Jake Xerxes Fussell – “Boney” & “Boll Weevil”

Last month, Jake Xerxes Fussell announced his new album The Old Beloved Path. He shared the lead single "Rock Island Line," which was his take on the American traditional. Today, the folk singer-songwriter is back with "Boney" and "Boll Weevil.""'Boney' is believed to have been what's known in maritime worksong tradition as a 'short drag' — a chantey sung to accompany & keep pace for a brief hauling task aboard a ship," Fussell explains. He continues: But the song has also lived a life in the decades that have passed since the golden age of sail. The self taught musicologist Sam Eskin recorded a version of it, as did the great Paul Clayton. Listeners will recognize that the song recounts some of the bolder and finer points along the timeline of events in the life of Napoleon Bonaparte — though somewhat out of order and at times half-wrought. In some variants his dancing and cursing receive more attention than his victories or defeats, which I appreciate. Other versions will have him crossing The Rockies in addition to The Alps. I think this song is, among other things, a curiously rendered and fractured portrait of a colossal and difficult figure. Or a short drag — whichever you prefer.Speaking of strange portraits, "Boll Weevil" is another one, though this one's set a little closer to home — or at least for me it is. I like Sid Selvidge's version a lot. Charley Patton's recording is absolutely foundational. The version I play draws a bit from the one recorded by Atlanta singer and guitarist Blind Willie McTell in the early 40s. But I took a number of different verses from a few different versions I know and I strung them together to try and make some narrative sense. This song deals with themes of encroachment, influx, growth, the invasive, the entrepreneurial, the opportunistic, the parasitic. The Boll Weevil is treated as a literal parasite in some versions of the song, in others he's a shrewd and savvy market competitor, in some a quirky nuisance. And yet in others the singer will hold more of a sympathetic and forgiving view of the bug in question. Often the Boll Weevil is all of these things in one song. Like so many of us, he's looking for a home.Hear both below.The Old Beloved Path is out 9/18 on Fat Possum.