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Robbie Fulks - Georgia Hard |
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05 August 2005 |
Robbie Fulks Georgia Hard - (Yep Roc) Ain't tradition grand?
I had one regarding Mr. Fulks back when I lived in Toronto. Every Saturday, it was off to the No Frills grocery store, with Country Love Songs playing in my car's cassette deck (yeah, cassettes). There was something liberating about blasting out "Papa Was A Steel Headed Man" and "She Took A Lot Of Pills And Died" with the windows rolled down as I drove through the hip Queen St. W. and then up through Toronto's Little Italy. Sure, I got looks. That was the point.
Another tradition - Robbie Fulks makes good country, bub.
In fact, Robbie Fulks made two of the best country records of the 90's in Country Love Songs and South Mouth. Now, a couple of years after his last CD, the woefully underrated Couples In Trouble, Fulks delivers something different with Georgia Hard.
Perhaps rejuvenated by his new home at Yep Roc (most of Fulks previous output was on Bloodshot), Fulks has made perhaps his most accessible record yet in Georgia Hard. Hey, I might even find my dad listening to this. Normally, such a statement would mean a one-way ticket to Squaresville but sorry - my dad's pretty cool.
Before you go off the deep end and tell everyone about Fulks "selling out", you should probably know that he remains as much a smart-ass as ever. He gets the target right on "Countrier Than Thou", and plays the obnoxious drunk on the great duet "I'm Gonna Take You Home (And Make You Like Me)" to Donna Fulks' contempt ("Your routine is rusty, In fact you disgust me..."). He also remains a master of self-deprecation with songs like the honky-tonkin "Each Night I Try". Perhaps the saddest soul he's ever played is the one on "Leave It To A Loser", taken over the top with a full blown string arrangement - you just know some New Country star is going to cover and ruin this one.
Always able to get the right folks to back him up, Fulks assembles probably his strongest line-up yet on Georgia Hard. Sam Bush's mandolin fits perfectly on the highway-bound (and supremely radio-friendly) "Where There's A Road", while guitarists Grant Tye and Redd Volkaert provide some classy pickin' here - with Fulks going so far as to showcase Volkaert on the swingin' "Right On Redd". Georgia Hard is a pretty complete package that really should bring some new listeners Fulks way. I know that this old one's pretty happy.
8.0
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