A Conversation with Richard Julian (continued)

PM: So the new record, Slow New York, would you say that that was cut in a similar fashion with Brad, in that intimate way, or was that--

RJ: No. This was a totally different project. As a matter of fact, Brad tried a few times to beg out of doing this project with me.

PM: Why?

RJ: Well, I wanted to work in New York, I wanted to work with these guys up here. I didn't want to go to Nashville and work with his guys. I love the people we work with in Nashville, and we'll record with them again. But I've been getting turned on to too much of the New York scene, and it would have felt, actually, dishonest, for me to not follow that course of my creativity.

And I wanted to do a record with a lot of different musicians, which is--I ended up trouble for the record company on the accounting end. And I didn't have a deal. And I was basically asking them to come up and do me another in New York. I was going to book some time at the Magic Shop. And Brad resisted at first. He kind of thought I should record with Lee Alexander and Norah Jones, because I'd done a few tracks with them. And they were very simple. They didn't have the sense of humor inside the arrangements that me and Brad had had on our previous recordings.

PM: How could they?

RJ: And I wanted to strip away some of that stuff, because I wanted the tunes to have the sense of humor, not the arrangements, and wanted to go for something a little straighter, and a little more just like just listening to the harmony and the melody and just supporting it with the proper sonic instruction. And I think it didn't sound like a very creative project to Brad. He was very resistant. And he even offered to turn me onto another producer. But I basically forced him to do it. [laughs]

PM: Yeah, absolutely.

RJ: I just kept calling him and saying, "Dude, you're getting to work with some cool people here, and it's going to be different, and it's going to be great." He ended up coming in and making it better than it possibly could have been. I mean, some of the arrangements on the record--like "Photograph," for instance, is completely his orchestration, you know, him literally telling folks, to the note, what to play.

PM: Really?

RJ: Oh, yeah, even the drummer.

PM: Oh, my God!

RJ: And then other things we did in my style, where I really let people just kind of jam on it, and we kind of whittled it down and worked it out in the mix and all this kind of stuff.

PM: Right.

RJ: And it was a different project. We cut it in about five days.

PM: It's a fantastic record. I'm so into it.

RJ: Well, thank you.

PM: Yeah, I mean, it just keeps getting better. The songs keep getting better, and the records keep getting better.

RJ: Well, thanks, man.

PM: I mean, I find myself in the peculiar position that I realized this morning when I was listening to this record--well, that's weird, this guy who I consider my friend is also my favorite songwriter at the moment…

RJ: Oh, yeah. Well, that's amazing for you to say, because I know you're a huge fan of the--as they would say in Spinal Tap, "Of the rock 'n' roll jawn-RAH." Well, that's nice of you to say. I'm going to bask in the sun of your admiration until the rain begins to fall.

[laughter]

PM: So who is on this new record? I'm sorry, I don't know the credits, because I really got used to the record on iTunes, and then hearing early stuff from Brad and stuff. Who is on that record?

RJ: Who is on Slow New York? Wow, the question is who isn't. Drummers: Kenny Wolleson, Dick Borger and Dan Rieser. Bass players: Tim Luntzel, Brad Jones, Mike Visceglia, and Lee Alexander.

PM: Jeez.

RJ: Singers: Norah Jones, Daru Oda--wow, does anybody else sing--Jenifer Jackson.

PM: Oh, wow.

RJ: Guitars: Tony Sherer, David Tronzo--

PM: Dave Tronzo?

RJ: Dave Tronzo is on "Seven Shades of Blue." That was a whole--

PM: How did Dave Tronzo end up on the record?

RJ: I sent it up to him. He recorded it himself in New Hampshire and sent it back. He never played the solo, though, because his computer equipment broke down, and we were in the middle of mixes at that point.

PM: Wow.

RJ: So what I end up with having from him was some beautiful textures. And then where he was supposed to play a slide solo, we ended up filling in with strings in Nashville with Chris Carmichael and David Henry, who were also on "Photograph."

PM: Awesome dudes.

RJ: Yeah, I'm trying to think of who else. Briggan Krauss, Bill McHenry--two amazing horn players no New York City. Briggan Krauss, who you would know from Sex Mob, and Bill McHenry, who you would know--

[frickin tape runs out, I scramble so's not to break the concentration.]

RJ: God, who else? Jesse Harris even plays a little harmonica on "Cheap Guitar."                   

PM: Wow.

RJ: Who else? I'm sure I'm leaving out some important folks.

PM: Okay. If you do, and you think of it later, just drop me an email.

RJ: Yeah, sure.

PM: Speaking of Jesse Harris, you guys are really tight old friends. [Jesse wrote the big songs on Norah Jones' breakthrough debut, and was Songwriter of the Year.]

RJ: Oh, wait, let me keep on with that, actually. I was going instrument by instrument. But I left out the whole instrument of keyboards--Dred Scott--

PM: Oh, sorry!

RJ: --who has been in my band since 1998, plays a lot of piano and a lot of the organ on there.

PM: He's fantastic.

RJ: And John Dryden plays the really fantastic organ part on "If a Heart Breaks," which is one of my favorite musician performances on the whole record. So there's the keyboard end. I think that's all I got on there.

PM: Yeah, you've really put together an amazing stable of friends in the City. I've seen you play with a number of those people.

RJ: Yeah.

PM: And I saw an email where you're playing with another cool crowd in L.A. in a couple of--

RJ: Yeah. That's going to be my first time with those guys. I've got a good band in L.A., a good band in Nashville, and a good band in New York, and I'm developing one in San Francisco, too, so to keep expenses low when I'm traveling.

PM: That's really cool.

RJ: Yeah. The trio in Nashville with Brad and Mickey is also one of my favorite, favorite units to play with. Those guys are really awesome.

PM: Yeah. They're so free, and yet they're so in the pocket. Who is the L.A.crew? It was Paul Bryan on the bass.

RJ: Paul Bryan and Jay Bellerose.

PM: And Jay Bellerose, right.

RJ: Yeah, I've never worked with or even met Jay Bellerose, but I've seen him play, and I'm a big fan.

PM: Yeah, and a big Joe Henry fan, and all that.   continue

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