Richard Julian

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Hey, I'm Nora Jones. And today I'm playing along with my old pal, Richard Julian. I'm just playing along with you. I'm just playing along with you. Richard Julian. Richard Julian. Richard Julian. Hi, I'm Nora Jones. And with me today is Sarah Oda. Ha, hello. Today we have Richard Julian on the show, who is one of my oldest friends in the world. Yes. If you don't know him, he's a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, a word smith. He's a great songwriter. Yeah, he is. He's been putting out music for decades. He always has really memorable lyrics and he has this really distinct style that draws you in. He just put out his new album last year in 2025 called Hit and Run, where he leans more into keyboard and piano and it features several great musicians. You can find out more on his website, RichardJulianMusic.net. And he's also in a band with you. Yes, The Little Willys. We started this band in the early 2000s, where we did cover songs by Willie Nelson and others. And when he's not performing, he also owns a very popular music venue in Brooklyn called Bar Lunatic. You gotta check it out. Yeah, if you're in the city looking for something cool to do, they have great food, great cocktails and also incredible music. Every musician in the city loves playing there. Yeah. And Richard sort of curates that super eclectic roster of people from all over the place. So yeah, very popular. And we love them. Please enjoy our show. I hope you like it. We had a great time playing music together. It's actually been a really long time since we've gotten to do that. So it was really special. Have fun listening to RichardJulian. I'm so weird about people reading stuff that I haven't edited down. Oh, really? Yeah. And but a long time ago, when Leonard Cohen had released the record, The Future, he did a thing. There was a thing in Vanity Fair and there was a song of his on that record called Democracy, which I thought was pretty amazing. And he shared his lyrics, like his sheets, you know, because he used to keep a lot, he used to write verses over and over again. And I was amazed how, you know, like some of the stuff just wasn't good, like because he was like a hero that he hadn't used. Yeah, this stuff and he was generous enough to share it and it made me feel good. Like I was like, oh, cool. I'm not the only one that writes this. I want to I want to read that stuff. But yeah, I saved it. I actually have the original thing of it because I saved it and stuck it inside my Leonard Cohen book. You should show me. I will. You think that he's everything just came out golden eggs with him or something? Well, it all turned out like that. But he really worked it from almost nothing. I mean, the original ideas, you can only imagine that only he saw where they were going, like how good they could be, you know. That's cool. That's cool to see. Yeah. You want to play this song? Yeah, let's do it. Are we you I thought we weren't going to rehearse though. We're just going to try to dive in. Let's just try it. Yeah, OK. Let's see what happens. All right. Wait, wait, start over. Ready? Get back inside that house and bungalow. Cover up your neck. Cover up your big head too. And bring an extra layer. Bring an extra layer. You don't know what the weather's going to do. Papa done told me later in my prime. As he was looking up and down my funny Valentine, to give you to the count of one, for sure you kill you dead. A better bring an extra layer. Papa done told me. Bring an extra layer. Extra layer. Bring an extra layer. Don't forget the thing mama said. Bring the extra layer. Bring the extra layer. The layer, the layer. Bring the extra layer. We're living in a movie that you all seen before. And here come the scene with a body on the floor. Son, you never listen. It's just the way you be. Did you bring the extra layer? Mama done told me. Did you bring the extra layer? The extra layer. No, no you didn't. That's what we call a fay. A complete. Bring the extra layer. Bring the extra layer. The layer, the layer. Bring the extra layer. Bring the extra layer. Bring the extra layer. The layer, the layer. Bring the extra layer. Mama done told you. To bring the extra layer. Bring it. We should have a tambourine, is she? Yeah. That would work. That was awesome. That was fun. A lot of fun. When did you turn in New Orleans piano player? When I moved to New Orleans. Yeah, that's so fun. You know, down there, when I was living in the bywater, one thing really captivated me was I heard piano everywhere. There's a lot of piano players. Yeah. You just hear piano, everywhere. You walk down the street somewhere and someone's playing a piano. Yeah. And I was one of those people playing a piano. Did you guys have a piano down there? Same one I have in my apartment in Brooklyn. I brought it back up. It's just a crappy piano. I actually have to get rid of it. It's really... It takes a lot of work to keep it together. Got some songs out of it, though. Yeah. We had a U-Haul and we went out to Meterie. And while we still had the U-Haul, I said, let's get on Craigslist. And find a piano today. I bought the first one we saw. This guy said, yeah, it's right in my garage. You can put it right in the U-Haul. Perfect. I figured he would help me out. I went out there. He was in a wheelchair. Aw. And about 75, 80 years old. And we found all these photographs of him inside the piano bench when we got at home. Really? Old photos of him in the 50s at like sock hops and stuff. That's crazy. Like dancing. Yeah, some of them are hanging in Lunatico. You didn't give him back to him? No. We... We didn't. We didn't find them until way later, you know? So that was one of those things. Sorry. Now I feel bad. It was kind of a fun story. Sorry. I made it weird. I made it weird. I made it weird. That's my job, Richard. That's our relationship. But yeah, you know. And I got into playing piano there. That's cool. I love it. You're just so good at it. Also, did you get really... When Henry Butler was around the club, were you into, you know... Henry didn't show me anything. But did he just inspire you a little? I mean, he did in other ways, not in piano ways. If anything, Henry would make me want to not ever play piano. I mean, he was just so incredible. But he was such an incredible artist, you know? On every level. He was really... He had taken that New Orleans thing and had really taken it really far out, you know? It was like... He had some of that gut bucket in his playing, but it was almost, I thought of him more as a classical musician. It was like really austere and, you know? So, yeah. Is this weird? No. Sitting here being interviewed by someone you know for... I thought it would be. I've known you for so long and I thought, wow, how are you gonna interview me? Like, you already know everything. I literally know everything about you. How long have we known each other? For 25 years almost. In 1998. What? Yeah. That's insane. I was 18? Yeah. That's crazy. You were. Yeah, and I had my big old Cadillac. The big Cadillac. Yeah. That car was incredible. Well, so do you know that whenever you and Jesse Harris came down to Texas, I was in college and you guys came down with your friends who were doing a clinic at my college. Yep. And... Not just friends. Yeah. Kurt Rose and Winkle. And Kenny Wallace and Steve Karnes. Who was my roommate at the time. So you guys were just driving across country, right? We were driving across the country. I remember being in Virginia at a gas station and Jesse going to a pay phone. Remember pay phones? Oh, I do. And him... This is how we found out that those guys were gonna be down there. He was mixing a record and he had to call Jesse Murphy for something. And Jesse Murphy said, oh, are you guys passing through Texas? Because those guys are down there. And we said, oh, we are passing through Texas. By chance. We went through... Well, we were just on a crazy trip, you know. We were in... And we went through New Orleans and we went to Houston the night before and then we drove up there. And that's when we met you. That's crazy. So I was told by the head of the department, because I had the Cadillac. That's the whole reason I met you. Yeah, because I had room in my trunk for all the gear. And so they said, go pick up these musicians. You have room for all the stuff at the hotel. So I went and picked them up and I met you guys too. And we had just such a magical 24 hours of like... We really did. ...hanging out. But I remember sitting in the audience when they were doing... We all fell in love. Yeah, we did. We fell in love with each other. I was sitting in the audience. They were about to start the sort of performance clinic and you guys were sitting next to me. And I said, so what do you guys do? And you guys looked at me and you said, oh, we're songwriters. And it was the first time I'd ever even thought about that being a thing. Right. Isn't that funny? Yeah, no, it's funny how these things at some point... You didn't say we're musicians. Oh, we're singer songwriters. You just said we're songwriters. We're songwriters, yeah. Which I thought was also really ballsy. A great way to just be like, we're songwriters, bitch. Yeah. No. I don't know what we thought like that, but I remember we went to a record store and I asked you, I said, well, what are you doing here in this college? You said, oh, I'm studying voice and piano. Yeah. And then I saw a record. We were at a vintage record shop or used record shop that you took us to. Yeah, because I was cool. And they had... Where I was trying to make you think I was cool. They had the Tony Bennett Bill Evans record. Yeah, you bought it for me. And yeah, but you knew it already. Oh, I already knew it. I said, you know this record? You're studying voice and piano. You should know this record. And you said, oh, yeah. And then you sang a small line of touch of your lips. Uh-huh. Like you said, oh, yeah, that's it. And I was like, oh, she's got a good voice. Really? Yeah. You heard me singing the record. I knew right then that you could really sing. Kurt Rosenweilkel also, he bought me Shirley Horn, You Won't Forget Me at that store. Oh, right on. It was an incredible record, which I didn't know. And you didn't forget him or it? I did not forget it. It was really cool though, you guys. It was all very like sweet and... It was amazing. Mentory and not creepy at all. We went on the golf course that night. The golf course, yeah. And we jammed. We like... Yeah. Yeah, and then I told my mom the next day. But you didn't jam. I say. No, we had to ask you to sing though. Really? Really? You were just vibing and hanging out. We played a long time, I remember, before I said, hey, you sing? Why don't you sing a song? I was probably shy. And then you sang. You sounded so good. I sang Come Rain or Come Shine. Yes, you did. That's the one. Yeah. And I kept calling the chord changes out to Steve. He didn't know it? No, he did. I just was a weirdo. I think because I was doing it in a different key. You're like four. Four. Two more. And I told my mom. That's classic. I know, I told my mom the next day I called her. I was like, oh my God, this amazing thing happened. These guys from New York came, these musicians. And we all hung out on the golf course on the edge. She was like, what? That's horrible. She just thought it sounded creepy, you know? Yeah. It was funny. Well, everybody was in love with you. She was probably right. It felt very innocent to me. And not... It was innocent. Yeah. It was amazing. We had such a great time. It was so sweet. All right. We used to talk about it even before you moved to New York. We were like, man, were that night in Texas with that girl Nora? That was so much fun. Ha ha. Two, three, and... MUSIC MUSIC We did it dirty. We did it sweet. And in the morning, found somewhere to eat. Over pancakes, scrambled eggs, you draped your feet across my legs. I draped my feet across your legs. Oh. And it was so nice to feel your touch. MUSIC I didn't know you very well. MUSIC I didn't know you, but anyone could tell. MUSIC You have some secrets to protect. MUSIC And some hang-ups to project. We all have hang-ups to project. Oh. And it was so nice to feel your touch. MUSIC And so we tried to make the conversation last. MUSIC Politics, movies, and jazz. MUSIC I got lost up in my head, the way I do. MUSIC Where it occurred to me that maybe I was through. MUSIC And maybe I was too. MUSIC So I didn't know Jimmy Jooffrey was. MUSIC That's alright. No one ever does. MUSIC It would be false of us to blame it all on that. MUSIC The heart is fickle like a cat. MUSIC Oh. MUSIC It was so nice. MUSIC Oh. MUSIC Sure was nice. MUSIC Oh, it sure was. MUSIC So nice. To feel your touch. MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC That was so pretty. I think I need a cigarette. LAUGHS So anyway. Anyway. I lived in Cleveland for a while. LAUGHS That was nice. I like your songs. They get in there. They really get in there to that thing. Yeah. You always have had that. You get inside the dirty. The dirty stuff. The dirty stuff. Both meetings implied. You know, I really always love Prince a lot. Yeah. Prince's music can get really dirty. And I like the way he writes about it. Like that song If I Was Your Girlfriend. You know that song? So it's like, it's that psychological. It's the weird stuff, you know, that he gets into. And he writes about it really well. It's like very psychological. And I mean, I'm not Prince. I'm not funky like that. And so it's weird to take stuff like that into like a softer, you know, kind of setting. Yeah. It requires a different set of rules, I think. But yeah, I thought this tune kind of hit some stuff. I thought it was... Yeah, it could be a Willys tune for sure. Yeah. Also, the changes kind of get into that kind of reminded me of that Christopherson tune and like, you know. Oh, right on. Yeah. It has a little bit of that movement. Yeah. I'm so glad you're writing songs and you made this new album. Because there was kind of a spell where you weren't writing as much. No. Because I mean, you opened a bar. Yeah. You opened a venue. How old is Lunatico now? It's nine years old this month. That's a lot of work. Yeah. Small business and the pandemic, small business. Pandemic, small business and also can't emphasize enough having a kid. Yeah. I think that was more. He's 11 now. Yeah. That was more interrupting of my creative flow than the bar. Because the space your brain needs to be creative isn't there when you have a kid. The kids need the space in your brain. They need it. They require it. It's constant brain interruption, right? Yes. Yeah. I had a period of time when I opened the bar, you know, Lunatico is a very creative place and just even designing it or, you know, even thinking of cocktails, like, well, let's design a new cocktail. For a while, I fooled myself into thinking that it was on par with music. Like, I thought, well, you know what? I just need a creative outlet and this is creative. So who cares if I'm writing songs? Plus, I wrote so many songs. I thought, I'll just do my old songs. I got a lot of songs. I don't need any new songs. And then, I fooled myself with that for about two years and then I had a string of dates. I think it was in Japan. I was a little offered to go over there and do some stuff. And I was performing every night and I thought, oh, no, no. This is what... This is next level, you know. I forgot how powerful it feels to get all that stuff out and do it in a room full of people. But I couldn't get the writing thing back. I just couldn't do it. And finally, I was playing a show at Lunatico one night and I was doing that song. You might remember that song, Your Friend John. Oh, yeah. I know all your songs. I love that song and it's kind of... It's a little bit of a mean song, you know. And I was up there playing it. And I realized that I didn't want to sing it anymore and that I didn't like the person in the song. Yeah. And I was... You didn't like the way you were in the song. I didn't like myself and I was having a sort of emotional crisis while I was performing during the set. That's crazy. And I revealed it to Chris, Maricy, after we were done performing. The set went well. We had a good audience. People liked it. It wasn't that the gig was bad. It's a funny song. I feel like it's the kind of song the crowd will respond to. Yeah. And Chris said... And I told him, I said, man, I'm feeling really weird singing these songs. I'm just not... I don't want to sing my songs anymore. So all of them. Pretty much all of them. Now I'm learning which ones I still want to sing. But Chris said, yeah, you're not really that guy anymore. That's funny. He just said it instantly while I was telling him. And I thought, wow, I have to write new songs. I think that is a very true thing, though. That happens. I have songs like that where I just don't really like... I can't embody them anymore. Because I don't feel the same way. Yeah. There was somebody... I'm not going to say a name, but there's a person who I think is really incredibly talented, very famous person, writes songs. I don't like his persona in the songs. You know, songs can be different, too. They can come from a different party of personality. Maybe he's not. Maybe that's just a side way that he thinks. But it's funny, some of his most beautiful songs even, when you get down to the lyrical content and what they're actually saying, they're like, it's like, whoa, dude, don't say that. Yeah. Why are you saying that? I could see that about your friend John, maybe. Yeah, that's the way I felt about him. It's too snarky, dude. It's too snarky, and I just didn't feel like doing it anymore. So I knew I couldn't just start writing songs again like that, because my songwriting process is so long. It takes me so long to finish a song. Yeah. So I set my alarm at 7 a.m. every single day After that? through 2022, and I woke up and worked for three hours. And it was amazing, and it made me feel like not only I was getting productive work done, some days better than others obviously, but when I could get a song going and have it in my head, even when I was working throughout the rest of the day and not songwriting, I felt like a more enjoyable person to be around. Because you felt like you got your... It's like exercising or something. You got your thing done. It really was a big sea change. That's cool. And I think also writing on a different instrument is a really good way to get yourself back into the game. Yes. Something different. It's like you're coming from a totally different place and you're going towards different chord changes. Yeah. I think that's helpful. Was that the first time you ever had a long sort of period where you didn't write? Really? Well, that long, yeah. I mean, it was years. I didn't write songs for... Because I did Flir De Leib, the record I did in New Orleans. That was the last time I was writing songs was when I was in New Orleans. I was in 2011. And I didn't start these until 2021-ish, 22-ish, I guess. Yeah. So, yeah. It's like 10 years. That's insane. Yeah, a whole decade. That's crazy, but you got a lot done during that decade as well. I did. Yeah. It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. A small business with the coolest collection of music. That's another thing. You were talking about writing on a different instrument, and I mean, the humbling aspect of that, and I mean that in a positive way. Just the music scene here is just incredible. And you can put your own talents into a context that I think is... It's humbling in a beneficial way, you know? It reminds you to just keep things straight. Yeah. Don't try to... Yeah, don't try too hard. Don't try to be somebody you're not. Exactly. Know your limitations. And be there and be your best, you know? Yeah, but let it trickle in and sort of color things as well. You got to be open. You have the coolest collection, like, curated... I mean, I'm sure it's curated. How much of the bands that come through Lunatico is just by chance? I mean, is it all completely curated? At this point, it's pretty curated. Yeah. But it's totally all over the place. It's everywhere. Well, you know, some of that's a business move, too. Because we... If you stand outside the club, you'll notice all the storefronts are shuttered, you know, to the right. We're not near a subway station. It's all destination traffic. There's no walk-by traffic. When the place is packed, which it is, fortunately, very often, it's all people that have come from somewhere, even if it's from blocks away and they've decided that that is their destination. Interesting, yeah. So, I don't have enough... I don't have enough fan base to just be like a stylistic... I can't put on the same thing every night. Yeah, so it's completely different. Brazilian bands, yes. We subdivide our following into various demographics, of which I've identified seven. Really? Yeah. And ideally, I'm hitting all seven of those weekly. Ideally, like, if you want to... Some people came to hear me the other night, because I only play there twice a year. And I've determined that's all I'm good for on a business level. You can only draw twice a year. So, I play there twice a year. And the people that came to my show, they're not going to be at Amar Marshall's show the night before. Amar, who I think is amazing. Amar is a drummer, African-American drummer who always brings an incredible group. He's a great jazz drummer. He plays with Marcus Miller. And he gets that kind of work. That kind of vibe in his playing. And he has a number of bands. One that has Ravi Coltrane, one that has Jaleel Shaw, but this one band he has comes up from Philadelphia. It's all Philly guys who I've never heard of. This bass player, John Smith. And guitar player who plays guitar. It doesn't even sound like guitar. Sebastian or... I can't remember his name, but... It's just really like hip-hoppy and groovy and stuff. I don't picture that audience coming out to hear me. And I'll picture my audience going out to hear that. Although I love it when people do do that. When we first opened it was more... There might be a few crossovers every now and so while. So what else do you have coming through there? We have the Brazilian stuff, Samba Jazz, and we'll have singer-songwriter. We've got Freaky, avant-garde jazz. What my staff refers to as Nightmare Jazz. Um... You know? Yeah, you know, all of that stuff. Singers, you know, we had the gospel brunch for a while with the gospel scene. That's cool. And you have food. And food, yeah. That's a whole other layer. Well, the whole reason for opening the club was to have a good food and drink menu. At a music club. We thought that was sorely lacking. And I think we were definitely right about that. You were right. It's just a lot of things to be good at at once. Yeah. Which seems hard. Yeah, it's weird. Weird general managing all that stuff. Because you've known me for so long. I know you like that stuff. I like it, but putting it out every day is a whole other next level. At this point, it's running well right now. Coming back from the pandemic was so hard. It was so difficult to get a team back. Reassemble a team. And I've only felt really great about it for about the last six months. The last six months, things have been... I still work really hard, but I don't rack my brain. I don't go to bed feeling demoralized about some issue. You have enough people to back it up. People know what they're doing. They know what the vibe is. That's cool. There's not a lot of hand wringing. We just get it done. I was there the other night and I had the perfect margarita. Yeah, right on. Was it good? I had three more, too many. That's about as many as I had, too. It's not like the old days drinking margaritas. No. We used to drink a lot of margaritas. It sure is not the same anymore. I'll say that. I cannot do it like I used to. Definitely not. I don't want to do it like I used to. No, it's painful. Opening a bar made me drink less. That's funny. I don't drink while I'm working. At the end of the night, you know the chalkboards that we do? You do at the end of the night? End of the night, I have a marg. And the chalkboards are very artsy. That's like your zen moment. It's a way to roll down the energy so I can go to sleep. So funny. Can we do an old song of yours? Sure. Can we do Staying Glass? Right on. It is, but I re-recorded it. It's on the new album and it's totally different. Yeah, it's cool. I always had... You're touching on something else, actually, which is just that this new record has singers. And they're so incredible. Right on. They sounded great on the record and they sounded the same when I saw you. It was so... The parts are so incredible. Well, they... They work hard. One girl, Katie, Katie Martucci, she has a group called Tucci Swing and they do all Boswell sisters stuff. That's so cool. I tried the record with some other singers, some gospel singers and it didn't work as well. And so I called Katie and Sammy and then they came in with this other singer who wasn't there the other night, Venetia Gould, who's incredible. And Sammy Stevens. Sammy Stevens, sorry. I should be giving props to everybody because they're all artists too. In their own right there, I'll make their own records. And... But I've had this music and this style of doing my music for as long as I can remember. I mean, for decades. But I never knew who to call to do the singing and have the horn sections. And now that was one of the things that Lunatico opened up was I know all these horn players and all these singers. And I can see a band like that Boswell sisters band and go, oh, wow, I could just call... They know how to sing together. They'll know what to do. And I never had that... And also just financially, I was able to pull off a record with ten-piece band. Pull off? Yeah. So finally, with all those resources, I was like, cool, I'm going in, I'm going to do this. And Stained Glass was a tune that I always had hoped I could get in that environment. So I was like, I'm going to drag that one back out. Yeah, like you... Were you not happy with the old version or you just always heard it in a way that never happened? I didn't like my voice on it. I don't like my voice on that whole record. Which record is that? Girls need attention. Let's just direct everyone to it. No, it has some cool songs on it. I like the songs. You know, it's weird. I don't feel like I was in a good emotional place and I think you hear it in the voice. Or I hear it anyway, so it bothers me. You never know how other people hear stuff, so you just have to put things out and hope it goes well. That's interesting though. I mean, I have that too, where you go back and there's certain things, I cringe a little, because of one small thing that nobody might notice. Yeah. I'm doing that right now, even with the new record. I want to go redo like 10 things and I want to remix it and everything. I'm just like... I can't stop... I think that's normal. I think most artists are like that. Yeah, probably so, right? Yeah. I hate it. I mean, it really makes me neurotic and nuts. I wonder if it makes everyone as neurotic and nuts. I guess it probably does. Well, I think people have different levels of neurosis. Thanks. You know, I know you, Richard. And your next level of neurosis. No, no, no. I mean, I guess it depends on everyone's level. But I do think everybody does it. To a certain aspect. I drove a few people crazy on this record, for sure. Really? Yes, I was told. In fact, it's not just my imagination. So... All right. That showbiz, babe. Anyway... Hey, I've been in a band with you. I've been in a band with you, and I'm sure I've driven units doing stuff, too. You never really have, actually. That's not true. Thanks, so I can't think of anything now. You got mad at me for getting coffee one day. That's the only thing I remember thinking, wow, she's got a hard core. That's ridiculous. No, because I was late. You said I had to be on time. You had somewhere to be and we had to rehearse, and I was late. I was at the Mud Cup Coffee. So you knew I'd stop downstairs, even though I was late. You said did you stop for coffee, and I'm standing there with this orange, you know, like... Oh, my God. I was like, yeah. I was trying to think of a lie, but I couldn't think of one while I was holding the orange cup. This is like therapy. This is like friend therapy. Oh, man. I can be uptight. I don't think I'm as uptight as I used to be. I think I used to be much more uptight sometimes. It's funny. We've gone opposite directions, I think. And I think probably because maybe you were more uptight than because you just had so much stuff coming at you at once. You were figuring out your career and your role in all of that or something. I think I was just a little uptight and very young and very on time. Oh, right on. Well, I'm like that now, running the club. Now I'm like 15 minutes late always. Yeah. One of the funny things is musicians come by the club and I go, please don't leave your cases there on the table. We're sitting people. Can you please put those out there? And I'm like over there policing it. And then I did a gig at Dizzy's with the band I have with John Chun. And we're sound checking and then I see them setting up the dining room and I look out. My stuff is spread across five tables. You did the exact same thing. Yeah, I've got a case over here. My jacket's over here. It's funny. My scarf is hanging somewhere else. I thought, wow, such a slob. I didn't know this, but I started noticing when I would eat there, that their playlist was our playlist. And some really deep cuts, like stuff that I've even taken off of records, like, you know, like, you know, old, this Louisiana band that I learned about from reading a Dr. John downbeat interview and something like that. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, 75, you know, and it would end up, and I thought it was great. They're playing really great music in there, but I wasn't sure if they were ripping us, but I had one day I was thinking, there's not a lot of famous people named Floyd, is there? And then I thought, well, there's Floyd Kramer, the piano player who I know is probably influenced you a little bit, right? Maybe? So I was like, oh, I should put some Floyd Kramer on the Lunatico playlist. Didn't he have a hit called Last Date or something? And I look up Floyd Kramer, and I see under Floyd Kramer this other record that he did, is like super obscure record, and it has a tune called Fancy Pants, which reminded me of that story of Nikki Grimm and the thing. I was like, wow, I gotta check that out. And I turn it on and it's really silly tune. And it's so silly, I had to put it on the playlist, just this really silly little piece that he does. You have to check it out. And then about five weeks later, I heard Fancy Pants at Hibino. I was like, there's no way. They didn't get it from us, you know. But. Wait, how do you do your playlist? I make the playlist. On what though? Oh, on an Apple Tunes. On Apple Tunes. Yeah, Apple. So I think they're just shazaming us and making their own playlist, you know? Oh, you think they shazam it? I think so, yeah. It's that analog. I mean, nobody would be able to find that tune. That's just like, that's such a random thing. Here's what I noticed on Spotify. You know, for so long, you could find all these cool obscure songs. And then I start hearing them at every coffee shop and in every end of some TV show as the music. And they're like amazing old obscure songs. But I think through the play listing and the weekly discovery for you, it seems like they feed everybody a lot of the same stuff. I see, right on. And then I've heard that like, I don't know how Apple Tunes works, but I know that on some of these platforms, like if you link up with someone on a couple tunes across the world, they'll feed you their stuff and they'll feed them your stuff because you seem to have similar tastes. It's like this weird thing. Wow. Isn't that crazy? Wow, it's amazing. It's like they really have the... The age of big brother is like... It's crazy. Is here and has been here for a while. Yeah, it's interesting. But I've discovered so much cool music that way. But I just, I feel like people maybe, if you're connected in any way, somehow it feeds you the same stuff. I don't know. No, it's weird. I mean, just the algorithms of stuff that they want you to see online too. If you just linger over something long enough, like I go on Facebook or on Instagram and they have me pegged because I'm 56, I'm white. I'm white. And they're like, you wanna know what Keith Richards is saying about Mick Jagger. I'm like, I don't give a shit what Keith Richards is saying about Mick Jagger anymore. I love the Stones, but I have gone, I love the Stones and I've gone on little, rabbit holes of looking at old Stones videos. But then they think, so then my news feed on Google is like, Bob Dylan said something about Mick Jagger. Well, who cares? I'm not clicking on that. Yeah, they try to do that. Or they try to sell me boner pills. Or the other day they wanted me to watch a guy getting bitten by a horse. This is like, why do I wanna see that? And I think I must have clicked one time on a dash cam accident, like a car accident, because they constantly, they wanna show me that car accidents are happening. I don't click on them, but they're like, I'm watching something about to happen. You're supposed to click on it to actually watch. You wanna finish it. It's like stag. I mean, it's weird. It's messed up. It's really weird. It's very weird. But I must have done it once. You know, I must have gone, oh wow. You know, you can do a lot of things when you're bored. That's the least of it. Yeah, exactly. Maybe, maybe you find yourself. What is it? Uh, you mean the bridge? Maybe. Maybe you find yourself. What's the key? It's, it should be C sharp, right? I don't know. That's why I'm asking. Yeah. No, I mean, I thought you had a chart there. Yeah, no, the chart is not with the lyrics. So I'm trying to combine it. Oh, I see. So yeah, C sharp minor. Maybe you find yourself. And that would be like a D9. Somebody else. E flat. That sounds cool. Oh, I like that with that, yeah, that with that note on top. And then, yeah, I know. It's weird. My songs are weird. I know they're weird. All right, let's try this whack-down chart. You said it. That's too low. That's pretty hot. That's like Jaws. Well, you know, you could go that angle too. Yeah. Yeah. Of the poster bed. And it's shown on me. And it's shown on you. Time passed by. And the memory grew. I hope we get to do it again. Do it. Do it. Do it again. I hope we get to do it again. The light through stained glass cast us out for blue. You made threats and then you followed through. We came. We conquered. Yes, and we saw. You're so corrupt, acting above the law. I hope we get to do it again. Feeling the same, the same about me Hopefully, it gets a-do it Do it, do it, do it Maybe you found somebody Somebody else Someone who knows how you take your tea tell me baby how do you take your tea I hope we get to do it again tell me how do you take your tea I hope we get to do it again tell me how do you take your tea I hope we get to do it again Honey, with honey, let me know sugar Baby, you colorized my mind Honey, how do you take your tea? Don't we get to do it just one more time Honey, honey, let me know sugar I hope we get to do it again Honey, honey, let me know sugar That was fun. Yes. I want to do something old of yours. Okay. Not too old, maybe. I guess I saw you do this song at the gig the other night. So I know it's one you still feel, I guess. Okay. Yeah. Don't wait up. Don't wait up. Yeah. I really love that song. As soon as you started playing it the other night. Yeah. It just transported back to those days and the memories and the God we used to hang out all the time. Yeah, we really did. Yeah. Yeah, that tune was right in the heart of when we were really hanging all the time. Yeah. Yeah. It really was. It's an emotional song. Can we do it? Yeah. One cool thing about running a club too is that when you were just mentioning about those days of us doing these songs, we did them mostly at the living room. Yeah. And the living room has been closed a while. I don't even think the living room lasted as long as Lunatico has. Yeah, like it was just a short period. Yeah. Maybe. But it seems gigantic in my mind. It just seems like this irreplaceable part of our history. And I think that's a cool thing about a club. It's like it's this entity that, you know, it's like a philosophy that whoever connects to it, you know, the musicians that are playing in our spot now, that's going to be their living room. Yeah, and people come to see each other. Yeah. And yeah, it becomes a thing. Yep. Those were the days, man. They really were. We had a lot of tequila. I was going to say vodka. Yeah. Vodka, that's right. That's right. That was my drink for a while. It was, yeah. That was rough. Oh, vodka's like, vodka's mainlining. Yeah, it was too much drinking. You think about that sometimes, don't you? What? The drinking that we used to do. I do. I think it was a lot more than I realized at the time. Yeah, me too. We had fun though. I don't feel like it was dark drinking. Yeah. It was probably maybe not for you and me. Maybe not for you and me. It was probably destructive drinking. Yes. In many ways without us knowing it. Yeah. But it was not. We were happy-ish drunks. Yeah, we really like to get drunk though. It really was. It was too much. We said not to do it pretty frequently. I mean, it was too much. Yeah. Yeah. Like every night. Like every night. It really was. Kids at home. I can't believe it. I mean, like. Don't do it. Yeah. No. We don't. I'm not promoting it. I was just reminiscing. I have been thinking about it a lot lately though because when I go back and think about all that stuff, I'm like, oh yeah, I was probably really drunk. Yeah. Yeah. Or you think about, because you have kids now too. Of course. Like I think Floyd, if he ever gets into that or something, I think I would be really horrified for him. Me too. Even though I survived. Even though we survived it. But I do feel like we were on the edge of, we were weirdly responsible drunks. Yeah. Yeah. I know what you mean. Yeah. I don't know. Not all of us, but well anyway. The thing is, is when you're hitting anything that hard, there's always somebody who's hitting it harder than you and makes you feel like your thing is in check. Exactly. Well, that's the thing. I feel like we always had people with us who were way more obvious. So we were like, we were lightweight comparatively, but we were actually- We kind of were. Yeah. You know. I mean, it's crazy to think about it. Also living in New York City, you know, you don't really have to drive home and it's definitely easier to get wasted here because you're out till four in the morning. It's a playground. The bars close at four. New York City is not for adults. It's not an adult town. It was crazy. Yeah. Well, it was bonding though. I mean, we have lifelong bonds out of those days. We don't remember most of them. It was part of it. Yeah. No, definitely. There's a lot of, yeah. Yeah. It was crazy though. Yeah. You know what I was thinking about though was how this song and really like all those songs from back then, they were so many of them were written in bed in the morning. Really? This is such a morning vibe. Yeah. Not getting out of bed because we drank too much the night before. They're hungover songs. Yeah. And they're sung from that time. And they're sung from that kind of sort of melancholic, you know, you know, that thing that can kind of happen when you have a headache and you're trying to get out of bed. Well, it's interesting. We're not, we're certainly not the only people to have that lifestyle, but I feel like there was something unique about us all being musicians, but not having day jobs. You had a day job for a while, but not at that time. Not when I wrote this song. Yeah. And I had already started making money. So when I was home, we would do gigs sometimes, but we would also just hang out. It was a hanging lifestyle. Yeah. Cause I was you had the pool table. Yeah. I was between tours. Yeah. And then you didn't have to get up in the morning. Yeah. And our whole crew was like that. Oh, big time. None of us, all of us were gigging musicians with no morning day job obligations. But I was doing that even with the day job. You were? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I was going into, I mean, you know, I was younger. I could never do that now. I'd die. I know. I mean, that night, I came to your bar last week and I died the next day. Yeah. Yeah. I hit it kind of hard the other night too, but I was just having a good time. I never hit it like that. I do it on Mardi Gras and sometimes on New Year's Eve though, I didn't even do that this New Year's Eve or on a gig night, on a gig night, if it's going well and I'm communing, I'll have a few cocktails. At the end, but you don't really, you don't do too much cause you're trying to play. Yeah. Yeah. No. And we used to do those Willy gigs and just get plastered. Even before we'd show up like that. That's when I learned that I don't sing and tune drunk. I don't sing very good drunk. I don't sing and tune sober either. I mean, I mean, for me, it's just kind of random whether I, whether I have that musicality. I don't warm up though. That's the thing. Oh yeah. I always warm up. You do all those warm ups. You show me some of them. I learned, well, I learned that I have more control if I do. Yeah. I don't, I want to learn them. I actually want to, there's two things that I want to do musically right now. One is I'm getting older and I'm losing that part between my falsetto and regular voice. Yeah. I can't hit those F's and G's and they were bugging me the other night. I don't know if you noticed, but I made a lot of adjustments and went down because I was trying to hit it and I couldn't find it. So I was like, I had to move down. I was drinking Marguerite. I was paying for detention. But I want to start doing some lessons. But for the last, for the last several years when I do gigs, the only warm up I do is I sing the verses to Lillie. I'm like, let's stay together over and over again because they have all those weird intervals. The Algreen too. That's so funny. Yeah. It'll help me with the falsetto getting back and forth. But I need more than that now. I need to actually like work out the part of my throat. I can't just rely on that. No, I think age is important. And then today I was on Instagram just this morning and I saw Larry Goldings with a aerial shot of his organ. He does it has like a Patreon page and he shows an aerial shot and he was playing all this really badass gospel inversions. Cool. And I thought, you know what? I'm going to become part of his Patreon page. I'm going to learn these changes. What's a Patreon page? I think it's a thing where you give lessons, you know, someone belongs to the page. So you subscribe. So the, but he gives general lessons and you subscribe, you can not. I can see the lessons. Yeah. Not. And it's like an aerial shot. I want to do it. I want to do it. He was playing some stuff I've been wanting to get to. And I don't know where that stuff is. So I thought, I'm going to do that and start working out my voice because I want to get out this record and I want to go on tour. I want to do some stuff. Yeah. I want to, I don't know who's going to pay for this, but I'm determined to take a seven piece band, at least to a few markets. I think you're going to pay for it. Yeah, I think so. I think you're right. What are you talking about? Well, I'm just putting it out there. In case the promoters are listening. Oh man. Yeah. All right, let's try that too. Okay, let's do it. Yeah. Oh, this frost on Memorial Day. Love I'm half blind. Could you help me find my way? I chewed all the fun from my gum waiting for trade. I felt prey to those thoughts that come when you're caught in the rain. I'm on the edge. I'm in the yellow paint. Love I'm half mad. Let's hope that means I'm half sane. The touch of your lips, the lunar eclipse so soft. And yet this river of doubt, the spout that never turns off. I want your flu, baby, not just your cough. Please make me a man, not this shambles of leaves lost. Staring out at the church, the pigeons perched in the eaves. Wondering what might have been had I not fallen in with thieves. Could you make that double please? Oh, love is late. Don't wait up for me. Love is late. Don't wait up for me. Don't wait up. God, it still makes me emotional. Even that time. I made a lot of mistakes, but I liked it. Yeah, I liked it a lot. I liked the track. They were just little chordal things. I don't think they really matter. Even some of the lyrics, could you make that a double please? Yeah. Don't wait up for me. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. I know, man. Wow. Well, now that we've jumped into our extreme, we're getting down in it tonight. Yeah. This morning. It truly is, though. It's a truth that I've thought about in the last five years a lot. Yeah. That I didn't, I didn't really realize it at the time. Well, we have time to reflect, you know. Yeah. Luckily we're still here to do it. But we had a lot of fun. We did. I thought maybe we could end our little session with Love Sick Blues from the Willys album. All right. What do you think? Sounds good. Yeah. 2024. How old do you think this song is? Wait, it's 2024? It is. I thought it was still to 2023. So this song was written. Yeah, that's probably. When was the song written? Hank, well, isn't there a whole thing where like Hank didn't really write it? I think the legend is he kind of stole it from a street singer, like a blues street guy. It sounds like it. It doesn't actually sound like one of his songs. No, it doesn't. Yeah. So it probably is true. Yeah. I wonder, I wonder where it really came from. Yeah. He wrote so many good songs. One day I want to do with the new arrangement with all the horns and like kind of, I want to do a version of Lonesome Whistle. He wrote so many good ones and he was so young when he died. It's amazing how much we left. I know. It's crazy. All right. But this one, let's give it a try. Oh, Tray, you don't usually play this. Yeah, you're right. I don't. You usually just sing it. Yeah. I always stood up and sang this one. That's cool. I think I know it or not. Yeah, definitely. I got a feeling called the blues. Oh Lord, since my baby said goodbye. Oh, Lord, I thought I would die. She'll do me. She'll do you. She's got that kind of loving. Oh, Lord, I love the heroine. She calls me sweet dad. He's such a beautiful dream. I hate to think it's all over. I've lost my heart, it seems. I've grown so used to you somehow. And I know about his sugar daddy now. And I'm alone on some. I've got the love, sick blues. I'm in love with the beautiful guy. That's what's the matter with me. I'm in love with the beautiful guy. She don't care about me. Lord, I've tried and I've tried to keep her satisfied. She just couldn't see. But now that she is leaving, this is all that I can say. I've got a feeling called the blues. Oh, Lord, since my baby said goodbye. Lord, I don't know what I'll do. All I do is sit and say, Oh, Lord, that last long day she said goodbye. Oh, Lord, I thought I would die. She'll do me, she'll do you. She's got that kind of loving. Lord, I love the heroine. She calls me sweet daddy. Such a beautiful dream. I hate to think it's all over. I've lost my heart, it seems. I've grown so used to you somehow. And I'm grown by the sugar daddy now. And I'm alone, on one summer. I've got the luscious blues. I'm alone, on one summer. I've got the luscious blues. Yeah. I played a lot on a wrong chord. That's a Sunday morning. That's either a late night or an early morning. The idea was it to do the little willies, because I don't remember. It was Jim's idea. But you guys invited me. Jim Campbell on the... You guys did a gig without me at the living room. Oh. And you and I had sang... Because you're from Delaware. We didn't think you were country enough. But then you asked me to do that song, The World at Surprise. Oh, that's right. The Wayland Jennings. And so I came and sang it the day you were doing that gig, and you said, oh, we're going to do this thing. So I showed up and you said, why don't you do that song? And then I did the song and then I joined the... I didn't leave. I forgot that history. That's what happened. Yeah, okay. Yeah, you guys were a quartet. I thought you sounded amazing. But we'd only done like one gig. It's not like we'd have done much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's cool. Yeah. That was fun. Super fun. Thanks for coming so early, bar owner. Yeah, right on. Early in the morning. Aw, thanks for listening. That was our show with Richard Julian. That's so great. To know him is to know... To know his music is to know him as a person, because I feel like his lyrics are like having a conversation with, you know, your quirky friend, Richard. They're very quirky, Richard. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I owe a lot to Richard for my early songwriting. My early musical life. Like he really was a good friend and sort of showed me stuff and helped shape me. So it was really nice to just have him on the show. If you want to know what songs we played today on the show, the first one was the extra layer from his album out now called Hidden Run 2025. Second song is called Jimmy Jouffrey was from Hidden Run also. The third song is called Stained Glass is also from his new album, Hidden Run from 2025. It was also recorded on his 2010 album, Girls Need Attention. Yes, we do. The fourth song, one of my favorites from the old days, is called Don't Wait Up from Sloan, New York back in 2005. The last song we played was Love Sick Blues. It's a classic 10-pan alley song from the 20s composed by Cliff Friend with lyrics by Irvin Mills. But my favorite version, of course, by Hank Williams from his 1952 album, Moan in the Blues. And we also do it on the Little Willys album. Special thanks to Richard Julian for joining us today. Next week we'll be back with Luz Elena Mendoza-Ramos of Hila Bamba. Nora Jones' Playing Along is a production of I Heart Podcasts. I'm your host, Nora Jones. Today's episode was recorded by Matt Maranelli, mixed by Jamie Landry, edited by Sarah Oda, audio post-production and mastering by Greg Tobler. This is artwork by Eliza Fry, photography by Chauvin Lenez, produced by me and Sarah Oda. Executive producers Aaron Wong-Coffman and Jordan Runtog, marketing lead Queen and A-Key. This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed human.