Although Julie Moffitt is a self-described gypsy, moving from thing to thing -- she's worked in the music business in Los Angeles, done psychology research at USC and now lives in Wisconsin -- music has been a constant in her life.

She's been in marketing at the Universal Music Group, has worked as an arranger, sang backup on three discs, won awards with her a cappella group, fronted a cover band and minored in jazz studies in college.

When it came time to focus on her songs, her voice and her skills as an instrumentalist -- that is, to record her first solo disc -- she turned to veteran producer and guitarist Mike Hoffmann (E.I.E.I.O., Victor DeLorenzo, Yipes!, Carnival Strippers).

The result is the genre-hopping "Everything I Never Asked For," with 12 original tunes that showcase her warm voice, her accomplished songwriting and her adept instrumental skills (she and Hoffmann played all of the instruments; although DeLorenzo guests on a track and harmonica player Gary Messinger played on two).

As Moffitt plans to unleash her solo debut, we asked her about making the record and more.

OMC: Tell us a bit about your background.

JM: This is actually the seventh full album I've been involved with, though it's my first solo project. I recorded two albums with my college a cappella group, the SoCal VoCals; sang backup and harmony on two albums in Los Angeles and had songs featured on the best of college a cappella (BOCA) in 2000 and 2001. But this is the first time that I went into a studio with all original songs, all my own musical ideas, and nobody but me and the producer to fill in all the dots. It's also the first time I played instruments on an album, though I've been playing since I was a kid.

I've played all kinds of instruments and sung in plenty of styles, from French horn to organ, Broadway and classical to rock a cappella, though right now I focus on keys and guitars. My greatest loves are jazz and classic rock -- I was in a band before leaving L.A., a blues and classic rock cover band called Deep Pocket. We toured the bar scene in Orange County, mainly, and had a great time, but there wasn't much room for original music and it's tough to get gigs in the L.A. area. I've also been in jazz groups since high school and rock a cappella groups in college and at Disneyland, and if they were still alive, I'd have a hard time deciding who to love more: Cobain or Coltrane. Maybe I could have gotten them both in the same room.

OMC: How was it working with Mike? What were the sessions like?

JM: Working with Mike was a blast. Coming from L.A., I hadn't met a lot of people here in Milwaukee yet, so sometimes I was more excited about getting to hang out and talk than I was about working on the CD, even though the CD was clearly the priority. And so much of recording was really just letting Mike do his producer thing, so I caught up on my reading; I think I've read every issue of Blender and Esquire from the past two years. Even when it came to actually recording, everything was very laid-back. I'd be recording a vocal line or an acoustic guitar part, and we'd end up talking and joking around throughout. In one case ("Back to You") that conversation actually ended up staying in the track.

OMC: Was it a real collaboration, or did you have a pretty clear vision of the record you wanted to make when you walked through the door?

JM: Well actually, it was both. I walked in there knowing how I wanted a lot of the tracks to sound, but with only a bare idea of the rest; when Mike heard the rough demos, he'd start building things one way or the other, adding instruments and licks and talking arrangements, and in the end it was a conversation between us about which angle we wanted to take with each tune. A few songs are exactly what I'd planned on before I even started the project; a few of them are completely different than I'd ever imagined. I think the different experiences we've each had in our music careers complemented one another well.

OMC: Did it turn out as you'd hoped?

JM: It did turn out as well as I'd hoped it would, though it did not turn out sounding the way I'd imagined it. I'd originally thought of a much more organic, minimal instrumentation for the entire album, and there are certainly a few tracks that stuck to that vision. But to be honest, a lot of the album would have been pretty boring if it were just guitar and vocals, and Mike was enthusiastic about adding whatever instruments and ideas came to mind as we worked through a piece. There are places where we used sitar, dulcimer, organ and guitar, for example, and the combined effect made for a much fuller, richer sound than I would have thought to create.

OMC: It's an unfair question, I know, but I'll ask anyway: what's your favorite tune on the record and why?

JM: Yeah, that's pretty unfair, but I'll humor you. Although my favorite tune to listen to is track one, "Movin' On," my favorite tune on the album is the one that means the most to me personally, and that's track 12, "All She Really Wants." It's not the most fun, crowd-pleasing tune, and it's not the most rich in sound, but I wrote that tune from a very vulnerable place and I still think that, of all the songs I've written, it's the most clear expression of what I needed to say at that time. I actually don't give the back-story behind most of my songs at shows, but I always introduce that one with its story.

OMC: What's the next step? Will you shop the record or tour in support of it?

JM: The next step is definitely just trying to get my name and my music out there in every way I can. I'm doing shows in the area for now, hoping to set up a tour as soon as I can afford enough gas to leave the state. I'd also really like to put together my band, which is something I've been looking forward to almost as long as I've been dreaming of having this CD done. I feel that my acoustic set really fits certain venues and situations well, but once I have a band, I'll be able to stretch beyond that and play a wider variety of tunes live.

Moffitt's Web site is julielle.com.

Moffitt plays a CD release party, Friday, March 11 at McAuliffe's Pub in Racine. A Milwaukee release party is tentatively slated for Saturday, March 19 at a venue yet to be announced.