Robbie Fulks

The hardest working man in alt country gives his twang a little spit-polish, and it sounds more inspired by "countrypolitan" than anything out of No Depression's all-over-the-place pages. But the songs are so catchy and solid that even Fulks' hardcore roots-rock fans from back in the day will remain loyal.

Fulks has a problem: He's too damn country for country music. Take a listen to the
wonderfully titled "Countrier Than Thou" or any of the other highlights on Hard and you
realize that the loss is country music's. In his best moments, Fulks sounds like the wiseass
bastard son of Roger Miller -- high praise indeed.

Vocally, he's neither here nor there--by the standards of Jay Farrar, Trace Adkins, but by the standards of Trace Adkins, Todd Snider--and as a writer he's caught between Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and Columbia University, where he's spent more time. He has a lit major's love for Music Row convention: "Some people say a real hard woman's good to find," or the evolution of the "they" in "If They Could Only See Me Now" from the parents who didn't want him to marry above his station to the kids he can't see after he murders their mama. Because he doesn't have the physical equipment to put his formal hyperbole over the top, his novelties connect first--"I'm Going to Take You Home (And Make You Like Me)," featuring his wife Donna, and the first recorded use of the word gemutlichkeit in a country song, and "Countrier Than Thou," featuring an Oh! Brother fan from Boston and GWB from Austin. But on this record the writing is so consistent that eventually it makes emotional sense--the cheating songs and the drinking songs and the faux gothic songs are set pieces he puts his gumption into, softened by a pastoral nostalgia that's so lyrical you want to take a ride in the country yourself. (Grade - A-)