Robbie Fulks
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| Robbie Fulks | |
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| Background information | |
| Genre(s) | Alternative country |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1989-present |
| Label(s) | Bloodshot Records Geffen Records |
| Website | http://robbiefulks.com/ |
Robbie Fulks is an American alternative country artist originally from Raleigh, North Carolina but who is a longtime Chicago, Illinois resident. Fulks is known for his disdain of mainstream modern country and the country music industry, as exemplified by his scorching rebuke of Nashville titled "Fuck This Town." His live performances feature improvised rearrangments of his original songs, off-the-cuff musical humor, and covers of songs by Michael Jackson and Cher, among others.
His son Nicholas Fulks and father-in-law Donald Jerousek competed on the CBS reality show, The Amazing Race 12.[1]
As a songwriter Fulks is difficult to pigeonhole. Many of his compositions are silly, funny or spoof songs, while others are serious country songs. One album, 2001's Couples in Trouble comes off more as an experimental rock album than as country.
Before beginning his solo career, Fulks joined the bluegrass band Special Consensus. Here he showcased his unique guitar playing, and appeared on the Grammy-nominated album Hole In My Heart, released in 1989. Fulks' solo debut, Country Love Songs was released on Bloodshot Records in 1996 to positive reviews. This album was followed by 1997's South Mouth, which cemented Fulks' retro-alternative image.
As fans had grown used to Bloodshot's rough and sparse sound, many were shocked by the release of Fulks' third album, 1998's Let's Kill Saturday Night, on Geffen Records. When Geffen disbanded shortly after the release of the record, Fulks found himself without a label, so he started his own company, Boondoggle Records (distributed by Bloodshot), and released an album of previously unreleased material called The Very Best of Robbie Fulks.
2001 saw the release of both Couples in Trouble, a dark, brooding, and decidedly non-country album, and, just three months later, 13 Hillbilly Giants, a collection of covers of classic country numbers both obscure and well known.
Fulks would not release another album until 2005, when the release of Georgia Hard showed a return to his county roots. He also gained attention for a novelty single he wrote called "Fountains of Wayne Hotline", in which he imagined the power pop band Fountains of Wayne as having a hotline that struggling songwriters could call for help with their song structure.
In April 2007, Fulks released a 2-CD album Revenge! composed mainly of live concert recordings primarily of older songs, but including some new material. One disc, labeled Standing features a full-band sound, while the second disc, Sitting, consists of Fulks with little or no musical accompaniment. Standing opens with a tongue-in-cheek song studio track "We're On the Road" which describes life on tour and simulates a telephone call to Fulks from Yep Roc Records President Glenn Dicker, demanding a new record and denigrating the sales performance of the "path-breaking, not chart-breaking" album Georgia Hard.
The indie-rock band Silkworm covered Fulks' song "Let's Kill Saturday Night," as did Pinmonkey.
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