The Reader’s Choice: Robbie Fulks
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I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute to say Robbie Fulks is the best country artist in Chicago—what bothers me is that the title seems so inadequate. I could also easily nominate him as the city’s best rock act—his 1998 album Let’s Kill Saturday Night is an overlooked rock masterpiece. It’s been almost four years since Fulks released a studio album, but late last month he started selling a massive downloadable trove of MP3s on his Web site: 50 brand-new songs, most of them originals, collectively called 50-Vc. Doberman and totaling three hours and 20 minutes. I’m still making my way through it, but what I’ve heard so far covers most of the interests he’s cultivated as a student of pop craft: honky-tonk, Motown, power pop, rockabilly, folk rock, murder ballads, stomping 90s Nashville country rock, novelty hokum, even a little ragtime. It’s awe inspiring and a little daunting—and he could probably produce something like it every five or six months if he put his mind to it.
devilinawoodpile.com.
