Alabama at Night

Robbie Fulks

Blood Shot Records, 2016

There’s twelve songs here, but it could just easily be 12 short stories about people living in troubled, uneasy country towns. There’s a lyrical effortlessness to Fulks songwriting whether he’s playfully telling us about “Aunt Peg’s New Old Man,” or the world weary “Never Come Home.”

This is Americana at it’s finest. Honest and unblinkly austere, Fulks portrays the America he sees, where homecomings are bittersweet, departures hopeful, and love is uneasy, “Hey now Katy Kay/Heaven never made one cuter/If I didn’t love my Katy Kay/I’d probably have to shoot her.”

“America is a Hard Religion,” is as brutally frank description of a hardscrabble existence as there ever was. “A Miracle” is upbeat and hopeful.

There’s not a lot of overly romantic descriptions of idyllic Southern life to be found here. But everyone’s doing the best they can to get by, with varying degrees of success. “Sweet as Sweet Comes” slips in here, cheerful, light and a little unexpected.

Robbie Fulks serves up astute and perceptive storytellling about people overlooked by pretty much everyone. Giving voice to deep, resonant, feelings, and how hard it can sometimes be to move forward.

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