Biography
Julie Christensen possesses a crystalline and versatile vocal instrument capable of moving fluidly across jazz, roots-inflected punk, and numerous points between. Though widely recognized for her extensive work as a backing singer alongside Leonard Cohen, Van Dyke Parks, k.d. lang, Rufus Wainwright, and others, she has also served as a core member of the influential roots-punk outfit Divine Horsemen while simultaneously sustaining a critically regarded solo career built on articulate, introspective songwriting and collaborations with players attuned to her fusion of blues, jazz, folk, and country. More than fifteen years into her professional singing life, she issued her debut solo album, Love is Driving, in 1996; in the years that followed she explored standards on Something Familiar (2006), soulful R&B on Soul Driver (2000), gritty roots rock on The Cardinal (2016), and robust acoustic settings on A Sad Clown (2018), always placing her singular voice at the forefront.
Born January 21, 1956, in Iowa City, Iowa, Christensen grew up with a mother who worked as a nurse and served as organist at a local Protestant church. Mother and daughter frequently harmonized at the family piano over a Judy Collins songbook. Christensen first grasped music’s emotional force at age five while watching The Wizard of Oz on television; Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow” moved her to tears. She soon began performing in church and entered local talent contests broadcast on television. Although roots music was scarce in Iowa City, her brother, a member of the regional band Jonesin’, introduced her to the blues via a Bonnie Raitt record. An Iowa public radio station later broadened her palette, and at the University of Iowa she immersed herself in Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, and Linda Ronstadt. Drawn increasingly to country, folk-rock, and western swing, she joined the band Longshot, which played regularly at Gabe’s in Iowa City; she eventually left school to tour with the group. After two years she moved to the University of Texas to study music and quickly entered Austin’s vibrant scene, singing with the respected jazz ensemble Passenger before relocating to Los Angeles in 1981, where she encountered bands merging punk energy with American roots traditions.
While providing backing vocals for Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs in 1982, she met Chris Desjardins, known professionally as Chris D., a writer, producer, and frontman of the Flesh Eaters. Impressed by her voice, Desjardins stayed in contact; when he assembled Divine Horsemen in 1984, grafting the Flesh Eaters’ lyrical approach onto country-, blues-, and folk-informed arrangements, he invited Christensen to join. Their professional partnership soon became romantic, and the couple married in 1985. Divine Horsemen released four albums between 1985 and 1987, yet internal struggles with addiction prompted Christensen to leave the band that year; her marriage to Desjardins ended shortly afterward. She sustained herself through jazz engagements until 1988, when Roscoe Beck—bassist from her Austin days with Passenger—contacted her. Having served as Leonard Cohen’s musical director after two earlier tours, Beck recruited Christensen as a backing vocalist for the world tour supporting I’m Your Man. The visibility she gained helped launch her solo trajectory. She contributed background vocals to sessions by Van Dyke Parks, John Doe, Steve Wynn, and others, and signed with Polygram Records. An album produced by Todd Rundgren was recorded but shelved after a corporate restructuring; it remains unreleased.
In 1992 Christensen married actor John Diehl, and they had a son. The following year she rejoined Cohen for another global tour. Afterward she settled in Ojai, California, and completed her first solo release, Love is Driving (1996), which incorporated several songs originally intended for the unreleased Polygram project. She issued the album on her own Stone Cupid imprint, which also became the name of her band. Stone Cupid next released Soul Driver in 2000, while Household Ink put out the standards collection Something Familiar in 2006. In 2005 she appeared in the documentary Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man, performing with the ensemble behind interpretations by Nick Cave, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Linda Thompson, and Rufus Wainwright. Another Stone Cupid album, Where The Fireworks Are, followed in 2007, alongside session work with Rufus Wainwright, Robben Ford, and Lowen & Navarro. Christensen began an acoustic project produced by her friend and mentor Kenny Edwards, but Edwards’s death from cancer in 2010 led her to set it aside. She later revived the material as an electric album with producer Jeff Turmes, releasing it in 2012 as Weeds Like Us. Credited to Stone Cupid, The Cardinal (2016) featured covers of songs by Chuck Prophet, Kevin Gordon, Dan Navarro, and Leonard Cohen alongside nine original compositions. The largely acoustic A Sad Clown appeared in 2018. In 2019 Desjardins reassembled the classic Flesh Eaters lineup for I Used To Be Pretty, with Christensen adding backing vocals; the reunion proved fruitful enough that the pair recorded a new Divine Horsemen album, Hot Rise of an Ice Cream Phoenix, issued in 2021. Christensen next devoted an entire record to the songs of alt-country songwriter Kevin Gordon, releasing 11 From Kevin: Songs of Kevin Gordon in 2022.
After several years in Nashville, she relocated to New Mexico in 2020 and reconnected with bassist and arranger Terry Lee Burns, whom she had met through her brothers in the 1970s. The two recorded The Price We Pay For Love by exchanging files between home studios during the COVID-19 pandemic; the album was released in 2023.
Born January 21, 1956, in Iowa City, Iowa, Christensen grew up with a mother who worked as a nurse and served as organist at a local Protestant church. Mother and daughter frequently harmonized at the family piano over a Judy Collins songbook. Christensen first grasped music’s emotional force at age five while watching The Wizard of Oz on television; Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow” moved her to tears. She soon began performing in church and entered local talent contests broadcast on television. Although roots music was scarce in Iowa City, her brother, a member of the regional band Jonesin’, introduced her to the blues via a Bonnie Raitt record. An Iowa public radio station later broadened her palette, and at the University of Iowa she immersed herself in Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, and Linda Ronstadt. Drawn increasingly to country, folk-rock, and western swing, she joined the band Longshot, which played regularly at Gabe’s in Iowa City; she eventually left school to tour with the group. After two years she moved to the University of Texas to study music and quickly entered Austin’s vibrant scene, singing with the respected jazz ensemble Passenger before relocating to Los Angeles in 1981, where she encountered bands merging punk energy with American roots traditions.
While providing backing vocals for Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs in 1982, she met Chris Desjardins, known professionally as Chris D., a writer, producer, and frontman of the Flesh Eaters. Impressed by her voice, Desjardins stayed in contact; when he assembled Divine Horsemen in 1984, grafting the Flesh Eaters’ lyrical approach onto country-, blues-, and folk-informed arrangements, he invited Christensen to join. Their professional partnership soon became romantic, and the couple married in 1985. Divine Horsemen released four albums between 1985 and 1987, yet internal struggles with addiction prompted Christensen to leave the band that year; her marriage to Desjardins ended shortly afterward. She sustained herself through jazz engagements until 1988, when Roscoe Beck—bassist from her Austin days with Passenger—contacted her. Having served as Leonard Cohen’s musical director after two earlier tours, Beck recruited Christensen as a backing vocalist for the world tour supporting I’m Your Man. The visibility she gained helped launch her solo trajectory. She contributed background vocals to sessions by Van Dyke Parks, John Doe, Steve Wynn, and others, and signed with Polygram Records. An album produced by Todd Rundgren was recorded but shelved after a corporate restructuring; it remains unreleased.
In 1992 Christensen married actor John Diehl, and they had a son. The following year she rejoined Cohen for another global tour. Afterward she settled in Ojai, California, and completed her first solo release, Love is Driving (1996), which incorporated several songs originally intended for the unreleased Polygram project. She issued the album on her own Stone Cupid imprint, which also became the name of her band. Stone Cupid next released Soul Driver in 2000, while Household Ink put out the standards collection Something Familiar in 2006. In 2005 she appeared in the documentary Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man, performing with the ensemble behind interpretations by Nick Cave, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Linda Thompson, and Rufus Wainwright. Another Stone Cupid album, Where The Fireworks Are, followed in 2007, alongside session work with Rufus Wainwright, Robben Ford, and Lowen & Navarro. Christensen began an acoustic project produced by her friend and mentor Kenny Edwards, but Edwards’s death from cancer in 2010 led her to set it aside. She later revived the material as an electric album with producer Jeff Turmes, releasing it in 2012 as Weeds Like Us. Credited to Stone Cupid, The Cardinal (2016) featured covers of songs by Chuck Prophet, Kevin Gordon, Dan Navarro, and Leonard Cohen alongside nine original compositions. The largely acoustic A Sad Clown appeared in 2018. In 2019 Desjardins reassembled the classic Flesh Eaters lineup for I Used To Be Pretty, with Christensen adding backing vocals; the reunion proved fruitful enough that the pair recorded a new Divine Horsemen album, Hot Rise of an Ice Cream Phoenix, issued in 2021. Christensen next devoted an entire record to the songs of alt-country songwriter Kevin Gordon, releasing 11 From Kevin: Songs of Kevin Gordon in 2022.
After several years in Nashville, she relocated to New Mexico in 2020 and reconnected with bassist and arranger Terry Lee Burns, whom she had met through her brothers in the 1970s. The two recorded The Price We Pay For Love by exchanging files between home studios during the COVID-19 pandemic; the album was released in 2023.
Albums
The Price We Pay for Love
2023
11 from Kevin: Songs of Kevin Gordon
2022
A Sad Clown
2018
Something Familiar
2006
Love Is Driving
1996
Singles
