Julie Miller: A heart released and an album worth listening to

Thursday 1st August 1991

Possessing one of the most goose-pimple-inducing voices ever committed to digital, JULIE MILLER has made big waves since her debut solo album 'Meet Julie Miller'. Jan Willem Vink met the singer.



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You wrote a song to the Devil. Why did you do that?

"Well, it's just sort of laughing about thinking what a jerk he is and what a trickster he is. You know the Devil will tell you any lie you'll believe. And he's got one for all of us. Just custom-made for each of us. I was just thinking what a liar he is. And what a trickster he is. I was just making light of a pretty serious thing for fun."

When I saw you perform you did another song about the Devil...

Julie Miller: A heart released and an album worth listening to

"Yeah. All those songs about the Devil! I don't know how it works out that way but... yeah, yeah."

Does that have to do with your past too?

"Yeah, to tell you the truth, I think I was so stubborn that God had to open the doors of hell and let me look in before I realised: 'I'm going to hell, I'm on my way. And there's nothing to keep me from it'. I think I've experienced a lot of the torment and the tricks of the Devil and the darkness."

When you look at your life now, do you still see the effects of that period?

"You know, I really do. I think there's a bitter-sweetness to really giving many years to the Devil. It's so beautiful when you come to the Lord, and so incredible. The Lord redeems so much you know of what the Devil steals from us. There are certain things God is still healing in me."

Is that hard for you, to still have to go through times of your past?

"Yeah, as a matter of fact. The past year and a half the Lord has been opening up some real painful areas of my life. People say: 'Was doing the record a healing experience?' No! Doing the record was like 'Oh! I can't go on.' Because I was really going through a hard time during that time, because God kind of goes layer by layer into our lives. So He's getting to some really deep struggles like I said earlier. Some results of some child abuse that are really deep down, that still affect my life. I get insecure in my relationship with God for one thing. 'Are you mad?' 'Are you there?' 'Are you gonna go?' This little child in me will go through that a lot. So the Lord is bringing me through a lot of that."

Are you in the process of writing new songs? How does the healing process influence that?

"Actually, a few months ago I thought: I don't know if I could ever write a song again. And then accidentally songs started to come to me. I was washing the dishes and singing and then said: 'Hey! I was singing a song! I've got to tape it. Thank You God!' He's releasing what's in my heart. It's hard to tell when you're in the middle of a song and you're writing: is this any good? Is this incredible or is this horrible? Well, my husband is there and he's always so encouraging. He's great!"

What about Victoria Williams?

"She's the most unique person I've ever met in my life. She's completely kooky
and completely incredible. It's hard to believe that God actually made a person like this. She's so beautifully childlike. It's just incredible. She's just a real precious friend and we sort of had an instant friendship when we met a few years ago in San Francisco and now we just live a few miles from each other in LA. She's a secular artist. She was on Geffen Records. Now she's on Rough Trade. Just real talented, very unique. She's a Christian, she loves the Lord. She's a real neat person, yeah."

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