I am not one to post online about myself but what I realise is that country music is about being authentic and if I am going to share other independent artists' stories, I should share my own. My name is Danielle Julyan and I am the person behind Collab Collab. I wanted to share a little bit about myself and how Country Collab has started.
I’ll start with my favourite artists. Alan Jackson, Luke Combs and Chris Stapleton. I definitely cannot put them in order though. They’re incredibly talented, their music feels authentically country and, honestly, I do love a strong male voice! I have been lucky enough to see all three of them live. Most recently I saw Luke Combs at Wembley in London and honestly I am still not over it! I swear I blinked and the concert was over.
I am not sure why but I was always drawn to this genre of music and I will happily chat to anyone who will listen about country music. I can still remember listening to Alan Jackson’s Livin’ on Love in my uni house while studying law back in 2012/2013. Whenever I told someone I loved country music, the response was usually: “Oh, like Dolly Parton?” Well, yes, absolutely. Dolly is and always will be the country queen. But I would then also mention other artists I liked at the time who included Kenny Chesney, Lady Antebellum (now Lady A), Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton and usually my circle of friends hadn’t heard of these artists at this time.
After finishing my law degree, I spent a couple of years working as a commercial property paralegal while studying for my Legal Practice Course (LPC). This meant working full time and going to university every other weekend. It was intense but it was the next step towards becoming a solicitor. I then had to do a training contract which usually takes around two years. My route took a little longer, with a detour into motherhood when I had my beautiful daughter (not at all biased) and I qualified in 2019 as a property solicitor. I now work as a residential property solicitor with a growing interest in agricultural property. I enjoy the work, although in my head I’m slowly becoming a country music lawyer dealing with farms and fields…
So, how does Country Collab fit into all of this?
I have always wanted to do something positive in the country music community. Every gig I go to (and I go to a fair few!) the people are always so lovely and friendly and it's great to meet people who share the same love for this music. I actually started a website in 2020 during covid days. It was called Country Music Mum and I was going to post about all things country. I found out I was pregnant with my wonderful son (again not biased) and life got busy with two children and the idea fell by the wayside.
However since then country music has continued to grow in the UK, and there have been some fantastic artists that have flown over the pond to perform - this year we have got to see Garth Brooks and Luke Combs. At the end of the month, we are seeing Cody Johnson and I am super excited. I also flew to Nashville earlier this year to attend Country Music Association (CMA) Festival (and this will need to a whole separate post).
As country music has continued to grow, I have always had that feeling I still wanted to write or do something positive in country music. My vision for Country Collab is to become a trusted place for country and Americana fans to find new music, and to help independent artists reach more listeners. Starting the site has made me appreciate how much work goes into releasing a song, and I’d love to help some of those songs find their way onto someone’s playlist.
I’ll share artist spotlights, new releases, the stories behind songs and what I’m learning about the country music business. And there’ll always be room for a good country song list!
If you have made it to the end of this article - first of all thank you for reading! I would love you to subscribe to our emails as I continue to grow this website. Also if you are an independent country artist, please do send me your music, I would love to share it with others.