"I'm really impressed. Richard is one of the best songwriters and record makers I've heard in a very long time."
Randy Newman
"...a voice as distinctive as a thumbprint...if only more songwriters - and more people - had his balance of wit and fortitude."
Jim Farber/New York Daily News
"Richard Julian is one of the best song-writers around today, plus we almost went to second base."
Jill Sobule
"Julian is at his best in a live setting, where his words take on a delightfully vivid, three-dimensional life. But 'Good Life' shows that he can effectively channel and contain his work in concise, bite-sized pieces, too."
Billboard
"This isn't a wallpaper album that you put on and do something else to. Julian makes you listen to his stories with his Zen-like, listen-if-you-want-to attitude. By the time he's singing "The Wrong Bus" (a story within a story), you want to."
Dan Aquilante/New York Post
"In addition to the good music that he's made already, Richard Julian's got lots of good work ahead of him, and I look forward to hearing it."
Marshall Crenshaw
"Richard Julian's style is unique and soulful with a searing, insightful point of view. He's got that rare gift - he can write with great power and deliver it with humor."
Seth Justman (J Geils Band)
Richard Julian is one of the music industry's best-kept secrets. Highly regarded among peers, he is both a gifted composer and a storyteller with an honest, if ironic point of view. His songs, often confessional, and always cinematic, are likely to leave a lasting impression. As a songwriter, he has been compared to Paul Simon, Beck, and Prince and his 1999 release, Smash Palace, found a welcome home at AAA radio, reaching #16. He has toured throughout the United States and Europe, opening for an array of major recording artists as well as headlining in nightclubs. His most recent effort, 'Good Life,' was released on the web independently January/2002 and has been enjoying rave reviews in the press as well as being added to radio playlists nationally.
Richard Julian grew up in Arden, Delaware - a small bohemian community 30 miles south of Philadelphia. Demonstrating an early talent for music, he was classically trained on piano at age six, jumping to modern music theory in his early teens. He wrote his first song when he was fourteen.
Delaware, being no hot bed of musical stardom, an 18 year old Richard headed west toward L.A., but only got as far as Las Vegas. There, he met and played keyboards for cocktail aces Johnny Rico and Pete L'Angelle (This is not a myth). After a year of cranking out "When You're Smiling" in various casinos and dives, Richard read an article about the happening New York songwriter scene while waiting in a dentist's office. "Ladies' Home Journal, I think." With a longing to perform his original material, Julian headed back East where he soon established himself as a well-respected songwriter/performer on a buzzing New York City music scene.
A recording contract was soon to follow and Julian released two records on the Blackbird/Sire label. The new recordings revealed a bold artist searching for his true voice, and finding it in a pile of odds and ends covering a wide spectrum of pop and other influences. On Smash Palace, his second effort, Julian teamed up with infamous Nashville producer Brad Jones and departed from the more standard singer-songwriter fare, creating a swirling blend of horns, woodwinds, vibes, piano, hand drums, loops, and samples. At the center, though, was Richard's voice and guitar, making keen observations about love and hate in a tricky universe - a musician combining the finer points of lyric, melody, irony, and booty. It is regarded by many as one of the most overlooked gems of the last couple of years, perhaps a victim of an unestablished upstart label.
His new CD, 'Good Life,' is a furtherance of his musical partnership with Jones albeit a homier, more acoustic version of their previous work. It was recorded at Jones' house in Nashville, the perfect setting for its intimate minimalist sound. Both records have not been without strong accolades from press and radio.
As CD Now put it, "All this eclecticism might be for naught without the incisive, studied lyricism, sophisticated harmonic sensibilities and smoky, intimate tenor that are the main weapons in Julian's formidable arsenal. This varied, inspiring album hangs together chiefly due to the strength of Julian's authoritative artistic vision."
Or David Dye of World Café - "We were huge fans of Richard's first record, but this new one, by all means, show's that he's here to stay."
And strangely, his song Roman Polanski fell into the hands of the infamous director himself, who sent along a letter of thanks from Paris, something Julian regards as a real high point.
Currently, Richard is preparing to tour nationally throughout 2002, starting in the southeast this February. Other singers are beginning to find Julian's work as well. Art Garfunkel recently recorded 'Young and Free,' a song from Julian's self-titled debut record.
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