NYC indie-folk artist Julia Greenberg releases her ‘Born Sentimental’ EP on June 11 via New Jersey’s Magic Door Record Label, a deeply personal record that blends the dust and edge of alternative country with the sharp lyricism and melodic elegance of classic American songwriting, creating something strikingly human — tender, weathered, and unguardedly sincere.
Originally meant as an experiment. Julia’s co-producer and former label-mate Bob Perry (Winter Hours) saw the quartet perform at an intimate space in Hoboken and set out to capture their live connected and vulnerable sound at his studio. The music pulses with the hard-earned intimacy of four musicians shaped by years on the road together, their songs carrying the marks of constant movement, shared trust, and a collective creative spirit forged across countless Northeastern miles.
Recorded live in one day at Chrometop Studios, this EP was engineered by Bob Perry. and mastered by Ray Ketchem (Guided by Voices, Elk City, Gramercy Arms, Luna, Crash Harmony) at Magic Door Recording Studio in Montclair, NJ. Complete with the guitar pick against the old wood, wavering vocals when the lyrics go deep, and buzzes on those catgut bass strings, the resultant recording is absolute realness – something we all seem to be looking for these days.
A songwriter, filmmaker and alt. musical theater composer, Greenberg’s 7-track collection includes rueful songs on the foibles of trying to hang on to moments in time as they slip through our fingers. A departure from her previous two brighter albums, this EP channels a raw and dark acoustic set she has cultivated live over the last 5 years with a quartet featuring her beat-up old acoustic guitar, an upright bass, near-point-of-tears harmonies, and mournful accordion lines.
“After years of interpreting other people’s songs and making a film about my musical idol, Dory Previn, this release feels like some kind of catharsis. It’s just me and my unadorned voice and musical companions of the last decade, doing what we do live, captured so beautifully by engineer and co-producer Bob Perry,” says Julia Greenberg.
“Yeah, these songs are unapologetically written and sung by a woman who has been around a while and has seen and lost a thing or two—and knows the power of the proximity of funny and mournful. The songs, and the kind of raw way I’m putting them out into the world, is a reaction to all the screens, and filters and bullshit projections of ourselves that rule us.
Greenberg recently shared ‘Sometimes The Sea’, a reflective piece born from a moment of sudden clarity and a desire for external perspective. Framed as a conversation between two close friends about the compounding burdens of growing older, this is a song about overcoming personal blues, viewed through the comforting lens of friendship and musical camaraderie.
On the lead track ‘Leaves’, Greenberg masters the art of letting go as she emerges from the quiet wreckage of personal loss. The video directed by Julia Greenberg and edited by Nico Greenberg with Yumiko Takagi as director or photography — captures a small-town schoolhouse “frozen in time”, a poignant monument to the people and milestones we’ve moved on from.
With roots in NYC’s vibrant music scene, Greenberg has released two albums of original music – ‘Past Your Eyes’ and ‘Greenland’ – both produced by James Mastro (The Bongos, Mott the Hoople, Ian Hunter, Patti Smith, John Cale). Her her music has been featured on ‘This American Life’ (including the ever-popular Dr. Phil episode, in which Phil Collins evaluates a breakup song she co-wrote), and Ronnie Spector also recorded one of her songs.
Greenberg’s award-winning documentary ‘Dory Previn: On My Way to Where’ can now be watched on PBS, having had its world premiere at the SXSW Film & TV Festival in 2024. Prior to directing the film, Julia became the foremost interpreter of Previn’s music, performing her work around the country at venues such as Joe’s Pub, Mass MoCA, the 92nd Street Y, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and on WFMU and WNYC radio. She is also the archivist for Previn’s estate.
Apart from co-writing the hit off-Broadway rock opera ‘People Are Wrong!’ with Robin Goldwasser, she composed the music for the off-Broadway play ‘Cavedweller’ with “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” composer Stephen Trask. In her spare time, she is a health justice advocate and co-curates the music program at the Rock Valley Schoolhouse in the Catskills.
Now available to order, the ‘Born Sentimental’ EP is out on June 11 across most digital platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon and Bandcamp.
TRACK LIST
1 . Born Sentimental
2 . Sometimes The Sea
3 . Leaves
4 . Checking In On Me
5 . Swam
6 . Sidney Herbert Brunner
7 . Calling You Home
CREDITS
Music & lyrics for all songs written by Julia Greenberg
Jeremy Chatzky – upright bass
Will Holshouser – accordion
Tricia Scotti – backing vocals
Julia Greenberg – acoustic guitar
Bob Perry – electric guitar
Paul Moschella – drums
Stephanie Seymour – percussion
Recorded at Chrometop Studios
Co-produced by Bob Perry and Julia Greenberg
Engineered by Bob Perry
Mastered by Ray Ketchem at Magic Door Recording
Cover artwork by Jamil Azam
Artist photos by Yumiko Takagi
Released by Magic Door Record Label
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR