On his latest album, Robbie Fulks rollicks through a baker’s dozen overlooked classics from the country firmament. But anyone expecting the singer to retread well-worn standards by Hank Williams, Merle Haggard or George Jones will be surprised, though not disappointed.
Fulks instead mines country history for oughta-be-better-known numbers by Wynn Stewart (Billy Barton’s “Donna On My Mind”), Frankie Miller (Bobe Balthrop’s “Family Man”), the Porter Wagoner/Dolly Parton weeper “Jeannie’s Afraid Of The Dark”, and The Carlisles’ winningly lewd “Knot Hole”.
For anyone who has listened to Fulks own songs and wondered at the source of his deft wordplay and undeniable feel for country music, this collection provides a clue. Echoes of Fulks’ drunkard’s lament “Barely Human” can be heard in his cover of Hylo Brown’s “Bury The Bottle With Me”; the bawdiness of “Knot Hole” is matched by his own “Dirty Mouth Flo”; and Jimmie Logsdon’s “I Want To Be Mama’d” goes over the top just like Fulks’ “White Man’s Bourbon”.
