Julia Blair grew up in rural Wisconsin and came to music by way of the classical world (her first band was a string quartet) and then through the vibrant DIY scenes of Wisconsin and beyond while playing in DUSK and formerly Tenement. All of My Important Things is her sophomore album and first release on Don Giovanni.
There’s no one quite like Julia Blair. Some people look effortless while they perform. Julia somehow pulls off the opposite trick. She doesn’t know how to not act earnestly and belts from the tip of her head down through her toes. She’s often described as a “modern day Carole King.”
Julia’s strength as a writer lies in her ability to marry straight-to-the-heart sentimental melancholia with laugh-out-loud humor. To put it simply, she gets to the bottom of things. It’s a rare show where she doesn’t elicit tears from her audiences.
With All of My Important Things, Julia explores our relationship with possessions. First with a guitar riff-leading heartwarmer, “This Blanket”- a love letter to a Grandmother. Next, a spoken word track over improvised piano,“All of My Important Things (part 1).” “My Possessions” follows; a sparsely arranged, tongue in cheek track about what happens to our stuff after we die. Throughout the album her alto voice reigns.
Other standout tracks: An analogue cover of Randy Newman’s masterpiece, “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” another song that truly gets to the bottom of things. And “Believe in That” - recalling the soul/pop sensibilities that were most notable on Julia’s first album, Better Out Than In.
