For my money Robbie Fulks is the most talented man making the kind of music generally called alt-country. In the past his lyrics could be clever, sarcastic, laugh out loud funny, and obnoxious, but they can also be wise, observant, and touching. His music can run the gamut from old time country and folk balladry to honkytonk and western swing to melodic pop.

And like the wiseass that he is, his new record, The Very Best of Robbie Fulks, is not a greatest hits collection. It is a collection of previously unreleased or hard-to-find material, or, in his words, the best of what he could get the licensing on. But in his case, a collection of obscurities from Robbie Fulks is as good a record as has been released in the first 2 months of the new millennium.

Unlike his last record, his major label debut on Geffen, "Let's Kill Saturday Night", this record is not an exercise in country/pop schizophrenia. Now back on insurgent country label Bloodshot, this record reverts to his great first two records on this label, throwback country music with unabashedly cynical lyrics.

The opener, "Jean Arthur", picks a subject uncommon to current music, one of my favorite Hollywood actresses from the 30s and 40s. I can't dislike a song with the words "Who'd ever outsmart her, didn't know Jean Arthur". And I bet you could even two-step to it. It's followed by a melody that sounds a bit like George Jones' "The Race Is On", but the title is "Sleepin' On The Job Of Love". And ass-kicking guitar and piano throughout.

The next song "Roots Rock Weirdos" is the best social commentary of the retro music scene I've ever heard, and a pisser. It's got a melody that was stolen from the Stray Cats who probably stole it from Gene Vincent. It's a story of a cover band playing on a slow night at a club that is invaded by a gang of crazed retro music fans.

They looked the band gear over
And they noted with delight
The guitar amp was a Bassman
And the bassman played upright
They looked round at each other
And they cried "We are the best!"
For we like unpopular music
And just look at the way we're dressed

And it just gets better from there. Play it for all your friends that can't deal with music that sounds like it was recorded after 1967.

Fulks has flawless taste in sidemen and women. Many of his songs are backed up by members of the great Midwest roots rockers, The Skeletons. There's also great guitar work by Robbie Gjersoe, who has often backed up Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Plus the cream of the crop of Austin session folks.

There's a great duet with alt-country queen, Kelly Wills, called "Parallel Bars" about a small town couple that fight and go drinking in bars across the street from each other. And there's a hysterical slow fade with insults flying.

His anti-love song, with old-timey call-and-response vocals, is "Love Ain't Nothin'". You get the idea within the first seven seconds of the song with the following lines:

They say love is for the stupid and the poor
Well I'm here to tell you
That's for doggone sure

Then he tells you a funny/sad case study to prove the point.

And when you think this guy doesn't ever take his tongue out of his cheek, he comes up with the heartbreaking "I Just Want To Meet The Man". It will touch the heart of any jilted ex-lover.

I just want to see his face
So that I can see who's in my place
I just want to know the stranger who
Has put his poison inside of you
I just want to look into the eyes
My own baby knows to recognize
The one that tore down every thing I planned
I just want to meet the man

It's a classic country weeper and he sings the hell out of it.

There are also pop moments with "That Bangle Girl", bluegrass with "Hamilton County Breakdown", garage rock with "Wedding of the Bugs", the appallingly un-PC "White Man's Bourbon", and a hidden track that's a sincere cover of John Denver's "I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane".

Hopefully you'll check this guy out, and realize that his leftovers are better than the very best of almost anybody else. And then you'll be looking forward to his next release as much as I will.