Jake Xerxes Fussell announces new album The Old Beloved Path and Irish tour

Jake Xerxes Fussell has announced his new album, The Old Beloved Path, due for release on September 18 via Fat Possum Records. Alongside the announcement, the American folk musician has shared the record's lead single, 'Rock Island Line'.

It comes ahead of a UK and European tour this autumn, which includes three Irish dates.

Raised in Georgia, Fussell has built his career around reinterpreting traditional folk songs and drawing on American and British folk traditions.

Recorded in North Carolina and mixed by producer Ben Whiteley, The Old Beloved Path features contributions from Dominic Billett, Isa Burke, Wayne Horvitz and Ken Whiteley.

A reimagining of the traditional American folk standard, Fussell's version of 'Rock Island Line' pairs the familiar song with an old English nursery rhyme.

"The song struck me as very beautiful, but just singing the verses wasn’t working for me. I couldn’t relate", Fussell said.

"So, I wound up putting it together with an old English nursery rhyme that I had been kicking around. ‘Wire, briar, limberlock /How many geese is in our flock?’ and ‘If you want to ride you got to ride it like you’re flyin, get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line.’ Marrying those two things, I felt like something worked, it felt like a song to me."

In a February 2025 interview with Hot Press, Fussell spoke about his approach to traditional music, describing folk songs as something that is constantly evolving rather than fixed in the past.

"The deeper you dig into this folk music stuff, you'll find out pretty quickly that it's always changing," he said.

This will be Fussell's sixth studio album and follows 2024's When I'm Called. The release also follows his work on the original soundtrack for the 2025 film Rebuilding, starring Josh O'Connor and Amy Madigan.

Tickets are on sale here.

Live Irish dates: 

October 8 - Cyprus Avenue, Cork
October 9 - Róisín Dubh, Galway
October 10 - Button Factory, Dublin