June 7, 2024 • 7 mins
Julia is a Valley native and a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. She's currently a musician and songwriter in Nashville. You can hear her song "Hey Arizona" on the iHeartRadio App, and see her with Evan Honer at Crescent Ballroom in September!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hayt'es read in Today in Studio gota brand new artist. Her name is
Julia Degrassi, as she's from righthere in the valley. She went to
the Berkeley School of Music, andhonestly, I stumbled across your stuff just
by looking through playlists, and ofcourse I came across your song, Hey,
Arizona. We'll talk about that injust a little bit. I guess
my question is ultimately, how longhave you been in Nashville. I moved
(00:20):
to Nashville December of twenty twenty two, right after I graduated from Berkeley.
I wanted to go to Nashville becauseI'm mostly a fiddle player, and I
figured Nashville is home of country musicfor the most part, so all music
but countries. Sure, yeah,yeah that, and I wanted to fiddle
full time before I really realized thatI wanted to start songwriting as well,
(00:41):
and I figured Nashville was like thehome for me to do that. Did
you ever have a thought of likemaybe going to New York or California or
anything like that. I would haveloved to go to Cali. New York
maybe not so much. I feellike Cali vibes with the West Coast would
have been yeah, you know,it's closer to home. Sure, Yeah,
but Nashville seemed like that solid middleground. Is it a different muscle
(01:02):
to go from Like because you playso many and you play five instruments,
four instruments somewhere kind of pick itup and go yeah, Like, is
it a different muscle to go fromplaying to songwriting? I would say it's
sometimes more of a challenge coming upwith the words. I would say I
feel like, because I'm more musicallyinclined, melodies will flow a little bit
(01:22):
easier. That's why I personally loveto co write, just to kind of
bounce ideas off of someone else inthe room, and it helps me flow
and stay creative. Yeah, itjust it just depends. I'm very I
want to have like something that I'mpassionate about. It makes it easier to
write about it. So when I'min that mindset and that mode that I
can write a little bit easier.Do you like more? What do you
like doing more? Right, you'reon stage with other artists, you're doing
(01:47):
your own stuff, your songwriting.Which which of those things are you like?
This is this is the thing Ilove? The other stuff, you
know, not that you don't likeit, but it's like, I really
want to do this. I loveplaying music of my friends. Like being
on stage with all my talented musicianswho are some of my best friends,
(02:07):
is one of the coolest experiences thatI get to do every day. So
being able to make music and havefun times, whether it's around a campfire
or on stage in a different stateevery other day, it's it's like one
of the best parts about doing music. I would say, did you know
those people when you moved to Nashvilleor is it like you moved there and
(02:28):
you had to like find your tribeof people. It was a mix.
I had a few friends who Iknew when I moved there. I made
a ton of friends that, like, Nashville is just such a great welcoming
place that I was able to findmy niche of people so easily. I
felt like and stick with them.And every time I leave town to go
on tour for a couple of months, I come back and I still have
(02:49):
my core group and we're always checkingon each other. It's just such a
great environment to be in. Andthen the guys I tour with, a
lot of them are from Arizona,and so I knew them from here and
then now they all move to Nashville. But we're all Arizonians, so it's
fun to get to be on theroad with them. I think it's cool
you kind of like you go throughall of that together, right, Like
(03:09):
you're all from here, you allhave you know, family here, you
miss your family here, but you'realso going through this. Let's we'll call
it a ride, because it isa ride, right. There's lots of
ups and downs and different things everyday. It's cool to have those people
to go through that together, right. You can you can share your share
(03:30):
your highs and share your loaves,right exactly exactly. We all all of
our families live here, so it'sdefinitely can be home sick sometimes, but
exactly that you can share it withthe people that you are friends with here
back in Nashville. So it's fun. Who do you you know? Country
music is having a massive moment rightnow. I mean everybody from a post
(03:51):
Malone, Morgan Wall and you knowMorgan and Luke are doing stadiums. Zach
Bryan just did a stadium literally lastnight, which is insanity in the amount
of time that he's gone from playingclubs to where he's at now, Like,
what do you like in country rightnow? Like everybody's different, people
love different things. Yeah, youlike, I would say definitely Tyer Childer's
influence if we want to go thatroot of country, it's definitely probably my
(04:15):
strongest influence. I mean, andthen you have like Blaney Wilson is incredible
as well, and I love likeMorgan and Hardy and Earnest songwriting is great,
So definitely that realm, But Iwould probably say Tylered Childers is probably
my biggest. If you had to, if you had a dream venue to
play, right, what would thatvenue be in the United States? Dream
(04:38):
venue? It's a great question.One that I feel like shouldn't be that
far obtainable. Would probably be RedRocks. It's pretty cool. Yeah,
I feel like that seems like withinreach, So I feel like that could
be like a realistic goal and dreamto reach for. But yeah, that
the opera would be incredible, iconic, you know, ye gotta the opery,
(05:02):
the rhyme, and I think allof those kind of go together.
You played at tutsis right, Yeah, which is cool, Like that's that's
one of those like, yes,staples in Nashville. Yeah, I've never
seen a show at Red Rocks.It's all my bucket was. But everybody
that goes comes back and they go, this was incredible. When I'm playing
there, you'll have to come.Yeah, done, I'm in. Let's
(05:24):
talk about hey, Arizona. Yes, that's ultimately why how I found you
and how you ended up here.You know, to me, it's it's
a breakup letter, h with thestate that you obviously grew up in,
Like, is that how it cameacross? Like, what's the did you
write that? Exactly what I wasin picturing when I was writing the song
was it's like you're in a relationshipwith your state and you don't want to
(05:47):
have to leave it, but youhave to so in order to pursue your
dreams. And that's kind of likethat relatable note of even if you're from
any state, like leaving your homestate to do something that you want to
do with your life is really auntingand seems so terrifying and can be upsetting
if you love where you're from andso loving Arizona. Every time I'm back,
I remember how much I love it, and it makes me more sad
(06:08):
to go back to Nashville. Butuh yeah, that's exactly nail on the
head a breakup letter to the statethat you're from if you don't miss it
this like this time of year.Yeah, it's definitely. I touched my
steering wheel to day and forgot howhot I get, so I burnt my
hands. I was like, yeah, Arizona one ten plus this weekend,
so you know, I'll be inNashville before that. Maybe stay in Nashville,
(06:30):
come back when it snows. Yeah, exactly. What's what's next?
I saw your playing Crescent Ballroom righttwo dates and September twenty, yes,
which is opening for Evan Hohner,who's another Arizona artist, And I'll be
playing those two nights, which issuper exciting, and then fiddling with my
buddy Evan about his whole two monthtoward that he's got going on. I
(06:51):
love Crescent Ballroom. It's such acool, cool room. Yeah, it's
been really cool to like be growingand especially like the venues that were playing
here. To be able to dotwo nights, two nights at Crestin Ballroom
is that's pretty good. I mean, you know, you have you have
other people who are doing two nightsat cressin ballrooms, so it's exciting,
very cool. Well, thanks forcoming, we appreciate talking to you,
(07:13):
and good luck. Let us knowif you need anything we'll do big shout
out to Julia for stopping by.Of course, you can find her on
Instagram it's Julia Degrassia Music and youcan find her song Hey Arizona on the iHeartRadio app
Hayt'es read in Today in Studio gota brand new artist. Her name is
Julia Degrassi, as she's from righthere in the valley. She went to
the Berkeley School of Music, andhonestly, I stumbled across your stuff just
by looking through playlists, and ofcourse I came across your song, Hey,
Arizona. We'll talk about that injust a little bit. I guess
my question is ultimately, how longhave you been in Nashville. I moved
(00:20):
to Nashville December of twenty twenty two, right after I graduated from Berkeley.
I wanted to go to Nashville becauseI'm mostly a fiddle player, and I
figured Nashville is home of country musicfor the most part, so all music
but countries. Sure, yeah,yeah that, and I wanted to fiddle
full time before I really realized thatI wanted to start songwriting as well,
(00:41):
and I figured Nashville was like thehome for me to do that. Did
you ever have a thought of likemaybe going to New York or California or
anything like that. I would haveloved to go to Cali. New York
maybe not so much. I feellike Cali vibes with the West Coast would
have been yeah, you know,it's closer to home. Sure, Yeah,
but Nashville seemed like that solid middleground. Is it a different muscle
(01:02):
to go from Like because you playso many and you play five instruments,
four instruments somewhere kind of pick itup and go yeah, Like, is
it a different muscle to go fromplaying to songwriting? I would say it's
sometimes more of a challenge coming upwith the words. I would say I
feel like, because I'm more musicallyinclined, melodies will flow a little bit
(01:22):
easier. That's why I personally loveto co write, just to kind of
bounce ideas off of someone else inthe room, and it helps me flow
and stay creative. Yeah, itjust it just depends. I'm very I
want to have like something that I'mpassionate about. It makes it easier to
write about it. So when I'min that mindset and that mode that I
can write a little bit easier.Do you like more? What do you
like doing more? Right, you'reon stage with other artists, you're doing
(01:47):
your own stuff, your songwriting.Which which of those things are you like?
This is this is the thing Ilove? The other stuff, you
know, not that you don't likeit, but it's like, I really
want to do this. I loveplaying music of my friends. Like being
on stage with all my talented musicianswho are some of my best friends,
(02:07):
is one of the coolest experiences thatI get to do every day. So
being able to make music and havefun times, whether it's around a campfire
or on stage in a different stateevery other day, it's it's like one
of the best parts about doing music. I would say, did you know
those people when you moved to Nashvilleor is it like you moved there and
(02:28):
you had to like find your tribeof people. It was a mix.
I had a few friends who Iknew when I moved there. I made
a ton of friends that, like, Nashville is just such a great welcoming
place that I was able to findmy niche of people so easily. I
felt like and stick with them.And every time I leave town to go
on tour for a couple of months, I come back and I still have
(02:49):
my core group and we're always checkingon each other. It's just such a
great environment to be in. Andthen the guys I tour with, a
lot of them are from Arizona,and so I knew them from here and
then now they all move to Nashville. But we're all Arizonians, so it's
fun to get to be on theroad with them. I think it's cool
you kind of like you go throughall of that together, right, Like
(03:09):
you're all from here, you allhave you know, family here, you
miss your family here, but you'realso going through this. Let's we'll call
it a ride, because it isa ride, right. There's lots of
ups and downs and different things everyday. It's cool to have those people
to go through that together, right. You can you can share your share
(03:30):
your highs and share your loaves,right exactly exactly. We all all of
our families live here, so it'sdefinitely can be home sick sometimes, but
exactly that you can share it withthe people that you are friends with here
back in Nashville. So it's fun. Who do you you know? Country
music is having a massive moment rightnow. I mean everybody from a post
(03:51):
Malone, Morgan Wall and you knowMorgan and Luke are doing stadiums. Zach
Bryan just did a stadium literally lastnight, which is insanity in the amount
of time that he's gone from playingclubs to where he's at now, Like,
what do you like in country rightnow? Like everybody's different, people
love different things. Yeah, youlike, I would say definitely Tyer Childer's
influence if we want to go thatroot of country, it's definitely probably my
(04:15):
strongest influence. I mean, andthen you have like Blaney Wilson is incredible
as well, and I love likeMorgan and Hardy and Earnest songwriting is great,
So definitely that realm, But Iwould probably say Tylered Childers is probably
my biggest. If you had to, if you had a dream venue to
play, right, what would thatvenue be in the United States? Dream
(04:38):
venue? It's a great question.One that I feel like shouldn't be that
far obtainable. Would probably be RedRocks. It's pretty cool. Yeah,
I feel like that seems like withinreach, So I feel like that could
be like a realistic goal and dreamto reach for. But yeah, that
the opera would be incredible, iconic, you know, ye gotta the opery,
(05:02):
the rhyme, and I think allof those kind of go together.
You played at tutsis right, Yeah, which is cool, Like that's that's
one of those like, yes,staples in Nashville. Yeah, I've never
seen a show at Red Rocks.It's all my bucket was. But everybody
that goes comes back and they go, this was incredible. When I'm playing
there, you'll have to come.Yeah, done, I'm in. Let's
(05:24):
talk about hey, Arizona. Yes, that's ultimately why how I found you
and how you ended up here.You know, to me, it's it's
a breakup letter, h with thestate that you obviously grew up in,
Like, is that how it cameacross? Like, what's the did you
write that? Exactly what I wasin picturing when I was writing the song
was it's like you're in a relationshipwith your state and you don't want to
(05:47):
have to leave it, but youhave to so in order to pursue your
dreams. And that's kind of likethat relatable note of even if you're from
any state, like leaving your homestate to do something that you want to
do with your life is really auntingand seems so terrifying and can be upsetting
if you love where you're from andso loving Arizona. Every time I'm back,
I remember how much I love it, and it makes me more sad
(06:08):
to go back to Nashville. Butuh yeah, that's exactly nail on the
head a breakup letter to the statethat you're from if you don't miss it
this like this time of year.Yeah, it's definitely. I touched my
steering wheel to day and forgot howhot I get, so I burnt my
hands. I was like, yeah, Arizona one ten plus this weekend,
so you know, I'll be inNashville before that. Maybe stay in Nashville,
(06:30):
come back when it snows. Yeah, exactly. What's what's next?
I saw your playing Crescent Ballroom righttwo dates and September twenty, yes,
which is opening for Evan Hohner,who's another Arizona artist, And I'll be
playing those two nights, which issuper exciting, and then fiddling with my
buddy Evan about his whole two monthtoward that he's got going on. I
(06:51):
love Crescent Ballroom. It's such acool, cool room. Yeah, it's
been really cool to like be growingand especially like the venues that were playing
here. To be able to dotwo nights, two nights at Crestin Ballroom
is that's pretty good. I mean, you know, you have you have
other people who are doing two nightsat cressin ballrooms, so it's exciting,
very cool. Well, thanks forcoming, we appreciate talking to you,
(07:13):
and good luck. Let us knowif you need anything we'll do big shout
out to Julia for stopping by.Of course, you can find her on
Instagram it's Julia Degrassia Music and youcan find her song Hey Arizona on the iHeartRadio app
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.