When country music was first recorded, around the dawn of the previous century, it was rude, funny and soulful. It was political, too, but not in the chest-thumping, far-right, car-commercial-scoring style of the 2000s. Robbie Fulks' Georgia Hard takes us back to those forgotten values, and reintroduces us to the literacy and warped humor of songwriters like Shel Silverstein, Bob McDill and Roger Miller who could say things like "My uncle used to love me, but she died," and mean it.

While most current country music is calculated to form an inoffensive backdrop to the suburban shopping experience, Robbie Fulks writes songs that make you think and feel and quite often laugh out loud. Now, after several years out of the spotlight, he's back with a new album of new songs for a new label. Titled Georgia Hard, it's aimed at country fans who wondered where their music went.