Wisdom Wednesday feat. Julie Lov

Welcome to Wisdom Wednesday, a weekly series where we chat with some of our favorite artists! This week we’re joined by Julie Love! Julie is a Nashville & LA-based producer, remixer, guitarist and bassist. After a brief stint at Berklee College of Music in 2011, Julie moved to Nashville, TN to begin her career as a session/touring musician. She's played guitar and bass on tour with artists including Plumb, Ellie Holcomb, Jill Andrews, Moriah Peters, and more. From Red Rocks to arenas, cruise ships to rock clubs, to music festivals in the US, Canada, & Europe, to empty bars in no-name towns, Julie has performance experience under her belt in just about every capacity.

She even played guitar and bass on For KING & COUNTRY's Grammy-winning album, Burn the Ships.

In recent years, she has been producing music and making remixes out of her studio in Nashville for artists such as Penny and Sparrow, Sarah Reeves, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors, Christa Wells, Stela Cole, and more.

Between the songs she's produced, remixed, written, and played guitar on, Julie's music has been streamed more than 30,000,000 times on Spotify alone. You can check out Julie’s music here.

Want to be a guest on the show or have someone you wish we’d have on? Email us at hello@marketingwithwisdom.com.

Wisdom:
All right. I think we are live and I'm going to wait for folks to join us and I guess to join us. But we're live for our weekly Wisdom Wednesday happening every Wednesday, 1:00 PM Central. So thanks for joining us today. We have a special guest that I'm excited to chat with. This is actually my first time doing this on the CMM Instagram account because normally Kat is with us, but she's on vacation. So today it's me and hopefully I don't run into any technical issues. Hey.

Julie:
Hi, Wisdom.

Wisdom:
How are you doing?

Julie:
How are you?

Wisdom:
Good. How are you?

Julie:
Good. I'm good. I'm just here at home, my studio in Nashville.

Wisdom:
Nice. Awesome. Yeah. Thanks for joining us for Wisdom Wednesday.

Julie:
Yes. Thanks for having me.

Wisdom:
How's the weather today in Nashville.

Julie:
It's gross outside. It's just humid and overcast and not the best, but it's okay. The weather keeps changing, we thought it was going to stay hot for a while and then it just keeps going back and forth. How about you? Where are you again?

Wisdom:
Kansas City.

Julie:
Okay. How's it there?

Wisdom:
Yeah, kind of nasty here. It was raining this morning and it's just gloomy and humid. Yeah.

Julie:
Good. I love that.

Wisdom:
So I just try to stay indoors.

Julie:
Yeah, same. Well, I have to stay indoors anyway, so it doesn't really bother me.

Wisdom:
Me too.

Julie:
It's more just what I see out the window every day.

Wisdom:
Yeah. Awesome. So, for those that maybe watching that aren't familiar with you and what you do, maybe share some things about you, what you want people to know.

Julie:
Sure. I'm Julie. I live in Nashville. I play guitar and bass for different artists, do sessions with guitar and bass, just recording for other artists. I produce music, do remixes, a mix of a lot of different things, but all music-related for the most part. Yeah.

Wisdom:
Awesome. So what would you say is a fun bag that maybe people wouldn't know from just reading your bio or looking at your Instagram?

Julie:
Let's see. Want to do something in the animation world. That's something that you might not know right off the bat. So anything in the entertainment arts is just... It doesn't have to be music-related.

Wisdom:
Wow!

Julie:
[crosstalk 00:03:18].

Wisdom:
What do you do currently with that?

Julie:
I work on stuff just on the side, just for fun. But we'll see, maybe it'll turn into something.

Wisdom:
Oh, I think I saw a post the other day. Were you saying, "Would somebody let me draw on your sneakers or something?"

Julie:
Yeah.

Wisdom:
Was that your drawing?

Julie:
Yes.

Wisdom:
Oh, wow! Yeah. That was pretty good.

Julie:
Well, thanks.

Wisdom:
Yeah. I was like, "How Weird?"

Julie:
Something I used to do a lot as a kid and then just stopped, not for any reason other than the fact that I just don't usually have pen and paper around. It's that simple, it's not natural anymore.

Wisdom:
Yeah. My 13-year-old son, he's drawn on sneakers, designed his own sneakers. He also draws on phone cases for people.

Julie:
Oh, nice. You let him draw on your sneakers?

Wisdom:
I personally have not. He is-

Julie:
Oops, I should have said.

Wisdom:
I mean, I don't think he's ever asked me.

Julie:
I'm jealous of your son. I want to start doing what he does. That sounds awesome. How old is he?

Wisdom:
13.

Julie:
Okay. Yeah, I guess I'm a little past that, but...

Wisdom:
So tell us a little bit about how you started producing and playing guitar. I mean, I feel like there's so many guitar players, a little bit less like bass players, but I would feel like it's hard to find a gig with a major artist when you're a guitar player. So what was your journey with all of that?

Julie:
I started playing guitar when I was in fourth grade, so it was something that I've been doing as long as I can really remember. I just always knew that that was the thing that I wanted to do, so I didn't really have any other options or backup plans, which is actually a good thing because it forces you to actually do it. But it's also hard, because like you said, it's not easy to get jobs like that. But I started playing out in high school, just local shows. I'm from Rhode Island and did stuff around town and played gigs in Boston a little bit.

Julie:
I lived there for a little bit and then moved to Nashville and just got plugged in with artists here. A lot of it is just through friends and knowing people and meeting people. Even the connections I have today, it's like I can trace it back to a random person I met seven or eight years ago. So it's hard to say how to get a job, you just have to be present, have to be there, and hope that it works out.

Wisdom:
I mean, I think that is really key. Even this newsletter I wrote for our artist mentorship community that goes out tomorrow, I actually talk about that exact thing, because for me, I've slowly, just organically gotten involved in the Christian music industry over the past 15 years and I never really set out to get a job in the industry or anything. I just started making friends and building relationships. So yeah, I think that is really the key, is relationships. It's really all about relationships, I think, especially in the Christian music industry?

Julie:
Yeah. When I moved to Nashville, it was like most people I'd spent time around were in music to some degree or wanted to be in music. So it's also about moving to a city that has that thing happening, because if I just stayed in the state where I'm from, I don't know if I would be in music. I mean, there aren't really opportunities, but there are a lot of opportunities if you live in a place like Nashville. It sounds like it's this thing that's really hard to get into, and in a lot of ways it is, but there's also a lot of room for a lot of different people, which is cool.

Julie:
I've started to realize that. I am a full-time musician, which is what I've been doing for years now, but it's always felt like, "Oh, I got another gig. I got another gig." It just happens to keep working out, and then... I mean, at some point it's just like, "Okay, yeah. This is sustainable for long-term."

Wisdom:
That's awesome. So how did you get to the point where you didn't suck anymore?

Julie:
I don't know if I've arrived there yet. Guitar, playing shows, I guess just... I mean, doing it a lot. With guitar, I did it for so long and I started as a kid, so I got a headstart in a lot of ways in playing guitar. But with production, I've fell behind for a long time, even though I've been doing it for a while. I always did it for fun just on my computer, even as a teenager, but there's so many people that are so good at it and so much better, so it took me a while.

Julie:
It took until I actually had a song released where I was the producer, where I felt like I could call myself a producer. It was this thing that, "Yeah, I produce music, but I'm not a producer." For some reason, it was really hard to feel like I could own that title.

Wisdom:
So sometimes you feel this imposter syndrome?

Julie:
Yes, absolutely. I definitely feel that more with production, I would say. Remixes especially because the remixes I do they aren't like club songs, dance songs, what you would think of when you think of a remix. So I do feel like I just somehow weaseled my way into being a producer, a remix artist.

Wisdom:
For those of you guys watching live, feel free to drop a question or comment for Julie. So as far as guitar goes, because I've been playing guitar probably since I was 11 or 12, I suck at it because I didn't put the time into it. I tried taking lessons and they were trying to teach me jazz, I'm like, "I'm not really into jazz."

Julie:
Yeah. Poor little thing.

Wisdom:
So, did you put a lot of hours into it? Did you take a lot of lessons? Did you train with the best guitar player in the world?

Julie:
No, actually I did take lessons for a few years. The first few years that I played, my guitar teacher was this huge metalhead. I don't know, he probably could actually read music, but our lessons were pretty much him playing songs off CDs for me and showing me different solos and different parts and just tabbing them out for me. I don't know. People that don't play guitar don't know what tab is, but it's basically just a really easy paint-by-number way of reading music. It's not technically reading music at all, but it works.

Julie:
So my lessons were just listening to music and repeating it, and I played a ton at home. I would pick up songs by ear a lot and just make up my own music. I was never really big into theory even though it slowly connected in my brain over the years, but it was just a lot of playing for fun and playing by ear and stuff like that.

Wisdom:
Yeah. I see some of your guitar videos on Instagram and stuff and you just look so cool playing guitar. You make it look so-

Julie:
Oh, thanks. I shoot those videos, I do like 20 takes until I got a good one, so it's cheating, but thank you.

Wisdom:
Yeah. I mean, you just make it look so effortless when you're playing.

Julie:
Oh, thanks.

Wisdom:
So, yeah. I feel I'm just fascinated watching those videos, and if I try to do that, it just will be horrible.

Julie:
Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I mean, it's not for everybody, but also it's just I have the advantage of playing a lot as a kid, so I would just be in my room all the time, didn't have to have a job or anything like that, I could just play all day. So hopefully it's paid off now in my adult years.

Wisdom:
It pays the bills. Yeah. Actually, my parents, when I was younger, anytime I had saved up money, like 10, 12 bucks or something, I would go to the Christian bookstore, buy cassette tapes of my favorite artists. My parents thought I was wasting money, but, hey, where I'm at now it made sense. I do this for a living because Christian music was always my passion, so you just never know.

Julie:
Yeah. I didn't grow up on Christian music, but a lot of the stuff that my guitar player would show me, my homework assignments would be to go and buy a CD of this rock band or that rock band. So that was also a thing. It felt like, "Yeah, I'm investing into my future a little bit, but it's really just buying CDs." But it's helpful, it pays off. I still- [crosstalk 00:13:13].

Wisdom:
Yeah, for sure.

Julie:
... music now.

Wisdom:
Yeah. So let's talk about producing. You do a lot of remixes, which to me, I don't know how you do it. I just tell people about you and I'm like, "She works on stuff and then it's like magic."

Julie:
Oh, thanks.

Wisdom:
Then when you hear it later, it's like, "What the heck? How does she do that?" Walk us through how that even works. You take stems for a song that somebody has because a lot of times people reach out to you because they want a remix of a song that they already have. So they send you all the stems, which are all the audio files, how do you even go about thinking of something that... I mean, it's hard, I feel like... Especially working with an artist and trying to capture what they envision as a remix and a re-imagined a track. So how do you typically approach that?

Julie:
For the most part, I haven't heard the song that I'm about to remix. There have been a couple cases where I knew the song in advance, but it's actually pretty helpful to not know the song ahead of time because I'll just listen to it maybe once or twice and then I'm like, "I want to forget this version exists and just take the vocal and start from scratch." So I usually start by building chords around the vocal, different chords that were used in the original, and everything falls together from that.

Julie:
That's always my first step. Rarely it'll be a beat or something comes first, but it's usually just the chords and melodies and little hook section, stuff like that. So yeah, that's usually the first thing I do. I always ask the artist too if they had something in mind ahead of time because I don't want to send it and they're like, "What is this? This isn't what I expected." So if they don't tell me anything, sometimes I'll creep on their Spotify artist page. A lot of artists have a playlist of music they like, so I'll go creep on that a little bit and make sure I'm not going to be totally off.

Julie:
I don't really base it off of that, I just use that as a reference to see if I'm at least in an okay zone when I'm working. Yeah, that's usually how it starts, and then I get stuck a lot. My husband does remixes too and we both call it cracking the code, that's the hardest part, because then the rest of it is just actual work and you just have to put in the hours, put in the time. But the cracking the code part is like finding the bones, and sometimes that's the hardest part. So I can sit with a remix for a few days and get stuck and not know where I'm going with it and just hope that it eventually works out.

Julie:
It has so far. But sometimes it comes immediately. I'll just play the song, I'll have the vocal going, and sometimes I play guitar with it because that's the instrument where I can move around the quickest with chords and everything. So it's different with every song and every artist. But it's fun, it's a fun challenge to re-imagine it.

Wisdom:
Yeah. I had no idea that you strip it down to just the vocals and then build on that. So, do you actually build the drums and bass and everything yourself?

Julie:
Yeah. I mean, everything you're hearing besides the vocal is either I'm playing it or programming it, which is just like using samples or electronic sounds MIDI controller. I don't know if people watching this know any of that is. But yeah, all of the musical elements besides the vocal I'm just doing on my own.

Wisdom:
That's cool. Awesome.

Julie:
Yeah. So sometimes that comes first too, I'll hear baseline and have that going and that dictates where the drums are going to go and so on. So it's different every time.

Wisdom:
Cool. Yeah. For those of you who are trying to figure out what that sounds like, what the final remix sounds like, a great example is actually one of our clients, Amy Sullivan-

Julie:
Amy.

Wisdom:
... who's also part of the Artists Mentorship, but yeah, you could-

Julie:
I see Amy here. Hi, Amy. She's welcome.

Wisdom:
Yeah. You could look up Amy Sullivan on Spotify and you'll see the AB, the original version and then the remix version. I think it has Julie's name on it as well. Who are some other artists that you've done remixes for that people would maybe recognize or be familiar with?

Julie:
The most recent ones that came out were from this band called Penny and Sparrow. I did two remixes for them. I know a lot of people here in the Christian music world. Riley Clemons, I've done a couple for her. Kind of all over the map. My friend, Christa Wells, she's an amazing songwriter and I've done two or three for her too. Yeah. I mean, it's all over the place. Amy, I've done two for her, maybe three at this point.

Julie:
Yeah. It's fun. Every artist is so different. There's this one artist named Child who is very left-of-center. That was one of those that was really fun to just have to re-imagine. It was a challenge for me, but in a good way. And there's other bands. They're other bands that I can't think of right now, but they're all on Spotify.

Wisdom:
Awesome. And you have a playlist of them?

Julie:
I do. I have three, said Amy. Okay, I did three remixes for you. I have a playlist. It's actually the bio link in my Instagram profile.

Wisdom:
Cool.

Julie:
But it's a mix of songs I've remixed, produced, played guitar on, but the remix is all say my name and the title, so you'll know which ones are remixes. Yeah.

Wisdom:
Cool. So what would you say is the... Oh, sorry. You were cutting out for a bit.

Julie:
Oh, yeah. Okay. [crosstalk 00:19:56]

Wisdom:
What's the most rewarding part for you working with artists?

Julie:
Well, that's hard. There are a lot of things. If I'm doing a remix, it's always rewarding to get an email back if they really like it or really excited about it. That's really rewarding because it is a little nerve-wracking taking somebody's song that they love and are so used to and doing something different with it. So I always hope it's serving the artist and their music and their project and not just making it my version of it. So that's always rewarding.

Julie:
And then working with people in person. I do a lot of songwriting and I think just hearing people's stories and being able to create something out of that when people take you to their vulnerable places like that, such an interesting job to have because people open up in ways that you wouldn't find in any other job. So it's rewarding to be able to help people process things and tell their stories. Yeah.

Wisdom:
Cool. So I'm going to ask you a question that may... I don't know, you may not feel like you're qualified to answer. I'm not sure how you're going to react to this question, but I'm curious personally to hear your take on it. What is your perspective of the Christian music industry right now and where it's headed?

Julie:
Oh, that's a lot. Are you sure you want to hear this?

Wisdom:
Yeah.

Julie:
First of all, I just got to say, I love Jesus. That is the foundation of my life. I've had a range of experiences in the Christian music industry, good and bad. I think one thing that I've learned, at first, I was a little naive going into it, but it is a business which I think it's weird when business and ministry gets mixed together because people put their money into it and put their life into it but they also are trying to serve God with what they're doing at the same time.

Julie:
That's always been sticky for me and it's made me a little bit skeptical of the Christian music industry. But overall, I'm glad that there's a place where people can go and know exactly what they're going to get. If somebody needs to hear about God or need some hope or something, they could turn on a certain radio station and get that and they can know for sure they're going to get that. But the industry itself, I'm definitely a little back and forth about.

Wisdom:
Okay. I mean, I totally actually resonate with you on that because that is a tension for me too because I actually come from church ministry backgrounds. I used to be a worship pastor or youth pastor, worked in nonprofit ministry. So entering into the Christian music industry and seeing the business side of it was a big culture shock for me and the things that we would discuss behind closed doors and things like that. So I totally get where you're coming from. What excites you about the industry maybe if you were to look at next couple of years of it and what maybe concerns you about it?

Julie:
One thing that excites me is some of the new music coming out. There's some cool bands and new artists. There's this one new artist that a friend, a manager friend, introduced me to. It's one of his artists named Anne Wilson and she's really, really good and I'm excited to see more of that kind of music. Very organic, foci. Yeah, I think overall I'm excited to see more of that. I've had so many conversations with people that have been in the Christian music industry that are saying the same thing. I'm saying in the same thing you're saying.

Julie:
So it's only a matter of time before those parts of it can't exist anymore, the not so great parts. So I'm excited for people to just be more open and aware and just... Yeah, more awake to what's going on and wanting to just be good people. I think it's happening. I'm not saying anyone's bad or anything like that, it's just the industry and the business and ministry mix is I think it's starting to even out a little bit more where it's less cringey to me.

Wisdom:
Yeah. And I mean, it has really turned into a machine, right?

Julie:
Yes.

Wisdom:
It's like a self-propelling machine and a lot of it is it's a system that people are a part of, and there's amazing people in the system and people with really great hearts and everything. But yeah, I think what you're saying, I mean, there's definitely that tension and I'm sure there's a lot of people that have had really bad experiences and have been hurt by what's happened within their experience and all of that.

Julie:
Definitely.

Wisdom:
So yeah, I think probably the biggest thing we all should be doing is praying for the people that are a part of the industry that are really behind the scenes, especially the major artists and people that really have the final say on a lot of decisions that are being made and things like that. Yeah.

Julie:
I think everyone's trying to do their best. So it sometimes doesn't come out in the best way. But one thing I'm also really excited about is just the fact that streaming is taking over, over radio, which means that more artists with different sounds and different genres are getting put on display in a way they didn't before. Like this morning, I just opened up Spotify, the new music, Friday Christian, I think, came up and it was just all artists I'd never heard of, which was really refreshing because it's usually... Like you know the Roster.

Julie:
It's just going to be this person or is that person, with occasionally some new people, but it was cool to see that. Oh, I haven't heard of any of these people. There's new people in this. I think the first song was in Spanish and I don't know, just the industry is changing I think because of streaming and social media and all of that, which is pretty exciting.

Wisdom:
Yeah. And in a lot of ways, I think it's really leveled the playing field for independent artists because an independent artist is trying to get on a big radio station, it's almost impossible. Whereas to get on a major playlist on Spotify, it's not as impossible. Still takes a lot of work and great songs and all of that but yeah, there isn't as many things that keep you out of that system. So yeah, I think this is a really exciting time for independent artists that are doing great things and writing great songs and working with great producers like yourself.

Julie:
Oh, thank you. I love what you're doing too because it's a lot of... Newer artists that don't live in Nashville or Franklin, Tennessee or where all the Christian music comes from for the most part, it's really cool just to see them on different playlists and getting recognition and having their music heard. So what you're doing is really cool.

Wisdom:
Oh, awesome. Thanks. That's encouraging to hear for sure. So, if people want to work with you in some capacity, I guess, one, what are ways that you're wanting to work with artists, especially independent artists, and then how can they get in contact with you?

Julie:
Yeah. So at this point in time, remixes are always something I'm looking to do and excited to take on, some productions too. Just if you have a song written already, I can produce it from home. I'm limiting my songwriting sessions that I'm doing. I'm keeping it to maybe once a week, sometimes less than that. So I've been doing less of that intentionally, but remixes or just any production needs or guitar needs or anything, I'm here for that. My contact info is on my Instagram page. You can DM me or email me. I think there's a little email link at the bottom. So, yeah.

Wisdom:
Awesome.

Julie:
I'm always checking all of that, so I will see.

Wisdom:
Great. Well, thanks so much for taking the time out of your vocal listening session. I don't know what you're working on, but...

Julie:
Usually yeah, a lot of listening to just vocals on their own. I wouldn't be surprised that's what I'm doing today.

Wisdom:
That's got to be a very interesting job, just strip away all the music and just listen to vocals because that's where the real, real... the real gift is.

Julie:
Yeah. But it's a good thing. I like hearing just the vocals and I like having the freedom to hear whatever I hear around it and not be limited by the original production. So, it's pretty fun. I love it.

Wisdom:
A lot of ways, if you strip away all the music and just listen to vocals, that's when you really know if a producer knows how to track vocals well and producing great sound. Cool. Well, yeah, thanks for taking the time to join us. Darren is asking if you're on any other platforms besides Instagram.

Julie:
I would say Instagram is the main platform. I'm on TikTok too. I caved, I have a TikTok, which I actually love. I prefer it to Instagram, but Instagram is definitely still where the business side of things happen for the most part.

Wisdom:
Cool.

Julie:
Yeah. That's about it.

Wisdom:
It's awesome. Sweet. Well, thanks again. Also, I forget how long ago, but a few months ago, I think, we had Julie do a co-write on video, literally live stream, co-write as a part of the Artist Mentorship with two of our members. So, if you're interested in watching that, which is super fascinating to me and just to see this whole song develop in front of your eyes, you can watch that on the artistmentorship.com. So, thanks, Julie, and thanks guys for watching us.

Julie:
Awesome. Yes, thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

Wisdom:
We'll be back next Wednesday, and yeah, enjoy your gloomy weather.

Julie:
Thanks, you too. Hopefully it'll change soon.

Wisdom:
Yeah. All right. [crosstalk 00:31:47]

Julie:
All right. See you soon.

Wisdom:
Bye.

Julie:
Bye.