Julie Rhodes is Bound To Meet The Devil

By Brian Rock

If you like travelling on the Blues side of the Americana soundscape, sooner or later you’re bound to meet Julie Rhodes. On her debut album, Bound To Meet The Devil, she announces her debut on the world Blues stage with a confidence, swagger, and defiance that belies her newbie status. Part Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes), part Janis Joplin, Rhodes sings with a power that you feel in your gut as much as you hear in your ears.

Storming out of the gates with the gritty, “In Your Garden,” Rhodes sings, “Go ahead and leave me like another weed in your garden. Nothing I can say’s gonna make you stay.” A double layered lead guitar and sparse, primal drums help set the tone as Julie warns her soon to be ex, “Don’t call me when you know your flowers are gone.”

“Collector Man,” finds Rhodes once again, “diggin’ my shovel deep,” into the blues – this time on the run from the repo man. No explanation of how her financial woes began and no plan to get out, she just cries out in the moment in a voice that speaks for many these days.

But before the blues deepen to black, Julie shines a ray of hope with, “Faith.” As impressive as the first two tracks are, “Faith” is a revelation. Complete with Hammond organ and three part backing harmonies, Rhodes testifies, “You can’t live in this world unless you got faith.” From the spiritual to the mundane, she points out the countless things we put our faith in each day. It’s an uplifting testament to the spark that keeps us all going.

The rest of the album solidifies Rhodes’ status as an authentic, new voice on the Americana/Blues scene. Sometimes pleading, sometimes snarling, Julie Rhodes sings stories about false friends (“Grinnin In Your Face,”) temporary lovers (“Hey Stranger,”) and self-destructive behaviors (“Holes.”) But the star of every story is Julie’s voice. Mighty, moving and majestic, Julie Rhodes’ voice is the embodiment of the triumph of the human spirit over life’s many tribulations. And if she is, in fact, “bound to meet the devil,” he may just be wearing a suit and offering a fat record deal.

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