13 Hillbilly Giants
Where his original material has assumed a more ambitiously eclectic progression, Robbie Fulks celebrates the twisted heart of hillbilly country with this revival of backwoods novelty numbers and hardcore obscurities. Highlights range from a romp through the derangement of Jimmie Logsdon's "I Want to Be Mama'd" to chilling renditions ofDolly Parton's "Jeannie's Afraid of the Dark" (originally recorded withPorter Wagoner) andHylo Brown's "Bury the Bottle with Me." Fulks not only proves a gifted vocal mimic--his conversational phrasing onBill Anderson's "Cocktails" is dead-on and he channels the essence of Texas honky-tonk on Frankie Miller's "Family Man"--but shows how such disparate strains have shaped the soul of his own music.--Don McLeese