ROBBIE FULKS
Gone Away Backward
Bloodshot 211

www.bloodshotrecords.com
 

Years ago, a promoter fondly described Fulks as a big Dennis the Menace of country music – something country music often deserves. At 50, he’s mellowed a bit since the days of “She Took a Lot of Pills and Died” and his unabashedly politically incorrect lampoon of artistic self-righteousness, “Countrier than Thou.” Fortunately, he hasn’t mellowed too much.

Sparely produced Gone Away Backward is indeed backward in the good sense, with its primordial Appalachian tones, especially on the two instrumentals. His guitar work is impressive. As for romanticism, “Imogene” seems like the grandchild of Mississippi John Hurt’s “My Creole Belle” and Fulks’s own sweetly lascivious “Dirty-Mouthed Flo” on his 1997 South Mouth.

As a songsmith, he wears various hats. “Sometimes the Grass Is Really Greener” tells of choosing bluegrass over a mainstream country career, but a few other tracks aim straight for the nostalgic heart of Nashville music. It’s easy to imagine a hat act covering appropriately slow paced “That’s Where I’m From.” Better still, one can imagine the original Carter Family singing the CD’s finale, “Rose of the Summer.”

— Bruce Sylvester