Song Of The Day 5/15/2015: Robbie Fulks – “Believe”

Quarterly Covers Report: I said this was coming Saturday, didn't I? I have to move it up a day, because I wasn't nearly prepared enough to talk about the song that was originally to go up here today. I'll do that one tomorrow. Welcome to the capricious, edge-of-your-seat Thunderdome of music blogging. Besides, I could write reams about Robbie Fulks without too much effort. He's one of insurgent country's best-ever artists. You know, that sounds -- "insurgent country" sounds -- like a sort of backhanded compliment. I mean, in the best of worlds, all country's insurgent. Hank and Johnny and Waylon and Loretta and Porter weren't exactly wallflowers, were they? They weren't simpering snivelers content to lose their drawls in the environs of a flawless mix or an over-modulated AutoTune. (I'm speaking directly at you, Rascal Flatts -- seriously, the AutoTune's not even subtle on your joints. It's like Tron up in there.) "Insurgent" just sounds like "unbalanced" in this context. Or maybe it just sounds too much like "detergent" for my tastes.

Sorry, I've been writing all night. I'm kind of punchy. Anyway. ANYWAY. Fulks' version of Cher's "Believe," her big EDM revival song from the late '90s, is one of my favorite covers ever. This might have been on the first wave of ironic covers of diva songs by the testosterone sector, but it absolutely works, front to back. And speaking of AutoTune, check out how Robbie handles the electronic voice manipulations from the original hit. It's a brilliant, larynx-imperiling act. I would say "don't try that at home," but for the fact that I did. Once.