She has performed or recorded with artists including Todd Rundgren, Iggy Pop, Public Image Limited, Van Dyke Parks, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, and k.d.

She would listen to Iowa Public Radio, WLS in Chicago, WHO in Des Moines, and an FM station out of Little Rock.

[5] During her first year at the University of Iowa, Christensen joined Longshot, a country-rock band; to tour with them, she dropped out of college.

In Austin she performed frequently with jazz artists, including bassist and producer Roscoe Beck of the group Passenger, who would later introduce Christensen to Leonard Cohen.

In 1982, while sitting in with Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs, she met Chris D., a producer and the founder of the seminal LA band, the Flesh Eaters.

"[1] With a lineup that included members of X, The Blasters, The Gun Club, as well as Texacala Jones and Kid Congo, the band released their largely acoustic debut album, Time Stands Still, in late 1984.

As a reviewer said in 2016, "Right up there with George Jones and Tammy Wynette, with Julie Christensen harmonizing circles around a despondent Chris D. The twin vocals wander, finish one another's sentences, fight, fuck, laugh, cry and then join together in a gorgeously mismatched duo.

Three months after she left the Divine Horsemen, she was approached by Roscoe Beck about working as a backup vocalist on an upcoming Leonard Cohen tour.

[9] In 2003, Came So Far for Beauty: An Evening of Leonard Cohen Songs was commissioned by the Celebrate Brooklyn Performing Arts Festival with support from the Canadian Consulate General New York.

"She was unlike a lot of female singers, who may be creative in their songwriting and write suitably for their own delivery, but don't really try a broad range of styles," Rundgren said.

In 1994 Christensen (who had remarried and become a mother) moved from Los Angeles to Ojai, California, where she focused on songwriting and recording as a solo artist.

Unable to retrieve the master recordings from the Polygram sessions, she re-recorded some of its material and released it along with several new songs on her solo debut, 1996's Love is Driving.

The album had taken shape several years earlier as an acoustic project which would be produced by Christensen's long time friend and mentor, Kenny Edwards.

In addition to performing as a solo artist, she played regularly with a band composed of guitarists Chris Tench and Sergio Webb, bassist Bones Hillman and drummer Steve Latanation.