Country Love Songs

Digital

ROBBIE FULKS'S DEBUT ALBUM NOW ON VINYL LP FOR THE FIRST TIME!

180-gram heavyweight black vinyl with liner notes, drawings, and digital download code. Re-mastered for vinyl from the original tapes by Carl Saff, Chicago IL

The surprise hit of 1996, and at the time served notice that a) Country Music did NOT have to suck b) that he was a top-notch songwriter and performer and c) things in the underground country scene were never going to be the same.

Classic debut album on LP for the FIRST TIME. Highlights include drop-dead, now classic cool honky tonk gems like "Every Kinda Music But Country," "The Buck Starts Here," and the sing-a-long fave "She Took A Lot Of Pills (And Died)."

Full Description

Robbie's debut album – now on vinyl for the first time – was the surprise hit of 1996, and at the time served notice that a) Country Music did NOT have to suck b) that he was a top-notch songwriter and performer and c) things in the underground country scene were never going to be the same.

Truly the bar had been raised.

A veteran of Bloodshot’s first two compilations, For A Life of Sin and Hell-Bent, he pitched us thusly:

"13 original country songs with an early 50's production aesthetic (hot vocals, robust bass, live instrumental tracks) and arrangement, reviving certain types of songs long abandoned by mainstream country music. Likewise in retro spirit, these songs will frequently violate current country songwriting trends which hold as taboo themes of negativism, forceful expression, and points of view uncongenial to the prevailing ideology of fatuous feelgoodism; they will instead reflect a modern sensibility in their emotional graphicness, vigorous iconoclasm, and sense of humor. In composition and presentation the music will honestly reflect the heart and personality of its author/singer, and in its fundamental sincerity will stand resolutely against the poisonous tides of camp."

We’d have to be idiots to turn that down. The ensuing years have seen this album hailed as a cornerstone of the genre.

Co-produced by Steve Albini, and features appearances by the Skeletons, and Tom Brumley (of the Buckaroos!), and drop-dead, now-classic honky tonk gems like "Every Kinda Music But Country," "The Buck Starts Here," and the sing-a-long fave "She Took A Lot Of Pills (And Died)." Foodies will love "The Scrapple Song," duet fetishists will adore "We'll Burn Together" and sinners will love "Let's Live Together."

CHOICE CUTS:

Every damn one of 'em. Seriously.

Short Description

The mid 1990s will always be the golden years of alt country...But in the middle of all that, one album emerged that made it okay to listen to pure, unadulterated country music.

— Farce the Music
The truth is a lot of what Fulks does with his music transcends any labels that are out there in country music, or any other music for that matter.

— Not for Hire
There's so much great music here, it's hard to rein in the superlatives.Believe the hype, Country Love Songs is an album you'll go back to time and again in the years to come.

— Music People (UK)
Giving old-time music a modern lyrical spin, Fulks takes familiar country topics then gives them an unsentimental spin that vacillates between brutal honesty and hilarious ribaldry.

— Pulse
A dazzling debut -- one of the best country albums of 1990s.

— Slipcue
With wit, chops, and attitude to spare, it's one of the most forward-looking evocations of the early '60s Bakersfield sound you're likely to hear... Indeed, anybody who makes a fiddle-and-steel record with punk ideologue Steve Albini must have at least one eye on the future.

— Nashville Scene