Julie Williams
- Singer/Songwriter
Fearlessly forging ahead down country roads, CMT Next Women of Country Julie Williams carries her mixed-race heritage proudly, just as she carries her tunes. Raised in Florida, Julie is turning heads in Nashville’s americana music scene with her compelling blend of country storytelling, soft-yet-powerful vocal performance, and indie folk production.
Music has always been a part of Julie’s life – honing her singing talent in church and beach bars and belting national anthems before packed stadiums. She grew up listening to everyone and everything, from The Chicks and James Taylor, to Gladys Knight and Michael Jackson. Even though she was drawn to the storytelling of country music, she never quite found the sound that spoke to everything she was: Black, white, Southern, a woman, hopeful, truthful. So naturally, it was up to Julie to make this sound. “My music is mixed like me,” is how she describes it, “I want to tell the stories that need to be told.”
Julie started sharing those stories, and the people listened. A student at Duke University, Julie was signed to Small Town Records whose alumni include Mike Posner and Delta Rae and sang as a vocalist for the Duke Jazz Ensemble. After graduating with a public policy degree in 2019, she moved to Nashville and found her musical home in the Black country and Americana scene. She was named in Rissi Palmer’s Color Me Country Class of 2021 and she was featured in a PBS NewsHour special on Black women in country music. In 2022, Julie joined the Black Opry, a collective of Black artists in country, blues, folk, and Americana music that have been featured on the Kelly Clarkson Show, Good Morning America, and NPR Music. Julie was named a CMT Equal Access artist in 2023, joining the mTheory backed program to support marginalized voices in country music.
“People want to hear black voices, black stories,” Julie always says. “I was nervous about how my songs would be received by Nashville – but people want honesty. They want honest songs about real life, and for the artists they follow to take a stand.” Julie´s upcoming single Southern Curls embodies this – making waves with her soulful lyrics about the struggles of growing up mixed in the South, aiming for the heart and striking true. Her fans responded by raising over $5000 in only one week to fund the song´s music video, which came to life thanks to an all-Black creative team. The single and music video, released in March 2021, covered by Billboard, CMT, World of Country, and numerous music publications.
Building her career on the road, Julie has played over 120 shows in 26 states in the past two years and captivated audiences at festivals such as Newport Folk Festival, CMA Fest, Tortuga Music Fest, High Water Festival, Cayamo, and AmericanaFest. She has shared the stage with acts across genres, including Jason Isbell, Allison Russell, Mt. Joy, Devon Gilfillian, Brittney Spencer, and Will Hoge.
Julie was inducted in the CMT Next Women of Country Class of 2023, joining, Kacey Musgraves, Margo Price, Brittney Spencer, Lainey Wilson, Lauren Alaina, Madeline Edwards, Maren Morris and Morgan Wade. Wide Open Country’s included Julie on their list of “10 Country Acts Poised for a Breakout Year in 2023.”
In June 2023, Julie released her self-titled EP, Julie Williams, which was covered by American Songwriter and the Tennessean. She followed the release with a Newport Folk Festival set, CMA Fest performances at Fan Fair X and the Country Music Hall of Fame, an official AmericanaFest showcase, and a twenty-city coast-to-coast tour.
An activist at heart, Julie launched Green Room Conversations in March 2023, a series of performances and speaking campuses on college campuses to raise awareness of sexual harassment in the music industry. Inspired by her song “The Prince,” about Julie’s experience with sexual violence and whose music video premiered with CMT with a Times Square billboard, Green Room Conversations hopes to empower the next generation of artists and industry changemakers. Julie has already visited MTSU, University of Texas-Austin, and Duke, and is set to visit more campuses later this year.
On August 20th, Julie released “just friends?”, the first single on her upcoming EP, Tennessee Moon (to be released on October 17). She released the second single, “reckless road” on September 17.
