Juliana is scheduled to play a show with Kay Hanley at The Burren Backroom in Somerville, MA on June 16, 2023. UPDATE There are now two shows. After the 7pm event sold out , there’s an extra 4pm performance available.
Ticket info: 24hourconcerts.showare.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=1126
The incredible poster design is by Nicole Anguish of Daykamp Creative.
Juliana and Kay are also due to play the following day at a previously announced benefit show in Northampton, MA.
Juliana's 3rd album in the “Sings” series following tributes to Olivia Newton-John and The Police is scheduled for November 17, 2023 via American Laundromat Records, titled "Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO"
Here's the first single, "Don't Bring Me Down" :
The song is available now on streaming services including Apple Music and Spotify.
Juliana:
ELO songs were always coming on the radio when I was growing up. They were a reliable source of pleasure and fascination (except for “Fire On High” which scared the heck out of me). With this album of covers I wanted to get my hands deep into some of the massive ‘70’s hits but I am also shining a light on some of the later work (“Ordinary Dream” from 2001’s “Zoom” album, “Secret Messages” and “’From The End Of The World”, both from the ‘80’s).
Thematically, I identify with the loneliness and alienation and the outerspace-iness in the songs I chose. (I have always felt like I am part alien, not fully belonging to or in this Earth world.) Sonically, ELO recordings are like an amusement park packed with fun musical games with layers and layers of varied, meticulous parts for your ears to explore; production curiosities; huge, gorgeous stacks of awe-inspiring vocal harmony puzzles. My task was to try and break all the things down and reconstruct them subtly until they felt like mine.
Overall, I stuck pretty close to the originals’ structures while figuring out new ways to express or reference the unique and beloved ELO string arrangements. An orchestra would have been difficult or impossible for me to manage to record, nor did I think there was any point in trying to copy those parts as they originally were. Why not try to reimagine them within my zone of limitations? In some cases, I transposed string parts onto guitars, or keyboards, and I even sung some of them (as in “Showdown” and “Bluebird Is Dead”).
Recording the album was a kind of complicated and drawn-out process since I was doing all of my tracks at home in my bedroom (drums and bass were done by Chris Anzalone and Ed Valauskas, respectively [in their own recording spaces]), and I kept running into technology problems that would frustrate me and slow me up. But eventually I got it all done. A labor of love
Vinyl, CD, and cassette options are available to order at American Laundromat Records
Juliana previously covered 'Sweet Is The Night' on her 2012 eponymous lp and the credits for this new album suggest that elements of that recording may be in the 2023 version.
Juliana also covered a Jeff Lynne song with 'Xanadu' on 2018’s 'Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John.'
As is traditional I've made unofficial Apple Music and Spotify playlists of the songs Juliana is covering:
Juliana is scheduled to appear with many other artists over 2 nights at City Winery in NYC, on July 28-29, 2023.
City Winery:
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the release of the classic Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era, 1964-1968, Lenny Kaye, City Winery, and The Bowery Presents present a live performance of songs from legendary LP and bonus material from the era. Hosted by Lenny Kaye and the Jubilee house band featuring Tony Shanahan, Jack Petruzzelli, Glen Burtnik, Dennis Diken, and with the help of Patti Smith, Bob Mould, Juliana Hatfield, Jesse Malin, Marshall Crenshaw, Ivan Julian, Peter Buck, James Mastro and more to come!
Tickets:
citywinery.com/newyork/Online/article/NYC-Golden-Jubilee-Part1-7-28-23-8pm
citywinery.com/newyork/Online/article/NYC-Golden-Jubilee-Part2-7-29-23-8pm
Juliana’s cover of Neil Young’s Lotta Love is out today on streaming / download services having previously been a vinyl exclusive.
The second single from The Salt Collective’s upcoming project is released today with Juliana on vocals. The track also features Television’s Richard Lloyd.
Juliana’s other contribution to the album is the song Asylum (with Matthew Caws vocals) released as a single last month.
UPDATE March 20, 2025 - Juliana has relaunched her newsletter at Substack with a different schedule and mostly behind a paywall. The link is unchanged from 2023: julianahatfield.substack.com.
April 2023:
Juliana, writing on her newly launched Substack:
Some years ago, I wrote a book about my ten days in an eating disorder treatment center. It was never published, but now I feel like sharing some of it. I’m going to post random chapters to be enjoyed in little servings..
The first extract is available now and Juliana says she plans to share some of her other writing on a roughly weekly schedule.
Propeller Sound Recordings, announcing a new album and project:
We are honored to welcome The Salt Collective to the Propeller Sound Recordings Family!!
A collective of artists joined French rock-trio Salt to create an exuberant record full of joy. Using the original demos and song sketches created by Salt in France, 12 new tracks were created in an American studio to help celebrate the very stuff of life, that from which it springs. The Salt Collective was born, connected through art featuring Matthew Caws, Juliana Hatfield, Matthew Sweet, Peter Holsapple, Richard Lloyd, Mitch Easter, Anton Barbeau, The dB's rhythm section (Gene Holder & Will Rigby), Susan Cowsill, Pat Sansone, and newcomer Faith Jones. Produced and guided by Chris Stamey.
We proudly release the first single "Asylum" from the upcoming album 'Life' featuring Matthew Caws (Nada Surf) & Juliana Hatfield.
propellersoundrecordings.com/collections/the-salt-collective-life
Juliana is scheduled to appear on a line-up featuring Gin Blossoms, Kay Hanley, and more at The Pines Theater at Look Park in Northampton, MA on Saturday June 17, 2023. The event is billed as One Roof - A Concert for the Homeless and tickets are on sale at Tixr from Thursday Feb 9, 2023.
American Laundromat Records have confirmed that in April 2023 they will be shipping a new pressing of the split 7 inch single of Neil Young covers featuring Juliana’s version of Lotta Love and Emma Swift’s take on Give Me Strength.
The single was originally released last year as a US Record Store Day exclusive, and as previously posted here Juliana was interviewed for Goldmine Magazine about the release in November 2022.
Pre-orders are now being taken on the ALR site and there’s a new Casey Burns designed t-shirt too.
If you missed the sad news last month, the music world has lost Gary Smith after a long illness.
As Fort Apache studio owner, producer, and manager, Gary had a huge role in Juliana’s career as well as working with Pixies, Throwing Muses, and more.
There’s an obituary and condolences page at legacy.com
John P. Strohm posted on Facebook:
If anyone ever really ”discovered” a band, Gary discovered Blake Babies. We were struggling when we met Gary. We’d made an album, but had no idea what to do with it. Months after getting 1,000 LPs delivered to our apartment, we still had about 900 copies and no clue what to do with them. It was a struggle.
Gary came to our show one night at The Rat, strode right up to us when we came offstage and said, ”I love your band. I own a studio. Would you like to make a record?” Storybook stuff. We went to Fort Apache that night, and it instantly became our favorite place on earth.
Read John’s full words below:
Billy Bragg, also on Facebook:
The Fort was an amazing place where young bands making challenging music could find in Gary a sympathetic ear and a lot of good advice. He produced the Accident Waiting To Happen single which I recorded there with the Red Stars, as well the b-side 'Sulk' which was written during the session.
So much to say (but can’t today)💔
— Tanya Donelly (@TanyaDonelly) January 17, 2023
I ✨love✨you, G pic.twitter.com/aAhs3rsKLx
We’ve got a new ‘Juliana Hatfield Sings’ project to look forward to as not so subtly hinted by Juliana including ELO covers in her summer shows!
The album has been officially confirmed by American Laundromat Records on a flyer in their shipping of the Become What You Are reissue:
Thanks to Eric for the info and while I’m here a big seasonal thanks to everyone who has been in touch and particularly Carlos Lopez for helping with many of the links for these pages. Best wishes to all in Jules’ fan community.
If this proves to be my last post of the year, I’ll see you in 2023.
Juliana has been opening for the Lemonheads at US gigs this past week, performing a solo electric set and at some shows joining Evan on stage for a few It’s A Shame About Ray tracks.
Juliana’s sets across the week included performances of Everybody Loves Me But You, Candy Wrappers, June 6th, Somebody Is Waiting For Me, Make It Home, My Sister, Simplicity Is Beautiful, Spin The Bottle, Wonder Why, Bad Day, Backseat, Ugly, Feelin’ Massachusetts, Poor Man’s You, Bottles and Flowers, Everything’s For Sale, and I Got No Idols.
Mike Engleson has a review of the Washington DC show and some photos at Parklife DC, and Jay N. Miller reviews the final Boston date at The Patriot Ledger.
There’s also a brief interview with David Mosca for The Jersey Journal where Juliana comments on her work on the Ray album in the early 90s:
“When I was playing with them in Boston, Evan Dando, David Ryan, and I had an idea to practice about an hour a day,” recalls Hatfield. “So, we would do that, and I loved that kind of short, regimented schedule. Then we went to LA to make the record I did with them. And we knew all the songs pretty well at that point that we didn’t have to hash them out in the studio.”
Although no longer on Twitter, Juliana still has an official Instagram and posted some awesome photos all week including shots from Stacee Sledge and David Doobinin:
There’s plenty of fan footage on YouTube. Here’s a selection of solo and Lemonheads songs, with thanks to Carlos for the links:
From an interview by Warren Kurtz for Goldmine on Juliana’s cover of “Lotta Love”:
JULIANA HATFIELD: When I was a kid, I grew up on the Nicolette Larson version, which is what I heard first. For the longest time I thought it was her song and didn’t discover the Neil Young original until a bit later. I wanted to approach the song differently because it has already been successfully covered.
GM: Your guitar introduction and your solo remind me of The Rolling Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” which gives the recording an added dimension.
JH: I wasn’t thinking of that, but that makes sense to me now. I wanted my version of “Lotta Love” to be a little tougher. I was trying to counteract the sentiment of the song which I think is emotionally demanding where one person wants the other to attend to that person’s needs which I interpret as, “It is going to take a lot from you to give me a lotta love.” I was fighting against that with my electric guitar.
Juliana, via Twitter:
i just opened a new online art shop in case you are interested in checking out/acquiring any of my drawings on paper.. here is where it is:
American Laundromat Records:
We are stoked to reissue "Become What You Are" on vinyl to celebrate its 30th Anniversary. This exclusive reissue is limited to 2,500 units worldwide. Reissue artwork prepared by Aaron Tanner at Melodic Virtue from the original art. Our good friend Sean Glonek at SRG studios handled remastering, Levi Seitz cut metal, and the fine folks at Furnace pressed the vinyl. It looks and sounds amazing! We are very proud of this reissue and hope you enjoy it.
The release is planned for January 2023, with pre-orders up now for 3 variants and a further yellow splatter variant to be available from indie stores.
www.alr-music.com/collections/catalog/products/jh3-become-what-you-are
As trailed by American Laundromat Records last year, a new Juliana single is coming for Black Friday Record Store Day this November:
Juliana Hatfield and Emma Swift cover Neil Young for charity on this exclusive RSD Black Friday 7" single. Side A features Juliana covering the classic "Lotta Love" and side B features Emma covering the deep cut "Give Me Strength." Mastering and lacquers cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Pressed in the USA at Gotta Groove Records on beautiful virgin black vinyl for an optimal audio experience. Spins at 45 RPM with a large hole. Original artwork and design by Casey Burns. Includes high profile callout sticker and digital download card.
One dollar from the sale of each record is lovingly donated to Casting for Recovery, whose mission is to enhance the quality of life of women with breast cancer through a unique retreat program that combines breast cancer education and peer support with the therapeutic sport of fly fishing.
As was the case with 2020’s Christmas Cactus single, this release is restricted to US stores only at launch.
Juliana has covered Neil Young before, most notably Only Love Can Break Your Heart for her 2002 Gold Stars compilation, and in 2011 she sang Barstool Blues as part of a PledgeMusic campaign and performed a duet of Cinnamon Girl with Evan Dando for a benefit show in New York.
via Magnet Magazine:
Longtime MAGNET contributor Hobart Rowland takes a deep dive into the influential albums championed by the magazine over the years, with exclusive, in-depth interviews with the artists, producers and other key players. For episode five, Rowland gets the real story behind the making of Blake Babies’ 1990 classic Sunburn, college rock’s last great statement.
This one features contributions from Gary Smith and the Babies trio.
Available in the embed above or the usual places including Apple Podcasts, Overcast, and Spotify.
The Lemonheads have announced that their It’s A Shame About Ray tour will come to the US this winter. Juliana is scheduled as one of the openers for the final 8 dates in December.
Aug 18, 2022 UPDATE : it’s now 9 dates with an extra Boston show on December 18:
December 2022
9 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
10 Chicago, IL - Metro
11 Detroit, MI - Saint Andrew's Hall
12 Washington, DC - 9.30 Club
14 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
15 New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
16 New Jersey, NJ - White Eagle Hall
17 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
18 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
not playing in Lemonheads band--playing a solo set of my own https://t.co/L76OVgXmLJ
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) August 12, 2022
