Photo Credit: Ryan Collerd

Not a lot of country music coursed through the veins of Julian Talamantez Brolaski growing up, but once they got tuned into the country radio station in college – life took a turn for the best. We began this back-and-forth in that moment where one passion met another, what poets would love the new album, ‘It’s Okay Honey,’ and more like why Julian decided to embrace the impact of the past few years. All of that and more awaits…

Kendra: You eventually took the piano skills from your childhood and your love of poetry from your adolescence and, from it, started to create music, but what was that sort of aha moment that made you realize to put two sorts of passions into one?

Julian Talamantez Brolaski: Thank you for that question. I think probably deep down I already knew they were one. But when I was living in Berkeley, I fell in love with old country music on the college radio station. I heard artists like Charlie Patton, Hank Williams, the Carter Family, and Kitty Wells. And most of all I wanted to emulate Hank’s lonesome voice break and learn some of these songs. So I got a guitar, taught myself three chords, and you know, the truth came to me. 

I was into writing a lot of formal verse at the time. You know, poems that rhyme—sonnets and things like that. I was studying medieval and Renaissance literature, where poetry and songs were often the same thing. And I’d been writing poems since I was a kid, so putting it all together wasn’t a far leap.

Kendra: Because you didn’t grow up immersed in country music, I’m interested to know what artists were you listening to as a youth in Southern California?

Julian Talamantez Brolaski: Omigosh—well, a lot of classical music. And then your usual ’90s fare. I kind of got into Riot Grrl music for a minute in the early-mid ’90s. I loved Nina Simone. Some gothic and industrial music, indie rock music. 

There is a great record store in Encinitas where I grew up—Lou’s Records. That’s where I first heard artists like Wu-Tang Clan, Fugazi, and PJ Harvey being played. I confess to being very moved by Tori Amos at the time. There wasn’t the internet in those days, so to find out about music you really had to look around.

Kendra: On top of being a musician, you’re highly educated, with an MFA in poetry and a Ph.D. in English to your name. You also taught for several years. Do you think being in front of a classroom helped prepare you for the highs and lows that come with being a live performer?

Julian Talamantez Brolaski: Wow, you dug deep! I don’t tend to front my education on the internet. I got those degrees because I was trying to figure out how to be a poet in the world. And I love to live a life of the mind. Being a professor is very performative—you have to hold people’s attention. 

I’d been reading poetry out loud since I was a teenager, but I was still really shy. Grad school helped me learn to talk in front of people. And teaching, too. I started off as a substitute teacher for elementary and high school when I still looked like a high school student myself. Teaching the younger kids was a good way to ease into teaching adults; I felt less shy around five-year-olds. Later, I taught for many years as an adjunct professor, and occasionally I have gotten the privilege to teach poetry and creative writing, which is wonderful. 

I think teaching and giving poetry readings both gave me the form of being on stage. But being a poet prepared me the most for performing music live because it taught me how to emote from the heart. 

Kendra: People will hear those songs live soon – as you’ve noted, you plan on touring once ‘It’s Okay Honey’ drops on August 4th. Which, speaking of the new record – what poet do you think would appreciate the lyricism of this album most and why?

Julian Talamantez Brolaski: That’s a great question. Living or dead, I might ask, if we were speaking live. I would say that the songwriters who are also poets might appreciate this record. In my fantasy world—Leonard Cohen beyond the grave; Bob Dylan, it would be a dream if he ever listened to my songs. And the poets who are also songwriters—Joy Harjo, Ana Božičević, and Patti Smith. 

Kendra: Let’s talk about what’s on this record a little more, starting with “No More Lonesome Heartache,” which you’ve noted is both a love and lust song. Love that, because I think we often hear so many that are either or, but in reality, it’s nice to have both on the table. Why do you think we often separate the two in songs and in life?

Julian Talamantez Brolaski: Well, love songs are obvious; I mean, they’re the natural outpouring of pop music. And sometimes a good lust song makes its way in there, and those are always fun, too. Maybe for love songs, there’s something about keeping it pure and true? And for lust songs, keeping it purely naughty, no strings attached? But a love and lust song is like the complete package. 

Kendra: Another song on the record is “Covid-19 Blues,” which a lot of music in the past couple of years has had this subject – but most have been sort of underlying. What made you want to be so upfront about the pandemic and its impact?

Julian Talamantez Brolaski: I was thinking about the Blues tradition of songs about illness, like the “T.B. Blues” and things like that. I wanted to speak the grief of what was in front of us. So as I felt the deepening difficulties of the pandemic, the song just started to naturally develop. I also wanted to do something along the lines of Hank Williams’ “Long Gone Lonesome Blues,” which has this elaborate, substantive yodel part, a yodel that’s over words that have real meaning, not nonsense words like “yodelay’ee.”  

I made “covid” into six syllables: “co-o-o-o-0-ovid.” When I finally uploaded the song for digital distribution, I laughed about how many songs have that same title. It’s a natural impulse to respond to the blues with the blues. 

Kendra: Time for a side note – So August is a huge month for me, with so many loved ones’ birthdays being celebrated, so I’d love to know what song you’d dedicate to your loved ones, be it friends, family, or both…

Julian Talamantez Brolaski: Probably the title song, “It’s Okay Honey.” It’s a song that’s meant to soothe in times of difficulty. It’s meant to be a healing song, like that universal salve: “This too shall pass.” Writing that song was sort of a gift I gave to myself, that I can now give to others. 

Kendra: Lastly, with ‘It’s Okay Honey” dropping on August 4th and some rumblings of touring thereafter, what else can the people out there expect from you as 2023 rolls along?

Julian Talamantez Brolaski: There’s also a songbook coming out concurrent with the album. My publisher, Wave Books, is putting it out—and it will have song lyrics, chords, and some ephemera like handwritten lyrics and setlists. I also have a chapbook of poems coming out in the fall from Asterion Projects called “Sky Hammer.” And I’m touring a Western tour from August 7th to the 15th, with shows in Seattle, Olympia, Portland, Eugene, Santa Cruz, Oakland, Cayucos, and Santa Barbara, and you check my website for more tour dates in the fall and winter.