Robbie Fulks

Robert William "Robbie" Fulks (born March 25, 1963) is an American alternative country singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and long-time resident of Chicago, Illinois. He has released 15 albums over a career spanning more than 30 years. His 2016 record Upland Stories was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Album and the song "Alabama at Night" was nominated for a Grammy for Best American Roots Song.

Early life Fulks was born in York, Pennsylvania, the son of a school teacher father. He grew up in small towns in southeastern Pennsylvania, the Blue Ridge Mountains area of Virginia, and the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Fulks's family moved often when he was young, eventually settling in North Carolina when he was 12, and Fulks considers North Carolina his childhood home. He has a younger brother named Jubal. Fulks picked up his aunt's banjo when he was six and started playing guitar at age 11.

He graduated from Carolina Friends School

Career While at Columbia University, Fulks often played at Gerdes Folk City and other places in Greenwich Village.

He also recorded his original compositions. Many of his early tracks were engineered by Steve Albini, and the Chicago punk-country label Bloodshot Records began releasing them in 1993.

Nashville While living in Chicago, Fulks worked for four years as a country songwriter, mainly for Music Row publisher API. was different. Fulks recorded it during the spring of 1998 in Nashville with producer Rick Will, and the album included performances by Lucinda Williams, Sam Bush, Bill Lloyd, and Al Anderson, as well as guitarist Rob Gjersoe (Jimmie Dale Gilmore), bassist Lorne Rall, and drummer Dan Massey.

Fulks did not release another album until 2005. Georgia Hard on Yep Roc Records was a return to his county roots, and was notable for its use of long-time Nashville talent such as Lloyd Green, Hank Singer, Dennis Crouch, and Dallas Wayne. He noted that this method, and electronic-only release in general, was not typical of musicians who worked in his genre.

In 2013, Fulks released Gone Away Backward, an acoustic album recorded and mixed by Steve Albini and released on Bloodshot Records. It was his first release on that label since 2001's 13 Hillbilly Giants. The album featured banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and upright bass. He said one of the songs, "That's Where I'm From", was autobiographical. Four songs from 50-Vc Doberman were the genesis of Gone Away Backward: the title came from the Book of Isaiah. Fulks said that Gone Away Backward went back to his roots as a musician.

In 2014, Fulks joined members of The Mekons, dubbed "mini-Mekons", on a trip to write and record on the island of Jura in Scotland. The resulting record, Jura, was released in November 2015 and consisted of traditional songs and original songs written on the trip. In April 2016, he released Upland Stories, and the album was nominated for a 2017 Grammy Award for best folk album. The opening track, "Alabama at Night", was nominated for best American roots song.

Musical style

As a songwriter, Fulks is difficult to categorize. Nathan Rabin of A.V. Club says he "has a genius for twisting and subverting country tropes," and "there's more to Fulks than tomfoolery and glibly satirical lyrics." Many of his compositions are silly, funny or spoof songs, such as "Godfrey" ("the sickly, unemployed, amateur children's magician") on the compilation children's album The Bottle Let Me Down, while others are serious country songs.

His music is widely described as either alternative country or folk. Fulks's songwriting often includes humor. Peter Applebome of The New York Times describes his work as "one part artful country, one part artful sendup of country, and one part a little of everything else."

Fulks has an encyclopedic knowledge of country and pop music He considers himself adventurous, and is always willing to try new things and experiment. "Why not push the envelope and see what you are capable of doing rather than recycle the same old ideas over and over again," he said. Jim Fusilli of the Wall Street Journal suggested that "a world in which Fulks isn't a household name is somehow upside down."

Fulks often plays at The Hideout, a bar and club in Chicago, and has worked long-term residencies there, performing anything from current popular hits to jazz to obscure country masterpieces. He says he rarely performs his own compositions at these shows, preferring to explore other contemporary music that has caught his attention.

Personal life Fulks has three children, sons Nicolas, Preston, and Tennessee; and two grandsons, Logan and Miles. His wife is actress Donna Jay Fulks. Fulks's oldest son, Nicolas Fulks, and father-in-law, Donald Jerousek, were contestants on season 12 of The Amazing Race and were placed third.

Awards 2016: Grammy nomination, Best Folk Album, for Upland Stories 2015: Jura with the mini-Mekons (Bloodshot) – Record Store Day vinyl-only release on Black Friday; subsequently in general release 2018: Wild! Wild! Wild! with Linda Gail Lewis (Bloodshot) 2019: "Lonely Ain’t Hardly Alive" - Too Late to Pray: Defiant Chicago Roots (Bloodshot)