How blueswoman Julie Rhodes found her voice
Working a low-paying job in Boston is enough to give anyone the blues. But it was one thing that shaped Julie Rhodes into a world-class blueswoman.
“When I wrote my first record, which was almost 10 years ago now, I was living in Boston and trying to pay the rent,” she said this week, discussing one of her signature tunes. “And that’s where my life was —You’re working to live, but if you’re always working, are you really living? The song I have called ‘See the Sun’ was one that I shied away from playing for a long time, because it’s the first one that was related to my own story — I wrote it while dealing with depression and not having a support system. So that song was kind of a message to myself, to help pull through the difficult things in life.”
Though Rhodes tends to play bigger shows nowadays, including a recent show at the Sinclair, she’ll be at the Lizard Lounge Feb. 16, joining her friends Sinnet and Jon Nolan.
Rhodes found her voice quite by chance, after seeing a friend play a house concert. The night was so inspiring that she started writing songs soon afterward. “I’d been singing my whole life, but I’m also a pretty shy person. Before I got that encouragement of my friends in the local music community, I didn’t realize the strength and power of my voice. I needed that external push to help me believe in myself.” That same friend, Jersey singer/songwriter Jonah Tolchin, ended up producing her 2016 debut album “Bound to Meet the Devil,” which drew national attention.
Part of the album was done at Alabama’s legendary Muscle Shoals studio, where Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin did a few stacks of classics. “You could feel the ghosts in that room, that’s a good way to put it. I felt like I had stepped into a time machine and you could feel all those sounds swirling around the room, even though it was silent. And they had covered the walls with those artists who had recorded there, so it was a pretty magical experience.”
Though she often gets compared to some of those artists, notably Franklin and Etta James, her style is more individual, and her band the Electric
Co. can get close to fullthrottle rock. “Many of my songs started in more of a folky way, but it grew into a more rocking sound and now I can’t imagine it any other way. Playing with a loud rocking band is one thing that helped me find my voice, because you have to be big and loud and powerful to compete with that.”
A studio follow-up album is now underway, but first she has a couple of projects that she plans to get out, including a set of the cover tunes she’s done onstage. These have included classics from Etta James, Ann Peebles, Koko Taylor and other greats. “I can find connection in other peoples’ songs, and being able to sing them has helped with my own self expression. Every time I hear one of those songs I can feel it inside, and it gives me the urge to channel those emotions and participate.”