Valerie June is the kind of cool everybody wants to be. She started out as roots music’s own little special creature with her primitive country Gospel soul songs—an unearthed gem of Americana made that much more cherished because it was a personal discovery way before...
2013's Pushin’ Against a Stone, Valerie June's much loved, Dan Auerbach-produced breakout, made the singer appear like an overnight sensation. In reality, she'd been toiling in Memphis for a decade. This month she follows it up with an equally stunning disc. The Order of Time finds...
Valerie June's "Astral Plane" was already made to be a lullaby, a softly swaying, country-tinged soul song that scrapes the stratosphere. On the studio version from The Order Of Time, it's dipped in gauzy guitar and keys. We've filmed both the songwriter Laura Marling and soul...
Valerie June, the Tennessee-born singer-songwriter, performed solo acoustic versions of four songs from her new album, “The Order of Time,” and answered questions about learning how to act in front of a crowd. See more here. ...
It’s hard for Valerie June to classify her sound. She says her songs come to her in voices that sing in different styles and genres inside her mind, and all of them originate from different places and feelings. When the West Tennessean sits down to write a...
The singer-songwriter Valerie June came to The New York Times headquarters on Monday, March 13 to perform songs and answer audience questions. Madison Mills of the Live Interactive journalism team was in the room with Valerie to ask those questions. Caryn Ganz and Jon Pareles,...
It’s no surprise that singer-songwriter Valerie June spent her formative years immersed in Appalachian gospel. In her sophomore album, The Order of Time, June gives a vocal performance that calls into question whether accompanying instruments are really all that necessary. Granted, that question is quickly...
Valerie June, The Order of Time June's second LP is louder and more confident than her beguiling debut, steeped deep in electric blues and old-time folk, gilded in country twang and gospel yearning, with a hypnotically gnomish voice that suggests a brawnier Joanna Newsom. Near-perfect front...
Valerie June is a striking proposition. Those long dreads are tied up Medusa-style, a humble yet confident persona that builds towards that voice, that unmistakeable voice. Breakthrough album 'Pushin' Against A Stone' was an international success, with Valerie seeming to sit at a junction between bluegrass and...
On one of the most blisteringly cold days in December I sat next to Valerie June in a small coffee shop and listened to her tell me about how music helped her and her family grieve the death of her father. "I feel like his...