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All Music Guide:
Singer/songwriter Robbie Fulks was one of the more heralded talents in the alternative country movement, displaying an offbeat, sometimes dark sense of humor in many of his best moments. As time passed, Fulks moved away from the country twang of his early work and into a crunchier roots rock hybrid. Fulks divided his childhood between Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina, and received his schooling at Columbia University. He moved to Chicago in 1983 and first served as vocalist and guitarist in bluegrass band the Special Consensus, appearing on their Grammy-nominated 1989 album A Hole in My Heart. He later performed in the musical revue Woody Guthrie's American Song and formed his own rock band, the Trailer Trash Revue, with whom he cut a locally popular single, "Little King" b/w "Jean Arthur."
Fulks got his first significant exposure via Bloodshot Records' 1994 compilation Insurgent Country, Vol. 1: For a Life of Sin, which included his track "Cigarette State"; the 1995 follow-up, Insurgent Country, Vol. 2: Hell-Bent, featured Fulks' "She Took a Lot of Pills (And Died)." Both cuts were produced by Steve Albini, who also helmed Fulks' Bloodshot debut, Country Love Songs, in 1996. The album received highly positive reviews and featured backing from roots rockers the Skeletons, as well as former Buck Owens steel guitarist Tom Brumley. The follow-up, South Mouth, took a similarly retro-minded approach, drawing from classic honky tonk and Bakersfield country. With a growing cult reputation, Fulks earned a major-label shot with Geffen, but many critics felt that his 1998 label debut, Let's Kill Saturday Night, undermined the organic strengths of his previous work with overly slick roots rock production. A merger between Universal and PolyGram shortly after the release of Let's Kill Saturday Night led to a gutting of the Geffen artist roster, and the album died on the vine as Fulks found himself without a label.
Fulks opted to start his own label, Boondoggle Records, distributed by his friends at Bloodshot, and launched it with The Very Best of Robbie Fulks, a facetiously titled collection of demos and unreleased recordings. In 2001, Fulks followed with 13 Hillbilly Giants, in which he covered a bakers' dozen songs of the 1950s and '60s, and later that year he issued his most ambitious set to date, Couples in Trouble, a bleak but compelling collection of original songs about a variety of failing relationships that found Fulks adding new dimensions to his interest in rock and left-field pop. In 2005, Fulks signed to the roots-oriented Yep Roc label and dug back into his country roots with his first album for the label, Georgia Hard. It was followed by the live collection Revenge in 2007.
Wikipedia:
Robbie Fulks (March 25, 1963 –) is an American alternative country artist originally from Pennsylvania but who is a longtime Chicago, Illinois resident. He has released 11 albums over a career spanning more than 20 years.
Career
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 rearrangements of his original songs, off-the-cuff musical humor, and covers of songs by Michael Jackson and Cher, among others.
His wife Donna Fulks is a Chicago voice over actress, and so is his son Preston, with occasional performances by his other son Tennessee. They have all been known to sing at his shows when present. His brother Jubal Fulks occasionally appears on his albums playing the violin.
As a songwriter Fulks is difficult to define. 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. A good example of the alternative nature of some of his work is the song "Godfrey" ("the sickly, unemployed, amateur children's magician") on the compilation album for children The Bottle Let Me Down. His son Preston Fulks' artwork was also featured on the album. His music is described by many to be either alternative country or rockabilly.
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. In 2001, Robbie was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel to support independent artists.
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.
In 2010, Fulks released his album Happy as a tribute to the recently deceased Michael Jackson, in which he covers a group of his songs.
The indie-rock band Silkworm covered Fulks' song "Let's Kill Saturday Night," as did Pinmonkey.
Fulks has been known to often tour in Sweden.
According to an interview in 2000, Fulks described himself as a libertarian.
