A Short Film About Frank Fairfield

Exclusive Video Premiere: A Short Film About Frank Fairfield via IFC

The 25-year-old California musician Frank Fairfield has toured in support of Fleet Foxes and Cass McCombs, two bands at or near indie rock's recent crossover metastasis. But Fairfield doesn't approach the twisting folk-pop of Fleet Foxes or the elliptical escapades of Cass McCombs. Rather, Fairfield plays banjo, guitar, fiddle and, quite often, the floor with his feet as he stomps out the rhythm of American songs that sometimes date beyond the century mark. Fairfield is an old-time musician, a passionate and untiring searcher and syndicate of song. He finds his tunes on old 78s or from fellow travelers in the antediluvian world of oral tradition, and he reenergizes them with an enthusiasm and an earnestness that's very much about how these songs fit right now.