{image1}Although Julie Moffitt is a self-described gypsy, moving from thing to thing -- she's worked in the music business in Los Angeles, done psychology research at USC and now lives in Wisconsin -- music has been a constant in her life.

She's been in marketing at the Universal Music Group, has worked as an arranger, sang backup on three discs, won awards with her a cappella group, fronted a cover band and minored in jazz studies in college.

When it came time to focus on her songs, her voice and her skills as an instrumentalist -- that is, to record her first solo disc -- she turned to veteran producer and guitarist Mike Hoffmann (E.I.E.I.O., Victor DeLorenzo, Yipes!, Carnival Strippers).

The result is the genre-hopping "Everything I Never Asked For," with 12 original tunes that showcase her warm voice, her accomplished songwriting and her adept instrumental skills (she and Hoffmann played all of the instruments; although DeLorenzo guests on a track and harmonica player Gary Messinger played on two).

As Moffitt plans to unleash her solo debut, we asked her about making the record and more.

OMC: Tell us a bit about your background.

JM: This is actually the seventh full album I've been involved with, though it's my first solo project. I recorded two albums with my college a cappella group, the SoCal VoCals; sang backup and harmony on two albums in Los Angeles and had songs featured on the best of college a cappella (BOCA) in 2000 and 2001. But this is the first time that I went into a studio with all original songs, all my own musical ideas, and nobody but me and the producer to fill in all the dots. It's also the first time I played instruments on an album, though I've been playing since I was a kid.

I've played all kinds of instruments and sung in plenty of styles, from French horn to organ, Broadway and classical to rock a cappella, though right now I focus on keys and guitars. My greatest loves are jazz and classic rock -- I was in a band before leaving L.A., a blues and classic rock cover band called Deep Pocket. We toured the bar scene in Orange County, mainly, and had a great time, but there wasn't much room for original music and it's tough to get gigs in the L.A. area. I've also been in jazz groups since high school and rock a cappella groups in college and at Disneyland, and if they were still alive, I'd have a hard time deciding who to love more: Cobain or Coltrane. Maybe I could have gotten them both in the same room.

OMC: How was it working with Mike? What were the sessions like?

JM: Working with Mike was a blast. Coming from L.A., I hadn't met a lot of people here in Milwaukee yet, so sometimes I was more excited about getting to hang out and talk than I was about working on the CD, even though the CD was clearly the priority. And so much of recording was really just letting Mike do his producer thing, so I caught up on my reading; I think I've read every issue of Blender and Esquire from the past two years. Even when it came to actually recording, everything was very laid-back. I'd be recording a vocal line or an acoustic guitar part, and we'd end up talking and joking around throughout. In one case ("Back to You") that conversation actually ended up staying in the track.

OMC: Was it a real collaboration, or did you have a pretty clear vision of the record you wanted to make when you walked through the door?

JM: Well actually, it was both. I walked in there knowing how I wanted a lot of the tracks to sound, but with only a bare idea of the rest; when Mike heard the rough demos, he'd start building things one way or the other, adding instruments and licks and talking arrangements, and in the end it was a conversation between us about which angle we wanted to take with each tune. A few songs are exactly what I'd planned on before I even started the project; a few of them are completely different than I'd ever imagined. I think the different experiences we've each had in our music careers complemented one another well.