Music
Press
"Fabulous music, wonderful CD...."
- Sherry Boyd of WPAQ during interview March 21, 2004 on the Mountain Mid Day show. Sherry Boyd was nominated for IBMA broadcaster of the year 2003.
- WPAQ - Sherry Boyd
RANDY FULK
EMPTY SPACES
Most modern American folk singers learned their licks off of records. No so Randy Fulk, a North Carolina born and bred singer/songwriter and farmer. Fulk taught himself guitar by playing along on the traditional ballads and old time country music his relatives loved. He flirted briefly with rock’n’roll in high school, but set music aside to work on the family’s tobacco farm, which he converted to a vineyard in the late ‘90s.
Fulk’s been writing songs for most of his life, but didn’t start recording them until 1992, when he produced his first indie album “Misplaced Passion.” A few years ago, Fulk’s young second cousins - Matt Meyers, 21 (bass, electric guitar) and Eli Meyers, 16 (percussion, keyboards) – started playing together and the result is the finely crafted “Empty Spaces,” a solid collection of song that celebrate rural life and its simple delights.
Fulk is a first rate picker, but he doesn’t try to dazzle you with his technique; his guitar is used to support his sharp lyrical insights and his mellow appealing tenor, an instrument that delivers his songs in a sincere, unaffected tone. Most of the songs here deal with the way humans interact with the natural world, not unexpected from a man whose made his living off of the land, but even the harsh realities of drought and mortality don’t diminish Fulk’s belief in the goodness of life. Fulk’s knows there will always be a sunrise, even on the darkest of nights. “Knock at the Door” looks back on a life that’s been well lived, despite the hard knocks and hardships, reminding us to count our blessings, even on the days when things aren’t going so well. “Big Train” is in the tradition of great railroad disaster songs, and finds hope even in the face of certain disaster, while you could call “Unconditional Love” a secular Gospel tune, full of hope even in the face of homelessness and other human folly.
Few musicians these days, except maybe punk rockers, would attempt a 50 second song, and those that did would probably base it on a throwaway melody, but “Gravity” is an exception to the rule. A short, beautiful melody with another wonderful punch line: “Gravity’s the reason you can fly.”
j. poet writes for Paste, Harp, Drum and Grammy.com
- j. poet writes for Paste, Harp, Drum and Grammy.com
Contact: Randy Fulk
Band: Randy Fulk and Concrete Frogs
Song: Sunshine Girl
Critique:
A fine country tune with a lilting melody and interesting lyrics that tell an engaging story. Good singing, great playing, excellent ensemble work, good musical mix in the recording. This would be a welcome addition to many country radio programs.
- Windrift Music
Your award is well deserved. The panel sensed not only your strong
talent but a significant committment to your career. We will certainly keep you in mind as performance and speaking opportunities arise.
We're very proud of Randy's work and wish him the best of luck.
Best,
Stephanie Nelson
Director of Marketing and Grants
The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County
305 West Fourth Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
P: 336.722.2585, Ext. 109
F: 336.761.8286
E: snelson@IntoTheArts.org
W: www.IntoTheArts.org
- NC Arts Council Director
I have seen and heard many songwriters perform in the 23+ year history of Fiddle & Bow and Randy ranks up there with some of the best... As a songwriter, Randy is a "cut above" the average
- Sonny Thomas Co-Founder The Fiddle & Bow Folk Music Society
- Sonny Thomas
Randy Fulk's performance Saturday, September 20th at the Yadkin Valley Harvest Festival was indeed a memorable experience for all those fortunate enough to be there. Randy's vocal talents are not to be missed! - John Wellingham
Discography
Misplaced Passion(1992)
Empty Spaces(2004)
Authentic Voices-Kari Estrin Management-Last Song(2004)
Oasis Compilation-Sunshine Girl(2004)
Refugee (Empty Spaces 2004) featured on
The RADIO LIBERATION FRONT, a 3 or 4-hour radical, dissident and working class music program, produced by Luminist Productions (www.luminist.org/radio), heard
on Syracuse Community Radio (www.wxxe.org), with a local low-power FM broadcast, and a 24/7 webcast linked from
Big Trian (Empty Spaces 2004)
AFTER MIDNIGHT is an eight-hour roots and acoustic
music marathon on Syracuse Community Radio, with a local low-power FM broadcast and a worldwide webcast linked from
Fox's Minstrel Show, WRFG, Atlanta, GA
WSLU 89.5 FM, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY
WYEP 91.3 FM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
WDBX Carbondale, IL
KUKL, Kalispell; KUFM,Missoula; KUFN, Hamilton; KAPC, Butte; KUHM, Helena; KGPR, Great Falls,with translators in Dillon, Seeley Lake, Whitefish, and White Sulphur Springs.
Big Train/ Empty Spaces on Live365.com on Acoustic Routes Las Vegas
The Rains Will Come/ Empty Spaces- Baton Rouge Hootenanny Power ,
Sunshine Girl/ Empty Spaces- Hootenanny Power Baton Rouge
Last Song/Authentic Voices - Hootenanny Power Baton Rouge Saturday,Playlist
Last Song/ Authentic Voices PLAYLIST: WNUR The Folk Show
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Randy Fulk is a vinedresser renaissance farmer and Americana singer-songwriter.
Highlight Gigs
* Great Grapes and Wine Festival-Charlotte 2004
* Fiddle and Bow Folk Society Folk fest IV
* Yadkin Valley Harvest and Wine Festival '03 & '04
* Carrboro Music Festival
* The Living Room Round
* Ken Linker Show- Charlotte TV
* Wolf Lair Restaurant -Dobson, NC
* The Garage Winston-Salem, NC
* The Cave Chapel Hill, NC
* Villa Appalaccia Winery Music Series '03 & '04
* Opened for the Charlotte Symphony at Freedom Park, 2000
Also
* "Last Song" featured on Kari Estrin Management compilation CD "Authentic Voice" 2004
After the last crop of tobacco in 1999, Randy converted his family's third generation tobacco farm into a Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay vineyard. A musician at heart, Randy nonetheless is degreed in the management of vineyards, he consults with local growers and teaches part-time at a local community college.
From the age of eight, Randy worked with his family on the tobacco farm. However, during harvest celebrations and Saturday nights he played guitar and accompanied his Aunt Bessie on banjo and Uncle Joe on fiddle playing old-time ballads. Like most teenage boys in the 70's Randy formed a rock band that played Rolling Stone covers, but it was his high school English teacher who first recognized Randy's poetic talent and encouraged him to write. Randy wrote lyrics non-stop on any slip of paper he could find, using his work time on the farm observing nature as fodder for his songs.
After Randy planted his first vineyard, a traditional "Blessing of the Vines" was held to celebrate this new venture. Songs were shared, wine flowed, young and old played music and jammed together. But the best surprise of all were Randy's second cousins, Matt, 21 and Eli, 16 years old, who had grown up listening to Randy's first solo album, were now jamming together with him on electric bass and drums. Randy liked what he heard and soon he was teaching his cousins the next batch of songs he had written. Another renaissance occurred- Randy rediscovered his muse and recorded Empty Spaces.
The juxtaposition between the old music with the modern sound, along with the transformation of the grapes from the old farm into new wine, blended together to create a new world of possibilities for Randy. The unlikely combination of these generations produced a pure, cohesive sound.
Empty Spaces is produced by the Grammy-nominated Mark Williams, and features 13 new songs. Delivered in a simple, unaffected manner the album shines a ray of light into the darkest of human nights- an eternal belief in the second chance of tomorrow's rising sun.
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