We’re always behind the times, look at us about to be making a fuss about ICE when we could be talking about the new tourist attraction cum snipers’ nest that a cemetery needs, or political adverts paid for with government money, or… or whatever the latest wearisome craziness might be. Lucky for us that Americana UK is based in… the UK.
Julie Christensen though doesn’t have that luxury. She’s a mobile American artist, Iowa City-born and with stints spent in Texas, Los Angeles, Ojai, Nashville and now New Mexico. She has also frequently dealt with social and political issues in her songs, and that includes the latest single Don’t You Push, giving a human-scaled response to the abuses of ICE raids. It’s a song whose sentiments stand on their own feet, take a listen.
She’s previously worked with Leonard Cohen, Van Dyke Parks, Lou Reed and others–and as an open-eared genre-crosser has moved seamlessly between Americana, roots rock, jazz, her own self-described “great plains soul” and even country-punk, with Divine Horsemen. Chuck Prophet, who we are bound to note plays our 25 year event in November in Liverpool, says “Julie is gold. Solid. Gold.” So that’s a recommendation and a half.
