Valerie June handles vowels with uncommon dexterity. In the aughts, when she was selling self-released albums out of her trunk, her shape-shifting vocals distinguished her in the Memphis music scene. June's voice quavers with the dark, enunciated wisdom of a woman who has lived through...
“Valerie June’s siren-like vocal delivery both beautiful and tempting.” ...
Even in trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Valerie June stands out: star-studded sunglasses, a sparkly silver blouse and a plume of thick dreadlocks that sprout in all directions. At her favorite neighborhood bistro, she attracts the attention of a bald customer who approaches her table to hand...
I began listening to the singer and songwriter Valerie June last fall, at a time when the relentlessness of the Presidential campaign season was pushing me toward new sounds—or, as in the case of June, something new spun out of old materials. I had seen...
While it’s interesting to ponder for its narrative possibility, the idea that an artist could ever emerge fully formed is curious — especially at the moment of their breakthrough. When Valerie June’s official-label debut, Pushin’ Against a Stone(Concord Music Group), started gaining critical momentum in...
TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. Valerie June is a Tennessee-born singer-songwriter who made a splash with her 2013 album "Pushin' Against A Stone." On her latest album, "The Order Of Time," Valerie June reaches back to her roots in Southern gospel, reconciling it with...
“Looky khan” needed to tell people about the first time he heard Valerie June’s voice. He had to thank her. So on the YouTube page for “Somebody to Love,” the bluegrass-inflected lullaby from Valerie’s 2013 album Pushin’ Against a Stone, looky khan tells the story....
Valerie June is likely an acquired taste. Her voice is a nasally but tuneful soprano/mezzo soprano, imbued with a Tennessee twang when the material calls for it, and she sings so quietly you’ll strain to hear her. So the first thing you’ll need to do...
One of the best things about modern roots music is its conflation and innovation, of traditions and of visions. And many of the artists making the greatest strides in that regard are Black artists, including Alabama Shakes, Rhiannon Giddens, Son Little, and Valerie June.Each brings...
Valerie June started performing in the Memphis club scene when she was still a teenager. She's a New Yorker now, with a vocal style that takes traditional blues, country and soul and pushes them into another realm. On her new album, The Order of Time, she...