Mark Holland's Rhythm Force

Billboard's Editors and Writers pick Their Top Ten records:
#5 Jule Brown: Mutant country necromancy recorded solo by North Carolina savant.
-Chris Morris - Billsboard

By Paul Roberts

Who: Mark Holland- organ/piano/harmonica and vocals, Mike Holland-guitar, Tony Lener-guitar, Tom Royal-bass and Marvin Levi-drums
Where: Chapel Hill
The Sound: Blues, rock with heart and soul.
The Skinny: Look for Jule Brown to be coming to a town near you. With a new record and a new deal, they are poised to concur.

How did you all get together?

I started J.B. as a solo act in 1995....I had a band in 1996 and 1997 for the album Occurrence at Jule Brown Bridge, and then played solo until 2006 when I had my second band (I did a lot of Jennyanykind stuff during those years). The second band recorded Smoke and Mirrors in 2006 and then I broke the band up when they proved unroadworthy. I Recorded Soldier in the 9th with just a select few friends, then re-met Marvin (a longtime friend) in late 2007 and we started jamming with great chemistry. I brought Tony back in (he did the bass for S&M and Soldier) and we played as a trio for most of the year. I then moved to organ/keyboard realizing that I was better at it than guitar and that the band needed to expand to take the music to the next level. I moved Tony to guitar, and brought my brother Mike in on slide guitar and Tom Royal on bass. Tom and Mike are my ex-Jennyanykind band mates with Tom just moving back to NC from Boston. This is definitely the best live band I have ever had.

How did you hook up with Dualtone Records?

Earlier this year, after Soldier died out, I was left with looking for a new label in order to grow. Enabler in NY was just too small and they could not capitalize on the success of S7M and Soldier. I recorded a new album at home in March 2008, doing all the instruments except bass (mike did that as well as mixing and mastering). I shopped it around for a few months and Dualtone approached me about a deal.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Charley Patton

Describe your sound.

It’s a sound and style is reminiscent of the early country and blues masters, but it’s updated for today's contemporary, independent rock scene. Roots based rock. We are comparable to Dylan, Clapton, and The Allman Brothers Band, but have an original sound.

What does your band bring to the table that others don't?

We bring simplicity and universal appeal. We are also keeping it real. It is all about the music, not the music biz. We all like to party and jam like musicians, but we have a certain Je ne sais quoi, an indescribable quality that people can relate too.

When did you realize that this is what you wanted to do?

As I shot out of my Mother on March 5, 1969

Is the Chapel Hill scene supportive of you?

Yes and no. I get great help from Frank at the Cradle; he is like a second Manager (if I had a first one!) On the flipside, I am also barred from many places there. I have been known to blow-off gigs that I feel could be a waste of time. I’ve got kids to feed and have a short fuse for B.S.

Are you a fan of music downloading?

Yes. My latest with Dualtone, Surreal Folk Blues, is downloadable and I have an iPod permanently attached.

Muddy Waters or Robert Johnson?

Robert Johnson

www.myspace.com/julebrown
- Village Idiot

POP MUSIC;New Releases
By JON PARELES
Published: January 7, 1996
JULE BROWN: 'THE LEGENDARY MAGIC OF JULE BROWN' No. 6/Caroline

Jilted lovers everywhere might consider the example of Jule Brown, who parlays heartbreak into 12 spectral songs. His recording company describes him as a reclusive North Carolina farmer who's a self-taught musician and a one-man recording band. Whether or not he's within range of a college radio station, he's aural kin to slow-motion droners like Palace Songs, the Cowboy Junkies and sometimes Neil Young. Over strummed guitars and sustained organ chords, he sings with fatalistic calm about losing love and seeking spiritual comfort: "I'm seepin' with doom/ I stand in my tomb" he avows in "You Tore Me in Two." Behind the lugubrious tempos and steadfast vocals is a man obsessed. J. P.
- New York Times

Out of 30 million entries, Jule Brown finished in the runner-up group of 1500 at the 2006 Billboard World Songwriting Contest for "Can't Get it Right" from the forthcoming Sept 2006 release "Smoke and Mirrors" from Enabler Records. Look in the photo section for the award. - Billboard

12.10.07
Jule Brown
SOLDIER IN THE 9TH- (ENABLER)- Jule Brown (aka Jennyanykind’s Mark Holland) is back with more of the low-endy folky blues that he has perfected on his last several records (including last year’s awesome SMOKE NSD MIRRORS). Taking his biggest cue from Blues great Charley Patton (as well as Bob Dylan…you can tell it in the vocals) Brown and his motley crew (which includes help from his brother Michael on bass as well as Dean Wareham on guitar and Britta Phillips on umm…clavinova??!!) amble and shuffle on ace songs such as the raw “Stop What You’re Doin’”, the Kinks-y “Those Were the Days” the poppier , smooth-as-silk title track. I hear more organs this time around but the sound is basically the same as on other J.B. record and while SOLDIER IN THE 9TH is a terrific record from start to finish I still have to call SMOME AND MIRRORS as my favorite J.B. record. If you’re a newby though you’d be just fine starting anywhere in his catalog. Dive in and discover one of the best songwriters in America. www.enablerrecords.com - www.daggerzine.com

6/13/2008

As Jule Brown, Mark Holland plays surreal folk blues. So it's perfect that "Surreal Folk Blues" (Dualtone Music Group) just happens to be the title of the new Jule Brown album, a shambling beast that sounds as if it just crawled out of a primordial swamp. The songs on "Surreal Folk Blues" seem to inhabit a murky netherworld where Holland's harmonica is a harbinger of Old Testament doom. It's the coolest countrified blues-rock since Holland's former band Jennyanykind breathed its last. Jule Brown opens for Paul Thorn tonight at Carrboro's Cat's Cradle and also plays July 11 at Chapel Hill's Blue Horn Lounge. - Raleigh News and Observer

JULE BROWN: While folks like Jon Spencer and Gregg Foreman attempt to gyrate and caterwaul their way to a new version of the blues, Jule Brown, aka Mark Holland, has quietly invented just that in Chapel Hill, first as leader of Jennyanykind, and lately, by himself. (Momo's, 9pm) -- Christopher Hess - Austin Chronicle

"Country blues so sinister it could scare the guy who scared Robert Johnson," - Rick Cornell, Independent Weekly - Independent Weekly

Jule Brown Press Reviews

Runner-up in Billboard's 2005 World Songwriting Contest
Billboard
Out of 30 million entries, Jule Brown finished in the runner-up group of 1500 at the 2005 Billboard World Songwriting Contest for "Can't Get it Right" from the forthcoming Sept 2006 release "Smoke and Mirrors" from Enabler Records. Look in the photo section for the award.

New York Times Review of first album
New York Times
POP MUSIC;New Releases
By JON PARELES
Published: January 7, 1996
JULE BROWN: 'THE LEGENDARY MAGIC OF JULE BROWN' No. 6/Caroline

Jilted lovers everywhere might consider the example of Jule Brown, who parlays heartbreak into 12 spectral songs. His recording company describes him as a reclusive North Carolina farmer who's a self-taught musician and a one-man recording band. Whether or not he's within range of a college radio station, he's aural kin to slow-motion droners like Palace Songs, the Cowboy Junkies and sometimes Neil Young. Over strummed guitars and sustained organ chords, he sings with fatalistic calm about losing love and seeking spiritual comfort: "I'm seepin' with doom/ I stand in my tomb" he avows in "You Tore Me in Two." Behind the lugubrious tempos and steadfast vocals is a man obsessed. J. P.


Billboard: The Critics' Choice
Billsboard
Billboard's Editors and Writers pick Their Top Ten records:
#5 Jule Brown: Mutant country necromancy recorded solo by North Carolina savant.
-Chris Morris

SXSW Pick's and Sleepers
Austin Chronicle
JULE BROWN: While folks like Jon Spencer and Gregg Foreman attempt to gyrate and caterwaul their way to a new version of the blues, Jule Brown, aka Mark Holland, has quietly invented just that in Chapel Hill, first as leader of Jennyanykind, and lately, by himself. (Momo's, 9pm) -- Christopher Hess

Could Scare Robert Johnson
Independent Weekly
"Country blues so sinister it could scare the guy who scared Robert Johnson," - Rick Cornell, Independent Weekly




HARP MAGAZINE
(Oct 2006)
Jule Brown is the Nom De Rock of Mark Holland, who with his twin brother Michael led the criminally underrated North Carolina roots-rock band Jennyanykind back in the ’90s (their great Revelator used to be ubiquitous in cut-out bins). Co-produced by Luna’s Dean Wareham, who also contributes guitar, and Southern Culture on the Skids’ Rick Miller, Smoke and Mirrors isn’t far removed from Jennyanykind’s low-key, rough-and-tumble country-blues swagger. And that’s a good thing. Holland’s scratchy moan of a voice suits the beaten-but-not-defeated tone of “The Losers,” “Big Time Loser,” and “Can’t Get It Right” (the songs aren’t as comically depressing as their titles), and he slips easily from the surf-rock zip of “Rhythm And Booze” to the swampy cover of Charley Patton’s “Green River Blues.” Reminiscent of Basement Tapes/Highway 61 Revisited-era Dylan, Smoke and Mirrors’ slow-burning rockers reflect the past but never mimic it.
By Steve Klinge
First printed in December 2006



AMERICAN SONGWRITER
(Oct 2006)

Singer-songwriter Mark Holland already had one go-around at playing the fame game. Alongside his twin brother Michael, Holland spent much of the past decade playing in the critically acclaimed psychedelic grunge outfit Jennyanykind. But when the band broke up (and with a name like that, it seems inevitable that they would) Holland decided to soldier on, reinventing himself as the laid-back, critically acclaimable Jule Brown, purveyor of catchy, rootsy, heartfelt indie-rock goodness. With a voice that splits the difference between Dan Bern and Tom Petty, and songs that wander comfortably between blues, folk and rock, Jule Brown (not to be confused with Jewel or Downtown Julie Brown) has seen his stock slowly rise. Dean Wareham, the iconic ex-frontman of Luna, and Southern Culture on the Skids frontman Rick Miller serve as co-producers on his winning debut, Smoke and Mirrors. The former army officer and Political Science and History major has plenty to say and a pleasing way of saying it, so get yourself a copy, pronto, soldier.

by Nick Schulman

RELIX
(JULY 2007)

Jule Brown, you should consider yourself lucky: meat potatoes blues-rock will never go out of style. However, Soldier in the 9th can hardly be considered a step up from last year’s critically acclaimed Smoke and Mirrors. There’s nothing overly ambitious here, just some catchy, dirty, delta-rock-fueled hooks (“Stop What You’re Doin’”), Sonny Boy Williamson-style harmonica (“She Blows My Mind) and tight B-3 Hammond organ work (“On the Run”). Brown’s full, rough vocal timbre, as usual, functions as a strong compliment to the melodies he crafts but not as a conduit for his lyrics- those things tend to be an afterthought.

By Michael Spies



University of North Carolina, Daily Tar Heel
(July 2007)

Local's latest inspires sounds of the South
By: Bryan Reed, Senior Writer
Mark Holland is one of those lesser known fixtures of North Carolina's rock lexicon.

Along with his brother Michael, he formed the long-since-gone Jennyanykind, a blues-built casualty of the industry's cashing in on Chapel Hill in the '90s.

And here he is, three albums into a career recording under the name Jule Brown and still not getting his fair share of recognition.

And that's a low-down dirty shame.

Soldier in the 9th is the work of a seasoned musician, one who's honed his skills both as a musician and a songwriter over many years of just doing it. The product is a bluesy folk-rock treat that couldn't have been birthed anywhere but North Carolina.

Holland's voice lazes about like it's a hot, sticky summer day fit for playing the blues on the front porch.

The musical touchstones are obvious: Dylan, '60s psych, Southern rock and blues all come together with just the slightest touch of Southern soul.

But it's not in sounding foreign that Jule Brown excels, it's in sounding 100 percent down-home American.

There's not even a hint of irony or exaggeration in the sound, just the natural culmination of growing up listening to music in the South.

The vaguely political songs lend themselves well to the Americana sound of the record, recalling Vietnam-era blues-rock, updated for a new audience and a new administration. The title track explores futility from a soldier's perspective, all wrapped up in smooth melodies and a wistful distortion.

But politics aside, Soldier in the 9th, is a roots rock record the somehow manages to avoid retro fetishism or mere plagiarism with its well-stirred blend of influences.

The blues-form "She Blows My Mind" exemplifies the sound of Jule Brown with its pop melodicism skirting along the edge of swampy harmonica and a razor-sharp twanging electric guitar.

Jule Brown might not be leading a revolution, but he reminds us why we love living in the South.

That's something worth recognizing.



Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Soldier in the 9th at #9 at New Music Weekly’s College Radio Chart
- 1 INHALE EXHALE - The Lost The Sick The Sacred (Solid State) 1248 --
-- 2 FEAST ETERNAL - Prison Of Flesh (Open Grave) 1200 --
-- 3 TORTURED CONSCIENCE - Every Knee Shall Bow (Bombworks) 1056 --
-- 4 ARMED CONFLICT - Armed Conflict (Ind) 992 --
1 5 BRANDIE FRAMPTON - What U See FH (D&Lf) 233 233
-- 6 SON VOLT - Search (Red Ink/Columbia) 209 67
-- 7 PONCHO SANCHEZ - Raise Your Hand (Concord) 148 62
2 8 LEVI CHEN - Devocean (Yin Yang) 146 146
-- 9 JULE BROWN - Soldier In The 9th (Enabler) 142 54
-- 10 JEFF BUCKLEY - So Real (Legacy/RCA) 139 60



Harp Magazine July/August 2007

In the ’90s, Mark Holland raised a righteous roots-rock commotion with Jennyanykind until the world unfairly stopped listening. Holland concurrently strapped on a harmonica rack, adopted the folk persona of Jule Brown, shapeshifted his voice into a cross between Bob Dylan’s socially conscious croak and Ray Davies’ wearily urbane croon and began a solo career. In Brown clothes, Holland has explored old-time country, electric folk and roots pop on each of his solo albums, with his latest, Soldier in the 9th, continuing in the rootsy life-in-America vein of last year’s superb Smoke and Mirrors. The difference on Soldier is the pervasive keyboard presence of Hammonds, Wurlitzers and Fenders and rockier roots, from the Stonesy shuffle of “Lemon Lite” to the Procol Harum altar hymn of “On the Run” to the Chris Whitley-salutes-Charley Patton slowburn of “Clear Tone Blues.” For an alter ego, Jule Brown is the real roots deal.
By Brian Baker


Undiscovered Radio Network

http://www.undiscoveredradionetwork.com/URN/Home.html

Jule Brown - Much like Simple Kid from last week, much of Jule Brown’s material is not quite a fit for Undiscovered. BUT again, that doesn’t mean I won’t work it in and tell the world about it! He’s listed as Blues/Roots Music/Folk through his MySpace page, but it becomes a fit for us when he adds enough swagger and grit on tunes like “Stop What You’re Doin’” and a few others. Shades of Ryan Adams and similar artists, in that the spectrum of music coming from the songs can be all over the place. This is bluesy-rock that is simple and direct, but done in a way to not blend in with the rest of the pack.

- Various