Last week, I had the pleasure and privilege of witnessing the talents and charms of the YouTube famous Julia Nunes live, and right here in Winona, in fact. To be honest, I had no idea she was even in town until an hour before her show. I received a text message from my friend, Casey Nelson, that said, “are you going to the Julia Nunes show?” I figured it must be meant for someone else because I was home playing with my cats and I was clearly not going to a Julia Nunes show. But I decided to see where the show was at, out of curiosity, and was told it was at Red Wing Tattoo. I thought to myself, “You mean Red Wing Tattoo in Winona—the one that’s a block from where I’m at currently?” Turns out, it was the very same.
If you’ve never heard of Julia Nunes—well—maybe you don’t have a computer with the internet or something. To the uninitiated, she is a solo artist who gained popularity through her YouTube videos featuring acoustic guitar and ukelele covers of popular songs by acts such as the Beach Boys and Queen. I am usually far too cynical and jaded to appreciate a young girl doing cutesy acoustic covers of songs she didn’t write on her YouTube channel, but Julia Nunes was able to melt my icy heart almost instantly. My friend showed me a YouTube video of her uke cover of the Beach Boy’s “God Only Knows” a couple years back, and her beautiful baritone voice, overdubbed harmonies with herself, and quirky antics made me a fan. I also enjoyed the rawness in the recordings and the imperfections left in, making it more authentic and personal than a slickly produced music video.
Now, back to the part where I explain how this New York native ended up in Winona. Julia Nunes was doing a “Living Room Tour” and asking fans to email her if they were interested in hosting a show on her tour. The friend who had texted me about the show is engaged to a body art technician named Chelsea who works at Red Wing Tattoo. She had emailed Julia Nunes about hosting and made the whole thing happen in Winona. They had extra tickets, so my wife, Megan, and I lucked out. I was familiar with the living room show format because one of my favorite songwriters, David Bazan, had pretty much invented and made the concept a popular and profitable business model. I had been to three of his living room shows including one in Madison, Wisconsin, one in Edmonds, Washington, and one in Winona as well. You pay $20 for a ticket and around 30-40 tickets are sold for each show on the tour depending on the size of the house or venue. No sound system or equipment is needed other than the musician’s instrument, no staff is required, and so the money goes directly to the artist. The person who is hosting the house show is sent a list of the names of people who have paid to attend the show and they are checked off the list as they show up at the house or venue. Some hosts even allow for people to bring beverages and alcohol to the show. I was not surprised to see The Undertow Collective which managed the Bazan tours was also behind the Julia Nunes tour. She also admitted to being a huge Bazan fan herself during her show and that certainly came across when she played her originals. Refreshingly, she played all original works aside from a cover of “Royals” by Lorde and a medley of popular songs at the end. That was sort of surprising for someone who got popular off of covers of other people’s music, but thankfully her original material did not disappoint. I prefer to hear someone’s own song anyhow, because artistry and originality is more important and exciting than listening to a bunch of covers, despite what you heard on American Idol. Nunes brought along a friend and fellow musician who she had met through YouTube (go figure) to support her on songs. He also played some of his own tunes which Nunes backed him on. He went by the moniker Brightener, but his actual name was Will Sturgeon and he was from Southern California.
All in all, the night was very entertaining. Julia was certainly engaging with the crowd and took time in between songs to answer questions and talk with people. There were only about 15 people in attendance so it was a very intimate set. She encouraged people to sing on certain parts of songs and really made it interactive. Red Wing Tattoo provided a cozy atmosphere with a bunch of couches and chairs out for seating along with snacks before the show. After the conclusion of the show, Julia took pictures with everyone and signed any merchandise people decided to purchase. If Julia Nunes ever decides to come back to Winona, you should probably go see her.