Critics call Robbie Fulks' brand of smart, genre-bending, Nashville-bashing music "alt-country." Presumably, that makes his libertarian beliefs "alt-politics."

Whatever the precise term, Reason magazine outed the critically acclaimed, contrarian country singer as a libertarian in May 2000, when it called him "an individualist in politics as well as temperament... (and a Reason reader)."

Fulks confirmed that description in a February 24, 2004 posting on his Web site (http://robbiefulks.com) when he wrote: "I am comfortable enough with the libertarian tag." But he added: "I hate musicians that dabble in political issues, or even say much about them, because it transforms them immediately from dashing figures of romance to pious retards."

When it comes to music, no one has ever accused Fulks of being a retard -- and he's not particularly pious, either. Case and point: his song "F**k This Town," which bashes the cookie-cutter country music churned out by Nashville. In what may be the most vicious putdown of the country-music capital ever written, Fulks sings, "Nashville'll do just fine as long as there's a moron market." That song, along with his general disdain for the likes of Garth Brooks and Shania Twain, could explain why the play-it-safe major labels have generally declined to release his albums and why country stations abstain from playing his songs.

But Fulks perseveres. Born in Pennsylvania in 1963, he briefly studied English at Columbia University before joining the Chicago-based bluegrass band the Special Consensus. (The band's 1989 album, A Hole in My Heart, was nominated for a Grammy Award.) After a stint with the band Trailer Trash Revue, he went solo in 1994. In 1996, he released Country Love Songs, which combined smart lyrics with a retro-country sound. The album included Fulks' classics "She Took a Lot of Pills (And Died)" (a euphemism-free account of the death of Marilyn Monroe) and "The Scrapple Song" (a tribute to fried pig parts). He followed it up with 1997's acclaimed South Mouth.

In 1998, Fulks made the jump to a major label when Geffen Records released Let's Kill Saturday Night. The album, which showcased a more roots-rock sound, drew comparisons to John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen. But county music buyers weren't impressed, and the record company dropped him.

Back in the minor-label leagues, more albums followed: The Very Best of Robbie Fulks, a collection of B-sides and rarities (2000), Couples in Trouble (2001), 13 Hillbilly Giants, which featured cover versions of hillbilly and honky-tonk classics (2001), and Georgia Hard (2005). The latter was named one of the "Top 10 Country Albums of 2005" by a County Music Television critic.

In all those albums, Fulks did what he does best: singing "songs about death, drinking, dancing, horses, that kind of thing" (as he told The Daily Iowan). The critics kept praising him, calling him a "master tunesmith," "winsomely funny," and even the "Midwestern Elvis Costello." And fans of Garth Brooks and Shania Twain kept ignoring him.

But Fulks continues to march to the twang of a different pedal-steel guitar. His 2000 song, "That Bangle Girl," proclaims the glory of the Bangles' Susanna Hoffs. (Sample lyric: "I like the Bangle girl / And I'm not joking / I wanna be her friend / and there's no harm in hoping.") In 2004, he planned to release Dear Michael, Love Robbie, an album of Michael Jackson cover songs done in country style. (The plan was scuttled after Jackson ran into some well-publicized legal problems involving the Nickelodeon demographic.) Fulks' 2005 song "Fountains Of Wayne Hotline" paid tribute to the song-writing prowess of that alternative band. (Blender magazine named it one of the top 100 singles of 2005.)

Is Fulks angry that Nashville doesn't appreciate his smart-alecky, impossible-to-pin-down music? No. As he told Reason magazine, "I think it's capitalism working. I don't think there's a lot of interest in hardcore country music, and they're reading the market correctly."

Spoken like a true alt-country libertarian.

Quotable

"I am comfortable enough with the libertarian tag." -- Robbie Fulks on http://robbiefulks.com/ (February 24, 2004)

Books & Tapes

To purchase books and tapes about or by this Libertarian Celebrity, search the world's best selection of books on liberty at Laissez Faire Books. For books or tapes that are not about liberty, search the vast resources at Amazon Books.