Biography

"Fulks is a gifted guitarist, a soulful singer with an expressive honky-tonk tenor, and a natural performer. But what really sets him apart is his songwriting, which is one part artful country, one part artful sendup of country, and one part a little of everything else... It's sort of country meets David Lynch." --New York Times

"Robbie Fulks knows better than most that country music needs a touch of Viet Cong attitude: Sometimes you've got to burn the village in order to save it." --Playboy

"The great Robbie Fulks: a Chicago-area country/alt-country genius. Why are you still listening to me? You should be going to iTunes right now...buy it, buy everything." --Tina Fey

"There may be flashier songwriters than Robbie Fulks, but there are none better than him. His new album, Gone Away Backward, is a sneaky triumph. Hobos and miscreants rub shoulders with nostalgic old-timers and lonely lovers. The musicianship on the album kicks ****, but the real star is the brilliant pile of songs Robbie has amassed for his return to the great Bloodshot Records." --Rhett Miller, Old 97's

Like a misfit boomerang circling back around, we are thrilled to announce that Chicago-based artist Robbie Fulks has returned to the Bloodshot roster fold. Robbie will release a new full-length entitled Gone Away Backward on August 27. The 12-song album – and his first on the label since 2001 – was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in Chicago, and will be available on CD/LP/digital.

We asked Robbie for his thoughts on the new album and on coming back to the Bloodshot stable, and here’s what he had to say:

"As opposed to this idea that I'm "coming back to Bloodshot" (the verb "crawling" has also been muttered behind sleeves) I don't feel like I ever left. For sure I never slammed the door behind me in proud, valedictory defiance. Well, not since 1997 anyhow. Since then, I've co-released 2 records with them (Very Best of [me] in 1999 and 13 Hillbilly Giants in 2001), doing separate runs on my imprint and theirs. I used their retail distribution network and other resources on Couples in Trouble in 2001. I contributed to compilations they put out in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006, and played for their 15th anniversary in 2011. Also in '11 they helped me market my little tribute to Michael Jackson.

Most people would pick "Put out a Michael Jackson tribute record" as the best definitive answer to the question, "How do I make Bloodshot Records go away?" However, Bloodshot Records won't go away. I see them at shows and seminars and parties and, in the case of Rob, wherever liquor is sold. When I go down to the Bloodshot office to buy records from my catalogue, there they are. Bloodshot. One reason I see Nan and Rob with some frequency is that we live in the same general area. Chicago is a big place, but the country music community is quite small. When you exclude style-hopping working stiffs who occasionally slap on Stetsons, and the usual corporately polished radio-imitation nonsense, there's maybe 10 of us. No, there's 9 -- Kelly [Hogan] went to Wisconsin. So fate has really thrown us into the same cramped cauldron. Not a bad place to be at all. At this point, I think we’re kind of impressed, with each other and ourselves, that we’re still in the game; the smart money 20 years ago was on our being wards of the state by now."