Sun Records’ Josh Collum, Collin Brace & Julie Roberts – HuffPost 10.4.13
Mike Ragogna: Beautiful. Hey everyone, I have a traditional question. What advice do you have for new artists?
Julie Roberts: For new artists, I think, it’s to be really strong in who you are artistically. Love who you are as an artist creatively. I’ve been down the road where I try to make music because someone else has asked me to, and this record, I made because I loved every song on it. I think that I’ve had more pleasure making this record than any that I’ve done because it’s about me. I think any advice to any new artist is know who you are and stay true to who you are. Write the songs or find the songs that mean something to you. I think it’s my purpose to help other people with music. Music did that for me; growing up, it was my savior, and if you’re honest, you’ll hopefully save other people through your music. That’s my advice, just to be who you are. And keep working. Nothing is easy. You’re going to have days where you’re like, “What am I doing?” But it’s so worth it when you step out on that stage and you see people react to you and sing your songs back to you. Just keep going. That’s what I say. And keep the faith. Faith for me is very important. And it’s a business, so you do need to learn the business side too. But just be who you are and everything will fall into place.
Colin Brace: If I was to give anyone advice, the number one thing I would say is to get an awesome manager. That would be my number one piece of advice.
JC: That would be my advice, too.
MR: [laughs] Of course it would be Josh’s advice!
JC: I actually get that question a lot. Playing on what Julie just said, I used to tell artists all the time to be different, especially now when there’s so much clutter out there and you have to find a way to separate. Now I’m really meaning that, it’s got to be authentically different. You can’t just be different to be different; it’s got to be you or else it’s fake and it doesn’t work. I don’t know if that can be learned. I think that’s just it. Another thing I tell them is whatever you spend the most hours doing is what you are. So if you say you’re an artist but you work in a warehouse nine hours a day, unfortunately, you’re a warehouse worker, not an artist. Sometimes that means sacrifices, but again, it’s not easy. It’s a job and you’ve got to commit to it to make it work. Those are the two things I typically tell artists. One of them usually makes them angry.