An Interview With Musician Juliet O’Day

JULIET O’DAY

At what age did you realize you loved music?

I started taking piano lessons when I was six.  It was tough to get really good at that age because I would rather be outside with my brother and his friends than practicing.  I took-up sax when I was 13.  I played in a school stage band and a jazz band that ended up going to Europe one summer and playing in the Montreux International Jazz Festival.  I kind of stopped with the instruments when I went to college.  I refused to play in a marching band and that is what you would have had to do to be able to play in the school jazz program; it wasn’t for me.

What events in your life do you think shaped you as a musician?

After my freshman year at college, my brother and I were in a car accident.   My brother died two weeks after the accident, and I had a head injury that put me in a coma for 6 weeks.  It was, and still is very tough because he was my best friend.  A few years later I started to get back into playing the guitar.  I then did a little banjo, bought a drum set, and learned a little bass.  I started to write my own music and that has been really fun.

Who are some of your musical influences?

I have really loved Pink Floyd most of my life.  Melissa Ethridge and Sheryl Crow are the ladies I prefer to listen to now.   Dave Matthews is a great artist.  I really love the alternative folk sound.  But, I also love to give all types of music a chance.  There is so much out there and you really can miss out if you limit yourself.

Is there any music you won’t listen to and why?

I try to be open-minded about a lot of stuff out there, but sometimes it’s hard.   I find a lot of the Hip Hop very degrading to women and find it difficult to think about the young girls listening to it and thinking that they have to do or be involved in some of the crazy junk that they are singing about.   I believe it also teaches young boys that this is what girls like and that those things are normal. I can’t believe some of the stuff I hear.   I sound like my parents!

What do you want your songs to be about?

I like for people to hear things they need to hear when they need to hear it, to be inspired, something that can give them hope.

 

Just Released:

My interpretation of Amy Grant’s “Breathe of Heaven”  Juliet O’Day- vocals, guitar, and sax. Additional guitar by Craig Smith

If you would like to hear more of Juliet O’Day Music just click on the link.

You can also “like” her page on Facebook by clicking here.