single.

Fussell and Elkington also wrote and recorded the music forRebuilding, a new feature filmdirected by Max Walker-Silverman that premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

“Fussell’s music often comes with complex citations; he is a folksinger in the truest sense,collecting ideas and melodies and lyrics from distant and disparate traditions, looking for thethings that unite us in our humanity.”-The New Yorker

“(Fussell) is one of the great magpies ofAmerican song, collecting forgotten, tarnishedgems with a folklorist’s zeal... his renditions aren’t so much cover versions ascomposites...”–The Guardian