JULIUS AND ME
By Frank “Bubba” Kavelin
I met Julius when we were about 12 or so. He played violin and I played clarinet. We met in the volunteer orchestra associated with our in-common religion. I lost touch with Julius for over 50 years. During that time, we both had raised families and abandoned the aforesaid religion. I joined the Musicians Union and Julius joined the Retail Clerks Union. It wasn’t until late 2016 that a mutual friend of ours contacted me and told me that Julius had made the sizeable leap from classical violin to writing satire, set to country music (think Ray Stevens and Roger Miller). Our friend sent me a sample of Julius’ lyrics. I thought they were funny and clever, but I still couldn’t imagine this Jamaican, singing country music (although the above picture helped). I went to his house and he performed several songs a capella—not just lyrics, but he provided melodies for them. I was sufficiently impressed to ask Julius to sing his songs into the recording app on my phone. I then wrote arrangements for the songs and invited Julius to come to the Lute Records studio where we recorded his vocals.
Julius takes a comedic look at such things as self-driving cars, denial about losing his prowess with age (sexual and otherwise), multiple pregnancies—seemingly without knowing the cause, annoying surveys for everything, etc. You can listen to samples of these songs here. Lute Records has just released these 4 songs in full on Julius Graham’s EP, “Tell Me How I’m Doin'”. You can download this EP here. Until our subscription streaming is in place, stream Julius and add him to your playlists using all the major streaming services. For the last couple of years, Julius has developed a core fan-base as well as a listening audience all over the world. If this is your first time hearing his music, we hope you become a fan like I am!
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