For Julia Simon and Charles Oriel, the classroom and the stage have always felt surprisingly similar. Their band, Julie and the Jukes, is more than just a blues ensemble — it’s the result of a meeting in Washington University’s Romance languages and literatures department in St. Louis, Missouri.
“I was playing in a duo that basically did folk stuff,” said Oriel, now a senior continuing lecturer in Spanish at UC Davis. “I had always really enjoyed playing blues and slowly got more and more into that.”
After Oriel invited Simon to one of his performances, she played flute occasionally with the duo. Years later, Simon found her rhythm in drums and later transitioned to bass. They formed a series of blues bands and, eventually, Julie and the Jukes. That was 23 years ago.
“Julie, as the bass player in the band, is the glue that holds the band together,” said Oriel. She provides the context, the real groove to the music, and we're just kind of the icing on the cake.”
Over the years, the band blossomed, featuring a rotating cast of drummers, harmonica players and guitarists. Before moving to UC Davis for work, the married couple spent six years at Pennsylvania State University.
Some of their memorable performances include opening for blues legend B.B. King at the Mondavi Center and performing at the Davis Farmers Market. These gigs have allowed the duo to connect with the local community, including students and colleagues.
“It's just great to see all of Davis out there — our students, graduate students and colleagues,” said Simon, a professor of French at UC Davis. “Various people, even B.B. King’s friends came up and were very complimentary of Charles' guitar playing.”
Over the years, Oriel and Simon have carried lessons from the stage into their classrooms. The communication skills needed in the band mirror the interactive atmosphere they foster while teaching.
“Being in a band or in any musical unit always involves some sense of collaboration, compromise and constant dialogue,” said Oriel. “People in our band have slightly different tastes than we do. So it's a constant give and take.”
Simon compares the blues genre to a classroom, noting that both have a fixed structure. “On stage, someone might sing something differently, and the rest of the band has to respond in the moment,” she explained. “Similarly, students will sometimes ask a question and you get a response and it's not what you were expecting at all. You have to be creative.”
As changes in the music industry and COVID-19 have made larger gigs more challenging to book, they have been performing as a duo regularly at smaller venues like wineries and restaurants. Yet, they said they are still passionate about keeping Julie and the Jukes alive, dreaming of recording their own music in a home studio once they retire.
Looking ahead, Simon and Oriel added they are excited about the future. Simon even has a blues-focused book out this month, an as-told-to autobiography: From the Shadow of the Blues: My Story of Music, Addiction, and Redemption (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025), written with John Lee Hooker Jr.
While the full band may slow down, the duo plans to keep playing, perhaps even taking their act on the road in an RV. And with Simon’s skills as a sound engineer, the pair may even record and produce more music of their own.
“Part of the dream is traveling around a little and playing,” said Simon. “While the other part is just fooling around with studio recording.”