Julia Disney
Julia began her musical journey at 6 years of age, firstly taking up the piano and soon (much to her mother’s dismay) moving onto the violin. She was classically trained in both instruments for a number of years and experienced her first taste of folk music playing with her mum’s band, ‘The Crag Band’. She always had a love for writing songs and although at a young age they were all mainly cheesy love songs, they were the start of something which has gone on to become a large part of Julia’s musical life!
Julia graduated at Dartington College of Arts in 2008 after becoming one of the regular session musicians of the year. She moved back to the West Midlands in September 2008 and during a period of looking for work, used her time productively and spent hours writing songs and going to local singers nights. From January 2009 she has been working with singer songwriter Tim Judson who she had met at one of those singers’ nights at the long established Woodman Folk Club in Kingswinford in the West Midlands. They have become a well known duo on the local folk scene and continue to collaborate.
Julia also won the prestigious open mic competition at Shrewsbury Folk Festival in August 2009, as a solo singer songwriter, and is really looking forward to playing at the festival this year, as a result.
In February 2010 one of the regulars at the Woodman Folk Club told Julia that Allie Fellows, the accordion player with the John Richards Band, was relocating and having to leave the band, and that John was looking for a fiddle or accordion player to replace her. Apparently, when John had been asking friends in the local folk clubs if they had seen any likely candidates three different people had mentioned Julia so he had asked his friends at the Woodman about her. Julia emailed John and (after numerous emails and a very successful jam session!) she joined the John Richards band and is looking forward to plenty of gigs and working with experienced, talented musicians!
What Julia didn’t realise at this time was the number of unusual (even spooky) coincidences about her joining the band. She went to school in Sedgley and so did John (a few years before) She graduated at Dartington College, a stone’s throw from John’s home in South Devon. Two of the other band members were first recruited by John, to join his band Maurice and the Minors in the 1980s, after he had met them at the Woodman Folk Club. Dave Brookes, the lead singer of Maurice and the Minors, was one of the judges at the Shrewsbury Festival competition that Julia won. Julia’s, mum had actually spoken to John about her at the band’s Woodman gig in 2009. Finally, Julia writes some very sad and moving songs, and the band expect them to fit in perfectly with John’s general output.
Julia also works with Tim Judson as half of the duo Tim and Julia which features exclusively their own songs.