I first acquainted myself with miss June's talent on the Letterman show and decided that I must buy her CD, which came out earlier this year. When I caught her on the Letterman show, it was said that it was her debut on telly and I watched a few clips on youtube with her and all of a sudden, things just took off in number of viewers on youtube, as well as "likes" on facebook. I think miss June has the ability to become a crossover act and earn respect outside the narrow circles of folk crowds.
Anyway, the first thing that hit me while seeing her on the telly was the obvious beauty of the woman, second, I liked her voice and thirdly, I really loved her music. The tune she played was Workin' woman blues, which made me, while recommending a mate of mine to check her out, make the comment that this is what Townes van Zandt would sound like if he was a young african american woman.
Such a remark, after having listened to her whole album, is still valid, but it doesn't cover all of her abilities, because miss June has a unique expression of music. Still, while she may not live up to van Zandt's intelligence and emotion in lyrics, she comes pretty close and does communicate, at times, the same feeling I get while listening to Townes.
Another cool thing about miss June, which sets her apart from ordinary folk singers is her eclectiveness. She doesn't sing pure folk, american way, but puts rich offerings of african american culture in her brew. You can hear blues, as well as gospel, soul and west african folk music in it all and, perhaps influenced by another fave act of mine, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, brings in a soft hip hop flavor with a few electronic beats to some tunes.
Valerie June is cool, gifted and in every sense a blessing to all non-orthodox fans of american music, country fans and blues fans alike will like this.
Easily one of the best albums of the year so far. Don't miss her and remember where you read about her first!
A pretty good record like this gets a whoopin' 83,6% in rate of satisfaction!
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