Roots Icon Robbie Fulks Releases 'Bluegrass Vacation' via Compass Records
ALT-COUNTRY PIONEER
ROBBIE FULKS
RELEASES NEW ALBUM
BLUEGRASS VACATION
VIA COMPASS RECORDS
PROJECT ARRIVES ON A WAVE OF PRAISE
TICKETS ON SALE FOR FULKS’S SPRING TOUR
Above: ‘Bluegrass Vacation’ Album Artwork
“Bluegrass Vacation is a vibrant celebration.”
– Jon Young, No Depression, April 5, 2023
NASHVILLE, TN (April 7, 2023) — Today, founding father of the alt-country scene and roots music icon, Robbie Fulks releases his new 12-track album, Bluegrass Vacation, via Compass Records. Arriving on a wave of praise from the likes of Bluegrass Today, Holler and No Depression, Fulks’s clever, insightful and irreverent musicianship is ever present on this record.
Stream / Purchase Bluegrass Vacation here.
While bluegrass music has always been a part of Fulks’s musical vision, Bluegrass Vacation marks his first full-length bluegrass endeavor. The album combines Fulk’s brilliance with some of bluegrass’ greatest names including Sam Bush, Sierra Hull, Ronnie McCoury, Tim O’Brien, Alison Brown, John Cowan, and Jerry Douglas resulting in one of the most remarkable bluegrass albums of the century. Bluegrass Vacation proves that this is much more than a musical detour for Fulks.
EARLY PRAISE OF BLUEGRASS VACATION:
“Ultimately, Bluegrass Vacation is more than a mere respite. It’s a reboot of sorts, one that brings Fulks back to his beginnings and seminal status. A sweet sojourn, one suspects he may be about to prolong his stay.”
– Lee Zimmerman, Bluegrass Today, April 3, 2023
“In a very real sense, Robbie Fulks’ exceptional new album Bluegrass Vacation finds one of Americana’s most prolific and profound singer/songwriters coming full circle.”
– Lee Zimmerman, Holler, April 3, 2023
“Is Bluegrass Vacation a dalliance, or a true reinvention? Robbie Fulks is so good at whatever he tries that you don’t want him to stand still long. But he sounds so contented here that it’s hard to begrudge his happiness.”
– Jon Young, No Depression, April 5, 2023
Fulks gained immediate recognition from Bluegrass Today and No Depression for the upbeat lead single “One Glass Of Whiskey.” Driven by Wes Corbett’s banjo, powered by Ronnie McCoury’s mandolin, along with Chris Eldridge’s guitar — the track is worthy of becoming a standard in the bluegrass genre. Written shortly after his move to Los Angeles in 2019, the song is a “contradiction of the stereotypical view of LA,” says Fulks, ditching the common pre-conceived notion of palm trees, beaches, and traffic for Fulks’s more serene reality of porch side mornings, mountain vistas, and running horses.
Robbie Fulks offers a witty and autobiographical take on the bluegrass festival scene of the mid 1970s with the second single from the record, “Longhair Bluegrass,” its release being spotlighted by Grateful Web. Reminiscing about the newgrass festivals of his youth, Fulks writes: “While Mom and Daddy were gettin’ fried, I was sittin’ there with my eyeballs wide,” describing the music as a “Hypno-ray, stealin’ my mind away.” Original Newgrass Revival members Sam Bush (mandolin/harmony vocals) and John Cowan (vocals) join Fulks on the track as well as banjoist Alison Brown who channels John Hartford for good measure.
In the end, Fulks plants his flag firmly in the bluegrass tradition, a genre that built the stepping stones Fulks walks on today. He muses, “Electric guitars might give way to computers, as seems to be happening now, but the mountains will still be right there.” It’s abundantly clear that Bluegrass Vacation is more than just a musical dalliance for Fulks. He owns the music as much as it owns him and the listener is left hoping that this bluegrass vacation will end up becoming a staycation.
Bluegrass Vacation Tracklisting:
“One Glass Of Whiskey”
“Molly And The Old Man”
“Lonely Ain’t Hardly Alive”
“Angels Carry Me”
“Longhair Bluegrass”
“Backwater Blues”
“Sweet Li’l Cora-Mae”
“Silverlake Reel”
“Momma’s Eyes”
“Nashville Blues”
“Let The Old Dog In”
“Old Time Music Is Here To Stay”
Above: Robbie Fulks; Credit: Scott Simontacchi
Robbie Fulks’s adventurous spirit has defined a critically acclaimed 30-year career that has included 15 solo albums and two GRAMMY® nominations. He came to national attention as a defining artist of the alt-country scene in the 1990s, with releases on the Chicago-based indie Bloodshot Records, North Carolina’s Yep Roc, and Los Angeles’s Geffen Records. While Fulks’s aversion to genre constraints and conventions has sometimes made him hard to pigeonhole, American country music, in the widest sense, is his home base — whether the country of Doc Watson, Bill Monroe, Merle Haggard, Bobby Charles, or Mississippi John Hurt. For the last ten years, he has focused on his writing and performing with homespun tales and acoustic instruments.
Tickets on sale now for his spring tour in the following cities: