Robbie Fulks: If there is anything more surprising than the dynamic sounds Robbie Fulks can squeeze from his junky-looking acoustic guitar, it’s the darkness, wit, irony and originality he squeezes into deceptively traditional country melodies. The lanky, boyish Chicagoan put those talents on full display Friday night during a record-release concert for his new album, “South Mouth,” at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn. Backed by a sturdy three-man band (including spot-on banjo/guitar player Tuey Connell), Fulks bounced through most of the new album, including the powerful multiple-murder ballad “Cold Statesville Ground,” the cheery relationship-fixer song “I Told Her Lies,” the randy rockabilly “Push Right Over” and the George Jones-worthy heartbreaker “Forgotten But Not Gone.” That last song, featuring Fulks’ slicing and nuanced trilling tenor, deserved to be heard by a silent crowd, but instead had to compete with a chatty one. Closing out his pre-encore set with his bracing and hilarious punk-meets-rockabilly anthem to Nashville, “(Expletive) This Town,” Fulks proved that leaving Music City is probably one of the healthiest things he has ever done.
Robbie Fulks: If there is anything more…
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