Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Probably Nashville-based Julie is best known for her solo performances on stage and on the soundtrack album of Ruth Graham's Fear Not Tomorrow musical. In fact, musical theatre is one of the numerous musical flavours here, "Breathe In Me" sounding like something plucked from the stage. Julie is clearly an eclectic, her tracks ranging from percussive pop rockers to the string-soaked ballad "I Am Yours". Perhaps it is this musical diversity which stops 'A Wild Rose' from truly registering. Her pure-toned voice is attractive enough but lacks bite to sound truly convincing on the faster tempos while one or two of the slow songs veer dangerously close to dated easy listening. One the whole renowned producer Robert White Johnson (Celine Dion, Faith Hill) has done a good job in putting together appropriate, skillfully executed arrangements for the wide variety of material sung by the lovely Ms Elias. But I still feel that Julie needs to find a more focused approach to her music.

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