Julia Greenberg | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: What a voice said is Julia Greenberg. The track is

0:02 Speaker 1: called Leaves from the album Leaves, and we've got let's

0:06 Speaker 1: see let me bring that up here. We've got Julia

0:08 Speaker 1: with us via phone on the studio line. Hi Julia,

0:13 Speaker 1: Hi Ma, How you doing wonderful? And I'm relieved that

0:16 Speaker 1: we get to speak with you this morning because so

0:19 Speaker 1: I'll start off by I don't mind giving listeners a

0:21 Speaker 1: peek behind the curtains. So we had a problem with WhatsApp.

0:24 Speaker 1: All my interviews this morning on the show, we're going

0:26 Speaker 1: to be via WhatsApp, and WhatsApp has restricted my account.

0:29 Speaker 1: They are accusing me of engaging in spam activity and

0:33 Speaker 1: I don't know why, but so thank you for being flexible.

0:36 Speaker 1: So I'm glad that we get to talk to you.

0:38 Speaker 1: And I love the I love the album Leaves, and

0:41 Speaker 1: that song I can relate to that I feel every

0:47 Speaker 1: every fall. You know, here in New Hampshire where we are,

0:50 Speaker 1: we're known for our for our incredible foliage and it

0:53 Speaker 1: is pretty and everything. But I don't like it when

0:56 Speaker 1: the leaves. I want to hang on to the leaves.

0:57 Speaker 1: I don't like it when the leaves start to turn

0:59 Speaker 1: because I don't like I don't like fall, I don't

1:02 Speaker 1: like winter. I love spring and I love summer. But

1:05 Speaker 1: but I can relate to that and more of that

1:06 Speaker 1: sort of melancholy vibe too, about you know you can't

1:09 Speaker 1: you can't hold on, can't hold on to the year

1:12 Speaker 1: and all of that, uh, you know, with the passage

1:15 Speaker 1: of time. I very much relate to that song, almost

1:19 Speaker 1: almost more than i'd.

1:20 Speaker 2: Like to.

1:22 Speaker 1: In a way, you know. But but it's but it's great,

1:25 Speaker 1: The whole album is great. But is my is my

1:28 Speaker 1: interpretation of that song and what it means? Am I?

1:30 Speaker 1: Am I on the right track or is there there's

1:32 Speaker 1: something else that I'm missing?

1:35 Speaker 2: Oh, you are definitely on the right track. And I

1:38 Speaker 2: spend my summers in in the Catskill Mountains, so yeah,

1:42 Speaker 2: have the same experience, probably not as magnificent as New Hampshire.

1:46 Speaker 2: But I guess if you were missing anything at all

1:49 Speaker 2: is that the song is a little bit of an

1:51 Speaker 2: inside joke to myself with myself in that I just

1:57 Speaker 2: made myself laugh one beautiful full summer day listening to

2:02 Speaker 2: September Song, which is the brilliant song by Kurt Vile

2:06 Speaker 2: about the end. You know, it's about death and longing

2:09 Speaker 2: but using using September as the metaphor. Ye, like, why

2:14 Speaker 2: am I the person who listens to this kind of

2:17 Speaker 2: thing in the height of like, you know, rejuvenation in summer.

2:21 Speaker 2: So a line about there's nothing dumber than a girl

2:25 Speaker 2: who sings September song in summer is a little you know,

2:28 Speaker 2: poke at myself for being being having a slant towards

2:33 Speaker 2: melancholy and longing during the days that should be spent,

2:37 Speaker 2: you know, at the lake with your friends and loved ones.

2:40 Speaker 1: Right right, Absolutely, No, that makes sense, And is that

2:46 Speaker 1: kind of well, so I'm curious, I mean, is that

2:49 Speaker 1: kind of the theme of the of the album? Is

2:52 Speaker 1: there a theme of the album or or do you

2:54 Speaker 1: try to tell a different story with each song? I mean,

2:57 Speaker 1: what's what's your approach to that? Because there's certainly a

2:59 Speaker 1: co piece of sound to the album. It's a collection

3:03 Speaker 1: of songs that belongs together. That's why I'm wondering if

3:06 Speaker 1: there's some sort of overarching theme to it.

3:09 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I can I can explicate a theme

3:14 Speaker 2: after having written the songs and made the album. But

3:18 Speaker 2: they are a group of songs that I wrote over

3:23 Speaker 2: a number of years, and I think one of the

3:25 Speaker 2: reasons that they hold together so well is my producer,

3:29 Speaker 2: my co producer, Bob Perry, saw my band and I

3:33 Speaker 2: play these songs live and he was like, oh, we

3:36 Speaker 2: need to capture this live in the studio. So the

3:39 Speaker 2: entire EP is recorded live. There's no overdubs except for

3:44 Speaker 2: some percussion, and it really captures the ways in which

3:50 Speaker 2: the band and I developed these songs over a number

3:54 Speaker 2: of years. And you know, there are the years in

3:57 Speaker 2: my forties and early fifties where you start thinking about

4:01 Speaker 2: things like time passing in a different way. So there's

4:05 Speaker 2: definitely a melancholy slash live your life and laugh about it,

4:12 Speaker 2: seem to the to the record and this you know,

4:15 Speaker 2: it's called born Sentimental, which again, you know, I hope that,

4:18 Speaker 2: I hope my humor comes through in the song, but yeah,

4:22 Speaker 2: it's it's also just that song is very much like

4:25 Speaker 2: I've always from the you know, the minute I was

4:28 Speaker 2: a sentient being, I was just sort of thinking about

4:31 Speaker 2: the past and had really strong feelings, melancholy feelings about

4:36 Speaker 2: time passing. So it is that is definitely the theme.

4:40 Speaker 1: Maybe that's why I relate to it as much as

4:42 Speaker 1: I do because and why it connects with me because

4:45 Speaker 1: I'm I'm someone who and it doesn't have so much

4:47 Speaker 1: to do with age, and in my case only because

4:51 Speaker 1: I've I've lived really probably since i was a teenager,

4:54 Speaker 1: I've always lived in a perpetual state of existential dread.

4:58 Speaker 1: So yeah, maybe it's saying that may be that may

5:03 Speaker 1: be why these uh, why these songs connect with me

5:07 Speaker 1: the way that they do. But it's cool that you

5:11 Speaker 1: went in and recorded these live. And every once in

5:14 Speaker 1: a while I'll talk to an artist who approaches it

5:16 Speaker 1: that way. And I've always wondered, and I've been thinking, actually,

5:19 Speaker 1: this is something I've been thinking about since I was

5:21 Speaker 1: a teenager. Why don't more artists do that? I mean,

5:24 Speaker 1: obviously it's great to be able to do, you know,

5:27 Speaker 1: all kinds of overdubs and if you're you know, if

5:29 Speaker 1: you want to be very particular, I mean, obviously, you know,

5:31 Speaker 1: most successful producers, you know, they want to go track

5:35 Speaker 1: by track. But but there is something so cool about,

5:40 Speaker 1: you know, capturing something live, that sort of spark that

5:44 Speaker 1: happens live that in some cases you can really kind

5:48 Speaker 1: of miss out on if you don't do it that way.

5:50 Speaker 1: And I've always wondered why more artists don't do it

5:53 Speaker 1: that way? Was this your first time recording in that way? Live?

5:59 Speaker 2: Ohin if you go back on your favorite dreaming platform,

6:05 Speaker 2: hopefully one of the less egregious ones. And look at

6:10 Speaker 2: my earlier records. One's called Greenland, one's called Past Your Eyes.

6:16 Speaker 2: Very you know, rock studio albums with you know, melotrons

6:21 Speaker 2: and every kind of amazing instrument. So this was not

6:26 Speaker 2: even this was not the plan. It was really my

6:30 Speaker 2: co producer Bob, who was like, we should capture the sound.

6:33 Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, let's He was wanting the but

6:37 Speaker 2: to try to get the sound in the studio because

6:39 Speaker 2: he hadn't recorded that way, and so I was like, sure,

6:42 Speaker 2: let's try. And then after six hours we had seven

6:46 Speaker 2: songs and I was like, these are great, you know.

6:49 Speaker 2: And then there was a period of mixing and really

6:53 Speaker 2: having to come face to face with the vulnerability that

6:56 Speaker 2: that's captured because now I have some distance and I

7:01 Speaker 2: love it. But you know, I can hear every catch

7:03 Speaker 2: in my voice. I can hear my guitar pick clicking

7:06 Speaker 2: against my guitar, you know, the bass upright, bass strings rattling,

7:13 Speaker 2: And I was like, oh, can we can we do that, like,

7:15 Speaker 2: can we have that? Is there a way to erase that?

7:17 Speaker 2: And and he's like, nope, it's there. Yeah, But I

7:23 Speaker 2: think in the end, if you're listening to the totality

7:26 Speaker 2: of the thing it creates, you know it's it.

7:29 Speaker 1: Is real, right, right exactly? Do you think you'll do

7:32 Speaker 1: it again? And like, like for the next album, do

7:34 Speaker 1: you think you'll approach it the same way now that

7:36 Speaker 1: you've now that you've done this, Probably not.

7:40 Speaker 2: No, I think I'll be less afraid of the natural

7:49 Speaker 2: tones that you know comes through. But you know, you

7:51 Speaker 2: always want to try something different, right, Like, Okay, I

7:54 Speaker 2: did my my quiet introspective album. Now like I want

7:58 Speaker 2: drums again. Yeah, it will be. Yeah, I'm in the

8:02 Speaker 2: middle of writing my next album, so ever emerging.

8:05 Speaker 1: Oh excellent. I'll have to go back and listen to

8:08 Speaker 1: the earlier stuff. I listened to this entire album, but

8:10 Speaker 1: I'm curious now to go back and hear some of

8:12 Speaker 1: your earlier material.

8:15 Speaker 2: Go for it.

8:16 Speaker 1: So these songs, so you mentioned too, so you'd been

8:19 Speaker 1: playing these live with your band. That that's interesting to

8:23 Speaker 1: me because a lot of artists they don't want to

8:24 Speaker 1: play anything live until they haven't recorded. You know what

8:26 Speaker 1: I mean, but it sounds like you kind of approached

8:28 Speaker 1: it the opposite way. I mean, was it always your

8:31 Speaker 1: intention to eventually record these because you mentioned your producer

8:34 Speaker 1: or co producer he heard you playing them live and

8:37 Speaker 1: then he said, well, we've got to record these. But

8:40 Speaker 1: were you going to eventually record these anyway? Or were

8:43 Speaker 1: these only meant to be live songs originally that you

8:47 Speaker 1: know that you may or may not record, But maybe

8:49 Speaker 1: you didn't have a particular plan.

8:52 Speaker 2: Right, It's a very particular set of circumstances, which yes,

8:56 Speaker 2: I mean, I really these songs are of a piece

9:00 Speaker 2: and special to me, so I had it in my

9:03 Speaker 2: mind that I wanted to record them, but I was

9:06 Speaker 2: writing them over a period where I also made my

9:11 Speaker 2: first documentary film, and anyone out there who's ever made

9:15 Speaker 2: a documentary film that there's no time for anything else.

9:20 Speaker 2: So I was really focused on this film about the

9:24 Speaker 2: great songwriter Dory Previn, who you should play on your

9:27 Speaker 2: show if you've never heard of her. And so there

9:30 Speaker 2: wasn't a plan, absolutely wasn't a plan, And everything that

9:33 Speaker 2: I was doing at film festivals and working on the

9:36 Speaker 2: film was about Dory's Preven's music and I interpret her music.

9:40 Speaker 2: So this was just like whenever I could find, you know,

9:43 Speaker 2: a little gig hearer there, I would be like, do

9:46 Speaker 2: you guys want to play? So it came out of that.

9:50 Speaker 2: It wasn't like, you know, that I had been working

9:53 Speaker 2: toward releasing an album. It just came together because of

9:57 Speaker 2: that desire to have Bob's to record live. And I

10:01 Speaker 2: had just moved to New Jersey and there's an amazingly

10:04 Speaker 2: cool record label there called Magic Door Recordings, and we

10:08 Speaker 2: all sort of talked one day and we're like, oh,

10:11 Speaker 2: we can record this live and put it out on

10:12 Speaker 2: this lable and that's how it happens.

10:15 Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, I am curious to know more about the documentary.

10:18 Speaker 1: I will confess I don't know anything about Dory Previn,

10:21 Speaker 1: but I looked it up. So the documentary is called

10:23 Speaker 1: Dori Previn on My Way to Wear And so you

10:27 Speaker 1: and you're you're an archivist for Dori Previn's estate. Is

10:31 Speaker 1: that correct?

10:33 Speaker 2: I mean, informally, okay, I am. I became an archivist

10:38 Speaker 2: for her estate because I discovered her music, was gobsmacked

10:45 Speaker 2: that more people didn't know about it, got to performing

10:48 Speaker 2: it and meeting her and her husband. And when you

10:53 Speaker 2: all watch the documentary on PBS dot org, where it

10:56 Speaker 2: is currently streaming, will you will see that she had

11:01 Speaker 2: an amazing career. She's written songs that you undoubtedly know,

11:05 Speaker 2: but she was kind of sublimated under the very famous

11:10 Speaker 2: story of her husband Andre Previn, who very famously left

11:15 Speaker 2: story for me as Pharaoh. So there's a ducy gossip,

11:18 Speaker 2: Hollywood gossip piece of the film too. But yes, because

11:24 Speaker 2: I became close with her and I knew that there

11:25 Speaker 2: were these precious documents, you know, lead sheets, music recordings

11:33 Speaker 2: in her office in a beautiful farmhouse in the Berkshires.

11:37 Speaker 2: I would just occasionally go there and help organize it.

11:39 Speaker 2: And as I would just like write to my friends,

11:42 Speaker 2: like you wouldn't believe there's a letter from Fred Astaire. Here,

11:45 Speaker 2: there's a letter from Jack Lemon. I found these recordings

11:49 Speaker 2: and my friend Diana Dilworth, who I wound up co

11:53 Speaker 2: directing the film with, said this sounds like a documentary

11:56 Speaker 2: and I said, well, I don't make ducks like you do.

11:59 Speaker 2: Now let's go. So yeah, that's that's the story of

12:03 Speaker 2: the film.

12:03 Speaker 1: How long did it take?

12:06 Speaker 2: It actually didn't. It took three years, which is not

12:10 Speaker 2: so long for documentary, but I didn't have the contact.

12:14 Speaker 2: You know, I knew, I knew her story so well

12:17 Speaker 2: and really knew how I wanted to tell it. And

12:20 Speaker 2: then it just turned out that there was just unbelievable

12:23 Speaker 2: archival footage beyond what was in her archives. She actually

12:27 Speaker 2: strangely did a lot of television. She was she was

12:30 Speaker 2: really famous for a moment and for the listeners out there.

12:33 Speaker 2: She wrote for Hollywood films and then became a singer songwriter,

12:38 Speaker 2: and so she wrote the lyrics to the theme from

12:41 Speaker 2: Valley of the Dolls, you know, the great Warwick track. Wow.

12:46 Speaker 2: She Yeah, and then she made seven albums in the

12:50 Speaker 2: seven years that are some of the greatest seventies confessional

12:54 Speaker 2: singer songwriter stuff that I happened upon totally randomly, and

12:59 Speaker 2: then Wow, strangely changed my life.

13:01 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, what so that's that's a commitment. But

13:05 Speaker 1: like you said, I mean, documentaries take a long time

13:07 Speaker 1: to make. Was there I mean, during the course of

13:10 Speaker 1: that three years, did you ever was there ever a

13:12 Speaker 1: point where you felt like, I don't know if I

13:14 Speaker 1: can finish this or this is uh, you know, this

13:17 Speaker 1: is a lot more to take on than I ever thought,

13:19 Speaker 1: because I tend to think of and this this might

13:21 Speaker 1: be a failing on my part, but I tend to

13:24 Speaker 1: think of I tend to think about things creatively in

13:27 Speaker 1: terms of how long how long is this going to take?

13:31 Speaker 2: You know?

13:31 Speaker 1: And obviously you know when you record an album it

13:33 Speaker 1: takes a while to record an album, but but not

13:36 Speaker 1: not too too long, right, But or or if you're

13:38 Speaker 1: just releasing singles, it's even quicker. Or in my case,

13:41 Speaker 1: I do a radio show, which is instant gratification. I

13:44 Speaker 1: come in and do the show live, which suits my personality.

13:48 Speaker 1: But but but that's a commitment making a documentary. Was

13:52 Speaker 1: there ever any a point where you thought, Wow, I'm

13:54 Speaker 1: really uh, I don't know, I don't know if I

13:56 Speaker 1: can finish this.

13:58 Speaker 2: Yeah, actually no, I mean, first of all, we started

14:03 Speaker 2: in the timeless COVID period, so time didn't really have

14:08 Speaker 2: much texture or many parameters, right, But there's that. But no,

14:14 Speaker 2: it was a it was like blessed by Dory from

14:18 Speaker 2: wherever she was blessing us though. It was just it

14:21 Speaker 2: was a magical confluence of like, we got incredible Diana Dilworth,

14:27 Speaker 2: my co director, who's made some great films. She made

14:29 Speaker 2: a film about the melotron, which is amazing. Amy Hobby,

14:32 Speaker 2: the producer, like made the Academy Award nominated me to

14:36 Speaker 2: Simone documentary. People were People knew that we had a

14:40 Speaker 2: story and that it that we had the tools and

14:45 Speaker 2: the assets to tell it, which I don't think a

14:47 Speaker 2: lot of people know when they start a documentary. So yeah,

14:52 Speaker 2: it went fast and it premiered itself by Southwest and

14:55 Speaker 2: the only time I thought it would never you know,

14:59 Speaker 2: we were in film festival all over the world. But

15:01 Speaker 2: the only time I felt steyyed was we tell the

15:05 Speaker 2: story through her music, because she told her life through

15:07 Speaker 2: her songs, and all of her music is on Universal

15:11 Speaker 2: Music Group label, So the process of figuring out how

15:17 Speaker 2: to legally show a film with Universal Music assets was

15:24 Speaker 2: the biggest challenge, which we haven't fully overcome. We are

15:28 Speaker 2: so honored and delighted that it's on PBS where they

15:31 Speaker 2: have a license agreement with Universal, so we can absolutely

15:36 Speaker 2: can show it, but there isn't a and it's PBS,

15:39 Speaker 2: Like I'm so everybody should be supporting publicly funded arts

15:44 Speaker 2: these days, so that it was a great home. But

15:47 Speaker 2: there was a while where I was like we can't.

15:49 Speaker 2: We can't afford the songs, so we're not going to

15:51 Speaker 2: be able to put it out beyond film Festival. So

15:54 Speaker 2: that was the big hurdle which we were able to

15:56 Speaker 2: cross with the help of PBS.

15:58 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, excellent. Uh is she still alive Dory Preven?

16:03 Speaker 2: He's not. She died in twenty twelve.

16:05 Speaker 1: Oh okay, gotcha, gotcha? Yeah, that's uh yeah, I'm curious.

16:12 Speaker 1: So that's on. So people can watch that on the

16:14 Speaker 1: on PBS dot org.

16:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, on the app, like if you have it on

16:19 Speaker 2: your rope to TV or whatever, or you can watch

16:21 Speaker 2: it on your you can just literally if you just

16:23 Speaker 2: search up Dory Preven and okay, maybe you'll find it.

16:27 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, very cool, very cool. So yeah, I mean

16:31 Speaker 1: outside of music. So obviously you're a filmmaker and you've

16:33 Speaker 1: you've done is this You're also it says here you're

16:37 Speaker 1: a health justice advocate.

16:40 Speaker 2: Yeah. I want to know about that, and I try

16:42 Speaker 2: and present my whole self.

16:44 Speaker 1: Yeah, the day I want to know more about this

16:48 Speaker 1: because because uh so is uh so is my partner Jenny.

16:53 Speaker 1: So I'm really curious about this.

16:56 Speaker 2: Yes, In fact, when when you both reached out I

17:01 Speaker 2: was able, Like, I was just like, what is this

17:02 Speaker 2: radio station? And who are these people? And I think

17:06 Speaker 2: there's some confluence of passions there. Yeah. I mean, I

17:11 Speaker 2: am a New York City girl who grew up during

17:14 Speaker 2: the AIDS crisis and saw what it means when governments

17:20 Speaker 2: neglect people's health needs because of their identities or the

17:26 Speaker 2: color of their skin, and so very early started volunteering

17:31 Speaker 2: working with people living with HIV at the time, and

17:33 Speaker 2: then it as I was pursuing music, the jobs that

17:38 Speaker 2: I got tended to be around access to healthcare human

17:43 Speaker 2: rights for people living with HIV at the time, but

17:47 Speaker 2: it's become broader. So I have had a career what

17:50 Speaker 2: I've been in and out of institutions and consulting very

17:53 Speaker 2: specifically on social justice and health. Like right now, my

17:59 Speaker 2: work is very focused on the fact that our healthcare

18:04 Speaker 2: system in the US is broken, and one of the

18:06 Speaker 2: reasons that it's broken is that financial the financial sector

18:11 Speaker 2: sees the healthcare sector as a place from where from

18:14 Speaker 2: which it can extract a ton a ton of wealth

18:17 Speaker 2: because so much of our taxpayer money goes into Medicaid

18:20 Speaker 2: and Medicare, and so there's lots of private equity, venture

18:26 Speaker 2: capital support investments in healthcare, which tend to then degrade

18:31 Speaker 2: the system so that they could extract as much profit

18:34 Speaker 2: out of the system as they possibly can. So my

18:37 Speaker 2: work now is really trying to rain that in and

18:40 Speaker 2: help build the case for a universal healthcare system in

18:43 Speaker 2: this country.

18:44 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome. I commend you for that. I'm glad

18:48 Speaker 1: you're you know you're yeah, absolutely, absolutely, No, that's excellent.

18:53 Speaker 1: I mean, does that you know, the things that you

18:58 Speaker 1: that you do that, I'll be so you're you know,

19:00 Speaker 1: that's something that you're passionate about, and rightly so does

19:02 Speaker 1: that in any way sort of inform your music? Do

19:06 Speaker 1: you think or do you kind of compartmentalize that or

19:09 Speaker 1: how does how does that work?

19:12 Speaker 2: It's a question that I've been thinking a lot about

19:15 Speaker 2: lately because it seemed like this is the moment where

19:18 Speaker 2: the idea of the protest song and the idea that

19:22 Speaker 2: music actually has been instrumental to social justice movements is

19:27 Speaker 2: very much on my mind given the state of our country.

19:30 Speaker 2: So uh, it has not informed. There has been an

19:38 Speaker 2: some compartmentalization, But if I go through my albums and

19:42 Speaker 2: look at the songs, there's absolutely there's they're there, but

19:45 Speaker 2: they're not overt. Okay, my experiences and my political positions

19:51 Speaker 2: and my feelings about the healthcare system. But like I

19:55 Speaker 2: have a song called Carton City on my last album

19:58 Speaker 2: which is very much about being in Kenya and just

20:02 Speaker 2: seeing the you know, the broken health system and the

20:05 Speaker 2: ways in which it was affecting people's lives. So there's

20:09 Speaker 2: it comes out, but it's not I don't start.

20:11 Speaker 1: With it, gotcha, gotcha? Yeah, And you know, I think

20:15 Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of artists approach it that way.

20:17 Speaker 1: You know, there's there's messaging that's not overt, but it's

20:21 Speaker 1: there if you, you know, if you care to look

20:22 Speaker 1: for it or you notice it. You went to by

20:26 Speaker 1: the way, So you went to Kenya.

20:29 Speaker 2: Yeah. So I did a lot of global health work

20:32 Speaker 2: in the earlier part of my career, so I traveled

20:35 Speaker 2: pretty extensively. Good for you, Wow, I'm very lucky.

20:41 Speaker 1: So Kenya, Kenya's healthcare system is pretty broken.

20:46 Speaker 2: I mean, in some ways it's not. It's just ours

20:51 Speaker 2: is just as broken. And what I was looking at,

20:55 Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of poverty there, and a

20:59 Speaker 2: lot of the poverty and a lot of the ideas

21:01 Speaker 2: about the health system have actually been exported from the US.

21:04 Speaker 2: So I was really looking at sort of how this

21:08 Speaker 2: sort of ideology about how markets and capitalism automatically lead

21:15 Speaker 2: to the best possible health care systems, how that's been

21:18 Speaker 2: exported around the world. So in a lot of countries

21:21 Speaker 2: around the world, there was just they treat healthcare as

21:23 Speaker 2: a public good and they the government funds it and

21:27 Speaker 2: everybody gets it, and and the US is actually doing

21:31 Speaker 2: a lot to try and subverth that. So right, looking

21:34 Speaker 2: at that issue in Kenya, right, I mean, it's there's

21:38 Speaker 2: there's our We are the richest country in the world,

21:41 Speaker 2: and we have the worst outcomes, right like for all

21:44 Speaker 2: developed country. So I would never ever say that Kenya's

21:47 Speaker 2: health system is worse than ours.

21:49 Speaker 1: Gotcha understood? Yeah, No, that makes sense.

21:51 Speaker 2: Yeah.

21:51 Speaker 1: But by the way, for listeners who are thinking, Matt,

21:53 Speaker 1: you really wandered into the weeds here, I know. But

21:56 Speaker 1: but it's but but this is but these are important things.

21:59 Speaker 1: I won't I won't under any further into the weeds.

22:01 Speaker 2: But no, but I'm always happy to talk about it.

22:04 Speaker 1: Absolutely. No, I'm really glad that you're doing that work.

22:07 Speaker 1: That's awesome. I am. I am curious getting back to

22:11 Speaker 1: the to the EP, I'm curious about your influences. I'm trying.

22:15 Speaker 1: I'm trying. You remind me your voice reminds me of

22:20 Speaker 1: someone and I but I can't put my finger on who.

22:23 Speaker 1: But maybe if you, if you talk to us about

22:25 Speaker 1: some of your influences, I'll make the connection in my mind.

22:28 Speaker 1: But there's there's someone that I feel that you're evocative of,

22:30 Speaker 1: and I can't quite I can't quite get there. But

22:32 Speaker 1: who are who are some of your influences?

22:35 Speaker 2: Oh, that's so frustrating. I'm dying to now well my influences.

22:41 Speaker 2: And I also think this the CP captures this. I

22:45 Speaker 2: have like a major sort of rock alt country Americana

22:49 Speaker 2: side of myself and then very much like American standards

22:53 Speaker 2: early musical theater side of myself. A lot of these

22:56 Speaker 2: songs were about bringing those sides together, and I'm happy

23:02 Speaker 2: to see that a lot of the critical response to

23:04 Speaker 2: the record really sees that. But who are my influences? Well, like,

23:08 Speaker 2: my my deepest core love is Luciender Williams, and you know,

23:15 Speaker 2: and Dorey Previn, who I've talked about a lot of

23:19 Speaker 2: people think I sound like and I did love her,

23:22 Speaker 2: and she's not really making music that I know these

23:24 Speaker 2: days that I sound like, you know, Sam Phillips, not

23:27 Speaker 2: the Sam Phillips of Sun Records, but the Sam Phillips

23:30 Speaker 2: of the nineties. That's it. I'm a huge like Elvis

23:36 Speaker 2: Costello clash, Billy Bragg fan. I'm going to see Billy

23:41 Speaker 2: Bragg tomorrow night. As a matter of fact.

23:42 Speaker 1: Oh very cool.

23:45 Speaker 2: Uh so yeah, those are I mean, I would say

23:47 Speaker 2: sort of early influences like Amy Man, Elvis Costello for

23:52 Speaker 2: their literary powis uh yeah, what else, there's a lot

23:59 Speaker 2: of great I went and saw sg Goodman last night

24:02 Speaker 2: in at levon Helm's Barn, Like there's so many amazing,

24:06 Speaker 2: oh wow writers out there. So I'm happily being influenced

24:11 Speaker 2: by people like her, Leale neil A, Linda Segura from

24:16 Speaker 2: her for the riff raft. They're all kind of in

24:18 Speaker 2: swirling around.

24:20 Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt.

24:21 Speaker 2: That did that capture? You figure out who it was?

24:24 Speaker 1: No, it'll it'll come back.

24:27 Speaker 2: You'll have to tell me.

24:27 Speaker 1: It'll come to me later and I'll email you. Yeah,

24:29 Speaker 1: it'll it'll. It'll just suddenly occur to me when I'm

24:31 Speaker 1: not thinking about it, which is what usually happens. It's

24:33 Speaker 1: interesting you mentioned Lucinda Williams. I saw, uh Lucinda Williams

24:38 Speaker 1: at a show. Oh wow, this would have been more

24:41 Speaker 1: than twenty years ago, maybe twenty five years ago, a

24:43 Speaker 1: long time. She was playing Conquer New Hampshire at a

24:45 Speaker 1: place called the Capitol Theater and she it was it

24:49 Speaker 1: was for the Uh. She opened with car Wheels on

24:52 Speaker 1: a Gravel Road. That was the song she opened with.

24:54 Speaker 1: And she did something I'd never seen anyone do before.

24:57 Speaker 1: She played it twice. She opened with it.

25:00 Speaker 2: She played it literally getting the chills.

25:02 Speaker 1: Yeah, she played it and then she said, she said,

25:07 Speaker 1: there was something that wasn't right about the sound. I

25:11 Speaker 1: don't know if her monitor what I don't remember, if

25:13 Speaker 1: it was her monitor wasn't working or something. But she said,

25:17 Speaker 1: so she she tells the crowd, she says, I'm not

25:20 Speaker 1: happy with the way that sounded. Something was wrong. Uh,

25:23 Speaker 1: the mix wasn't right or something. So we're gonna play

25:25 Speaker 1: it again. And she played it again, and just I'd

25:28 Speaker 1: never seen anyone do that before, just kind of a

25:31 Speaker 1: kind of a do over. But I thought it was cool.

25:34 Speaker 1: I mean to me, I thought it sounded great. The

25:35 Speaker 1: first time, but but she wasn't happy with it, so

25:38 Speaker 1: she so she said, we're gonna play it again, and

25:40 Speaker 1: she played it again. You know, nobody minded. You know,

25:42 Speaker 1: it sounded great, So it was a great, great song.

25:44 Speaker 2: It's a perfect song. So why not?

25:46 Speaker 1: Absolutely? Absolutely one hundred. So what's up now? Uh? We

25:52 Speaker 1: were before we run out of time too, So what's

25:54 Speaker 1: the current live situation? Like are you are you playing

25:57 Speaker 1: a lot of shows currently with your band or do

25:59 Speaker 1: you and do you do any do you do any

26:01 Speaker 1: solo acoustic?

26:03 Speaker 2: Yeah? I do do solo acoustic. We are right now

26:07 Speaker 2: trying to line up some dates. There was like a

26:09 Speaker 2: pause for you know, all the reasons or personal reasons

26:12 Speaker 2: of band members who did a record release at this

26:15 Speaker 2: great new music and arts space in Hobook and New

26:19 Speaker 2: Jersey playing in the Berkshires later in the summer, and

26:25 Speaker 2: we're going to see about a tour, you know, like

26:27 Speaker 2: there's the first record where I feel like I can

26:30 Speaker 2: potentially break into like the folk circuit because my other

26:35 Speaker 2: stuff was much more rock. So I'm trying to explore

26:38 Speaker 2: the bookers and the and the venues in that vein

26:42 Speaker 2: because it's yeah, it's not because I can play a

26:45 Speaker 2: solo acoustic, which sometimes you need to do because, like

26:48 Speaker 2: we're playing, music is expensive in a world that doesn't

26:52 Speaker 2: support it. So yeah, stuff will be.

26:55 Speaker 1: Coming up, outstanding, outstanding. Where's the best place, Julia? Where

27:00 Speaker 1: the best place for people to go to keep up

27:02 Speaker 1: with everything that Julia Greenberg is doing? And feel free

27:06 Speaker 1: to mention more than one place because you've got the music,

27:08 Speaker 1: but you've got other things that you're doing too, and

27:10 Speaker 1: you've got the documentary and all of it. So so

27:12 Speaker 1: mentioned more than one location if you want to. But

27:14 Speaker 1: I just want to make sure our listeners know where

27:16 Speaker 1: to find you.

27:18 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean definitely. I would say the most consistently

27:24 Speaker 2: active as my Instagram page and you'll find it just

27:29 Speaker 2: Julia Greenberg music. The Dory Documentary has doryprevindoc dot com,

27:35 Speaker 2: a website with all the news and you can watch

27:38 Speaker 2: it on PBS dot org. And my band camp page

27:44 Speaker 2: is also another place where I'll be putting up you know,

27:47 Speaker 2: new music. I'm this is a very active writing phase

27:50 Speaker 2: for me and not necessarily wed to the idea that

27:53 Speaker 2: I always have to put out a album and before

27:56 Speaker 2: the songs appear. So I would say those.

27:58 Speaker 1: Three right, excellent excellent, and I'm glad you're on band

28:03 Speaker 1: camp too, because I uh, I encourage everyone. Band Camp

28:07 Speaker 1: of course, as you know, very artist friendly and also

28:10 Speaker 1: too if you if you get music on band Camp,

28:12 Speaker 1: you get a much higher quality file than say if

28:14 Speaker 1: you're just screaming on YouTube or something. So I'm a

28:17 Speaker 1: big fan of band Camp. I think every I think

28:20 Speaker 1: every artist camp. Yeah, absolutely absolute. I'm always surprised when

28:24 Speaker 1: I encounter an artists who's not on band Camp. It's like,

28:26 Speaker 1: you know, why not, what are you doing?

28:29 Speaker 2: And you'll sign me on the Magic Door. My album

28:34 Speaker 2: is on the Magic Door recording platform on band Camp,

28:39 Speaker 2: so you can also check out a bunch of really

28:41 Speaker 2: cool artists that they put out, Oh Fantastical City and

28:46 Speaker 2: so Megan Riley, there's a lot of great people on

28:49 Speaker 2: the label.

28:50 Speaker 1: Oh outstanding, outstanding. So Julia to uh. To close out

28:54 Speaker 1: our conversation, I'm going to play another track after we

28:58 Speaker 1: let you go uh from the album, but not to

29:00 Speaker 1: put you on the spot, but I'm gonna let you

29:02 Speaker 1: pick this one. We opened with Leaves, what should we

29:04 Speaker 1: close with?

29:07 Speaker 2: Maybe close with bourn Sentimental as it's the title track.

29:10 Speaker 1: And yeah, born Sentimental, Okay, wonderful. Oh that which I

29:16 Speaker 1: just realized. I think I misspoke earlier too. I think

29:18 Speaker 1: I referred to the UH at the beginning of our conversation.

29:21 Speaker 1: I think I inadvertently referred to the album as Leaves.

29:24 Speaker 1: But the album is called Born Sentimental. The track that

29:26 Speaker 1: we played was Leaves. I always catalog my mistakes in

29:30 Speaker 1: the back of my mind so I can correct them

29:32 Speaker 1: ten minutes or fifteen minutes later.

29:35 Speaker 2: Did a great job.

29:36 Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you. So we're going to hit that

29:39 Speaker 1: track in a second, but Julia, we will let you go.

29:42 Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you for joining us, and again, thank

29:44 Speaker 1: you for being flexible about you know, because WhatsApp didn't

29:46 Speaker 1: work out, so we got you on the phone line.

29:48 Speaker 1: So we appreciate that. And we'll definitely do this again

29:50 Speaker 1: in the future as certainly as you're releasing new music.

29:53 Speaker 1: Sounds like you got good stuff coming up, so we'll well,

29:55 Speaker 1: we'd love to have you back sooner rather than later.

29:58 Speaker 1: But thank you so much for joining us today.

30:00 Speaker 2: Thank you, Matt. I was delighted to be able to talk.

30:04 Speaker 1: Wonderful. Thanks Julia. I take care all right, bye bye bye.

30:08 Speaker 1: All right. That is Julia Greenberg and of course the

30:10 Speaker 1: album is called Born Sentimental. Earlier we played Leaves, one

30:14 Speaker 1: of the tracks from it. Now we're gonna play the

30:15 Speaker 1: title track from the album, Born Sentimental. Let's give this

30:19 Speaker 1: a spin, and if you are listening live on Saturday,

30:22 Speaker 1: stick around. We've got plenty more to come, although a

30:25 Speaker 1: little bit of a little bit of an adventure today

30:27 Speaker 1: because I'm not sure. We have two guests coming up

30:30 Speaker 1: in the third hour. They were both supposed to be

30:32 Speaker 1: with us via WhatsApp, but WhatsApp has suspended my account,

30:36 Speaker 1: so I don't know what's gonna happen. We'll see. Julia

30:38 Speaker 1: was very gracious and flexible with us. Let's see how

30:41 Speaker 1: the other guests react to my emails, my frantic emails

30:45 Speaker 1: saying I cannot use WhatsApp to interview you. But all right,

30:50 Speaker 1: here's this track. This is Born Sentimental from Julia Greenberg.