Georgia Hard [Digipak] (CD - 2005)

Personnel: Robbie Fulks (acoustic guitar); Robbie Fulks (vocals); Donna Fulks, Donna Fulks (vocals); Lloyd Green (pedal steel guitar, dobro); Jubal Fulks, Jubal Fulks, Beasts Of Bergen (violin); Dennis Crouch (bass instrument); Mike Fredrickson , Mike Friedrickson (bass guitar, background vocals); Jeff White (acoustic guitar, background vocals); Redd Volkaert, Grant Tye (electric guitar); Alison Brown (banjo); Sam Bush (mandolin, background vocals); Carl Gorodetzky, Lee Larrison, Alan Umstead (violin); Hank Singer (fiddle); Joe Terry (piano, organ); Alison Prestwood (bass guitar); Gerald Dowd (drums); Gail Davies (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Jay O'Rourke; King Williams.

Liner Note Author: Robbie Fulks.

Recording information: OceanWay; Sound Stage, Nashville, TN.

Ensemble: Beasts Of Bergen.

Photographer: Jim Herrington.

Robbie Fulks seems to have developed something of a love/hate relationship with country music. It's not so much that Fulks doesn't like the stuff anymore (quite the opposite), but his albums Let's Kill Saturday Night and Couples in Trouble have made it clear his interests has been moving into other areas, but while Couples in Trouble was the strongest and most ambitious album of his career to date, it didn't sell very well, and its wide palate of rock and pop sounds puzzled many fans who were hoping for more tunes like, say, "She Took a Lot of Pills (And Died)." Fulks has headed back into country territory with Georgia Hard, his first album for Yep Roc (and his first set not recorded on his own dime since his ill-fated affiliation with Geffen), which is informed by his love of countrypolitan songwriting in the manner of Bill Anderson, Shel Silverstein and Roger Miller. While this album certainly plays to Fulks' strengths, it also suggests that he's chafing a bit at its self-imposed boundaries; there are songs here that have "country hit" written all over them, especially "Where There's a Road," "I Never Did Like Planes," "If They Could Only See Me Now," and the excellent title cut. However, there are a few that edge uncomfortably towards parody in their pursuit of the twang, such as "All You Can Cheat" and "Goodbye, Cruel Girl," while "I'm Gonna Take You Home (And Make You Like Me)" and "Countrier Than Thou" are so snarky they shoot the album's balance square in the foot (the latter seems specifically designed to alienate whatever fans he has who weren't annoyed by "Roots Rock Weirdos"). Georgia Hard leaves no doubt that Robbie Fulks is as good a country songwriter as anyone working today, but bits of it clearly suggest he'd rather be doing other things, and it's a shame he hasn't been able to balance the broader vision of Couples in Trouble with the richer and more human outlook depicted in this disc's high points. ~ Mark Deming

With his first few albums in the 1990s, Robbie Fulks established himself as a premier alt-country artist. Subsequently, he took a couple of career detours, with a major-label rock album and a self-released "arty" singer/songwriter effort. GEORGIA HARD finds Fulks not just returning to his roots, but distilling his talent to its finest point to date.

On this 2005 release, he effectively jettisons the "alt" prefix, delivering a straightforward country album with clear roots in the kind of music that forward-looking artists like Roger Miller and Tom T. Hall were turning out in the Nashville of 30-plus years prior. In that era, Fulks's masterful songwriting, emotive vocal style, and flawless production would likely have earned him as many country hits as critical plaudits. In the time of Toby Keith and Kenny Chesney, it's harder to imagine the old-school drinking song "Each Night I Try" or the thoughtful story-song "If They Could Only See Me Now" racking up Grammys. However, that hardly seems like the ultimate goal of a real-deal country singer like Fulks, otherwise he'd never be able to turn out something as resonant as GEORGIA HARD in the first place. minimize