Music that heals body and soul

Julie Rust came from her home in the music mecca of Nashville to her native Ozaukee County to perform for her mother and residents of Lasata last Friday and to play at a Wisconsin Singers and Songwriters concert the following evening. 

She brought more than her musical talent with her. She brought her message that music does far more than entertain.

When not performing for a group, Rust plays one of her songs she’s written for each of the 10 people in what she calls her “sacred space experience,” hands out a gemstone with a special meaning and a randomly selected quote from the internet.

The results still amaze Rust, who grew up in the Town of Grafton. She always wanted a career in music, but never imagined it would lead to helping people deal with challenges in their lives.

“It feels like magic,” she said. “It’s the most amazing thing to be part of all of this and to show up, play a song   and watch something happen. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.”

Rust went through an ordeal about 20 years ago that inspired her music as a healing influence. She and her family became seriously ill from toxic mold in their Nashville trailer-home. She was so sick she thought she would die. The symptoms of what turned out to be neurotoxin poisoning lasted for years. 

“I had no label on what was wrong with me so I just kept exploring and reading and asking for help and intuition and guidance,” she said.

She gave up playing piano and got sicker.

“OK, that’s not going to work. My soul needs this,” Rust said.

Rust learned to question whatever information she got.

She learned that by stating her favorite things in a chant—springtime, a beautiful sky or music—she could finally feel better.

“Music can be healing. The body responds to whatever we say is happening,” she said, adding that she tells her cells that they’re amazing. “It’s a real discipline to kind of be your own CEO of your body.”

Two decades later, Rust is happier and healthier than before.

The accomplished songwriter and pianist and now motivational speaker looked for ways to use her songs to help people. Over a three-month period, she was inspired to remember all the songs she wrote, including the lullabies she thought nobody would like. She heard every song in her head.

“Somebody called it a musical fire walk. You don’t know what you’re going to be learning from your song or what you’re going to hear,” Rust said.

“They’re getting the universe, or God or spirit or whatever you want to call it — I see you I love you I hear you. It’s so amazing.”

Rust grew up in a musical household. Her father was a doctor who played trumpet, and her mother was a big band singer for the Steve Swedish Band in Milwaukee.

Rust begged for piano lessons and got them when she was 9. At Grafton High, she played original songs at a Chili Day fundraiser and won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award.

After graduating in 1981, she went on to earn a degree in music theory/composition at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She joined the school’s coffee house committee that booked acts at the campus coffee shop and learned about the music business.

Rust once opened for Gene Cotton, who had four Billboard Top 40 hits in the 1970s, who told her to go to Nashville. She moved there in 1989, lugging her keyboard around seven days a week and attending various open mic writers nights.

She met her husband, also a musician who sometimes performs with her, at a Halloween party and they danced all night.

Rust has performed across Wisconsin, including at Summerfest, and loves the music scene.

“Here you’ve got all sorts of genres represented. I consider this area to be one of the most music-rich areas as far as variety and talent,” she said.

Rust also feels a nostalgia when coming home.

“Growing up here for me, the education was so good and the community was great,” she said. “I still have friends here since fourth grade.”