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List Price: $8.95 | | Label: Mercury Nashville
Salesrank: 1358437
Released: May 25, 2004 |
| Our Price: $1.00 |
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| Media: Audio Cassette |
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Julie Roberts Track Listing:
1. You Ain't Down Home
2. Break Down Here
3. Pot of Gold
4. Unlove Me
5. Just 'Cause We Can
6. Wake Up Older
7. If You Had Called Yesterday
8. No Way Out
9. I Can't Get Over You
10. Rain on a Tin Roof
11. Chance
Editorial Review:
While her debut's been promoted through a glitzy high-fashion photo package and items in trendy magazines, South Carolina native Roberts, who has the looks for such hype, also delivers the goods. Her smoky, beguiling voice echoes Bonnie Raitt and a young Tanya Tucker. She and producer/guitarist Brent Rowan shun the blaring arena rock or folk-flavored pretense that plagues many debuts. This one emphasizes solid, quality commercial fare in an Americana-based setting heavy on acoustic guitars and rhythm. Roberts sets the tone with Jamie O'Hara's fetchingly acerbic "You Ain't Down Home." The winsome "Unlove Me" and let-it-rip "Just 'Cause We Can" each pack a wallop; so does the witty morning-after chronicle "Wake Up Older" and the dark, evocative "No Way Out." No overdone power ballads here. Understatement drives her elegant, heartbreaking interpretation of Julie Miller's "I Can't Get Over You." In the end, Roberts remembers an axiom many on Music Row long ago forgot: a powerful voice, simple, honest storytelling, and no-frills music are still what country's about. --Rich Kienzle
Julie Roberts Reviews:
Amazing Artist 
2009-06-28 - Julie Roberts is an amazing singer. Her voice carries so much emotion while her lyrics are solid and meaningful. You can tell the artist puts a lot of personal feeling into each song and sings it in a way that makes you believe her.
The music is great, the lyrics are heartfelt, and the vocals amaze me. I own bother this and her other album, Men and Mascara, and will be looking forward to much more from Julie Roberts in the future.
Julie Roberts - Julie Roberts Country Music CD 
2008-10-22 - This CD is fantastic. Julie Roberts have a very beatiful voice and I like her music too much. I apologize for my bad English. In italiano è tutto più facile. Julie Roberts è stata una piacevolissima scoperta. Ha una voce favolosa e la sua musica mi tiene compagnia in ogni occasione. Consiglio a tutti di ascoltare questo CD ma non solo... anche Man & Mascara (il suo secondo disco) è altrettanto bello. Grazie Julie... ti voglio bene! Alberto
A breath of fresh air to a world gone `Country'... 
2008-03-25 - Julie Roberts has this smoky voice that just gets under my skin in the best possible way. Reminiscent of the whiskey and cigarettes breathy voice of the very talented Scarlett Johansson (yes, she sings too), Roberts is able to use this seductive appeal to breathe a whole new life into the genre that is country music. Just listen to the elegant and almost lackadaisical way she weaves through `Wake Up Older', one of the most memorable and accessible tracks off of this delectable debut. Her voice effortlessly maneuvers through the song in such a way that it comes off like a conversation as apposed to a song.
This same effect can be found on just about every track here. Rather than overdue it; placing power ballad after power ballad all over this debut; Roberts allows her natural charm and warmth to caress this entire package. Her beautiful voice compliments the musical arrangements, stripped bare of any flare and glitter and just mellowed out and simple country music. This is a nice change of pace to the `Faith Hill / Martina McBride' fare we've grown accustomed to. This isn't to say that I don't love what Hill and especially McBride can do with their god-given gifts but it's nice to witness something so subtle; so serene as Roberts.
She breaks up serenity with a few classic country tracks, like the opening `You Ain't Down Home'; a bar ballad that wets the appetite and draws in the crowd. `No Way Out' reaches Nickelback heights of countrified rock, and Roberts' electric vocals manage to make it through breathlessly. `Just Cause We Can' has a very lucid feeling to it; it just kind of floats there. It reminds me a bit of `Watch the Wind Blow By' by Tim McGraw, very peaceful and calm. `Pot of Gold' fittingly sounds a bit like an Irish bar jig. It works well and adds some color to the album.
The slow mid-tempo ballads here are definitely the highlights of the album. Everyone I'm sure has heard `Break Down Here'; the first single from the album. It's a beautiful reminder of what a strong voice and a good story can do for music in general. Her delivery is so fluid and natural; so much so that you just wish she would break down, in front of your house. `Unlove Me' has a very catchy bounce to it. It reminds me of Norah Jones, very bluesy. The one-two-punch of `If You Called Yesterday' and `I Can't Get Over You' is phenomenal to say the least. `If You Called Yesterday' is such an emotionally powerful track; the chorus really exemplifies Roberts' beautiful voice. The song is immediately followed by `I Can't Get Over You', a beautiful song of love lost. You can feel Julie's heart bleeding over every word. The closing track `The Chance' is a marvelous way to close the album; leaving the listener aching for more of Julie's time.
My favorite track on the album is the serene `Rain on a Tin Roof', a beautiful ballad about loving the wrong kind of man. The way her voice elevates the word "rain" just gets right to the pit of me. It's a beautiful song that is made even more emotional by Julie's intricate delivery.
Now I'll make my one complaint. I mentioned already the lack of power ballads here, and I noted that it was a nice change of pace and one that I respect. Allowing the music and the voice to speak for itself in an elegant and untampered manner was a beautiful decision; I just wish that she had included maybe one or two tracks that allowed her voice to really carry. I just love the feeling that explodes in my skin whenever Martina McBride or Carrie Underwood hits those high notes, you know, the notes that can only be described as the `Mariah Carey notes of Country Music'. It's not to say that the subtle grace exhibited by Julie Roberts doesn't crawl beneath my surface; I've already noted that it does; I just wish she would have given me a little extra something in the end.
It's a minor quarrel I know, especially when you look at the broad spectrum of this very complete and solid debut album.
In closing I'll make the declaration that Julie Roberts self-titled debut album is truly near perfect. In fact it may very well be perfect. She has a beautiful and controlled gift that will surely carry her places, big places, in the near future.
LOVE HER!!!! 
2007-09-06 - Julie Roberts has a fresh new sound. I actually went to see Rascal Flatts a few years ago in college just because she was opening for them! I love her music and this CD.
Dynamite Debut 
2007-07-24 - Julie Roberts' debut CD is great. But take note, it grows on you. You might not realize how good it is the first listen through. I know I didn't. Give it a bit of time and you'll really appreciate it. Julie has a great smokey, alto voice with an accent that's perfect for the lower-key music that makes up much of this CD. One reason I know she's so good is that I'm usually not much into slower songs, but I can listen to these easily. Julie does the slower, mellower tunes better than pretty much any other singer. She can also put feistiness into the faster stuff on this record too [No Way Out, most notably]. I'm not listing the good songs, because that's most all of them and that would be redundant! Get this.