Bloodshot Records is a Chicago-based record label that has served as home to great independent artists since 1994. Twenty years and 200+ releases after scribbling a business plan on a napkin from a punk dive in Chicago, they are planning to “celebrate in typical and expected (see: unpredictable and manic) fashion” throughout this year. The Bloodshot Records 20th Anniversary Blowout is tonight, Jan. 24 at City Winery Nashville. The celebration will include performances by Robbie Fulks, Bobby Bare Jr. and Cory Branan. Tickets are on sale for just $15.
In November, Bloodshot released While No One Was Looking: Toasting 20 Years of Bloodshot Records (triple LP/double CD) covering songs from their 20 year history. Keep reading to hear more about the Bloodshot artists performing at Saturday’s show.
ROBBIE FULKS
Robbie Fulks is an American alternative country singer-songwriter and long-time Chicago musician, who has released 12 albums over a 25 year career. Fulks worked as a songwriter for music publisher API and would commute to Nashville one or two weeks out of every month until the contract expired. His solo debut, Country Love Songs, was released on Bloodshot Records in 1996. His third album, 1998’s Let’s Kill Saturday Night, was recorded during the spring of 1998 in Nashville. His most recent album, Gone Away Backward, was released on Bloodshot in 2013. Check out Robbie Fulks & Jon Langford cover of Barbara Mandrell’s “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.”
BOBBY BARE JR.
Bobby Bare, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the son of iconic Country Music Hall of Famer Bobby Bare and grew up next door to Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Many of Bare’s songs incorporate a lot of humor and references to popular culture. His writing has been characterized as “inventive and melodic” and Shel Silverstein was a huge influence in his approach to songwriting. No Depression said about Bare “Without necessarily trying, he’s figured out how to match the energy of punk rock with the lyrical sophistication of classic country.” Check out “North of Alabama By Mornin'” from Bobby Bare Jr.’s Young Criminals’ Starvation League from his latest record, Undefeated, released last spring on Bloodshot.
CORY BRANAN
We have seen and written about local favorite Cory Branan a lot lately. Check out this video of the title song “The No-Hit Wonder” Live at Little Elephant from his most recent album (on Bloodshot Records, of course).
Robbie Fulks, Bobby Bare Jr. and Cory Branan will perform on tonight, Jan. 24 at City Winery. The show is all ages, begins at at 8 p.m. (doors at 6 p.m.), and tickets are available for $15 here.
