March 2010--Just Julia and the Boys

Just Julia and the Boys is the expansion of Julia Sull’s solo work under the name “Just Julia,” which has taken place over the last three years here, there, and everywhere between. After driving back and forth between Massachusetts, Vermont, Nashville, Virginia, and her home of Hillsborough, NC, these songs recorded for Vinyl Presents developed from musings in the car, in place of a radio to help the miles go by.


Julia Sull (ukulele/keyboard/lead vocals) has been recording on her own since her high school all-girl keyboard-dance band “Natasha” reunited in 2006, and these tracks are the first to show her work since then. She is accompanied here by Sid Martin (guitar/bass/backing vocals) and Morgan Friedman (drums/bass), filling out and providing a new arrangement to her otherwise solo compositions.

Though “I Won’t Tell” is a cover, originally recorded by Tracy Dey (which can be found on the Rhino Box set “One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found), “Virginia,” “Sugar Hollow,” and “Crime Report” are all original works. Heavily influenced by girl bands of the 1950s, The Everly Brothers, Elvis, Phil Spector, Jonie Mitchell, and Harry Nillson, Julia Sull’s songwriting is both welcoming and captivating. The textures and chords of these songs provide a certain emotional familiarity to the listener, but her voice and the timbre of the instruments create an honest, accessible sound.


A distinct sense of place stands out in her music, written on the road, an opportunity to reflect on times passed and on what may lie down the road. The power of Julia Sull’s lyrics is their ability to illuminate a universal emotion or experience with the use of detailed description--though you may not have ever been to the same sugar hollow as Julia, her song transports you there, taking off your shoes and socks by the water, sipping coke in the summer sun underneath the skies of blue.

And it’s here that something beautiful surfaces, her influences combining with her own personal experiences, linking in some ways to more innocent time, a young life, while presenting a wide arrange of emotions as in “Crime Report.” Just Julia and the Boys emit a happy energy often kicked to the curb by contemporary bands who become distracted by attempting to prove just how indie they are, dripping with apathy and cynicism towards the world.

In contrast, Julia and the Boys is a breath of fresh air, wrapping you in the layers and textures of each song, offering an invitation that is impossible to decline. Yet as approachable as the music is, its complexities and full-bodied development commands your attention…and we hope you enjoy singing along as much as we do!

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