Valerie June

Valerie June – Under Cover (EP) (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 28:28 minutes | 296 MB | Genre: Blues, Soul, Americana, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Fantasy

Under Cover features extraordinary interpretations of songs by some of June’s favorite artists including previously unreleased versions of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed,” Joe South’s “Don’t It Make You Want To Go Home,” Gillian Welch’s “Look At Miss Ohio,” and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Into My Arms.” The EP also includes two tracks that appeared on June’s (digital only) The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers Deluxe Edition: John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon.” Bob Dylan’s transcendent “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You,” (previously available as an Amazon Original exclusive) and June’s captivating reading of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You,” released last month, rounds out the set.

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Valerie June – The Order Of Time (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 43:34 minutes | 867 MB | Genre: Singer-Songwriter
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Concord Records

Valerie June’s eagerly awaited second album, The Order of Time, set for release in January 2017, justifies the immense promise she exhibited on her acclaimed debut, Pushin’ Against A Stone. Unfolding like a novella, June sketches detailed, three-dimensional portraits of real people struggling with dreams, defeat, hope and life, in this 12-track song cycle. Musically, the genre-defying singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has redefined herself again, infusing inspirations like Tom Waits, Nina Simone, Leonard Cohen and Fela Kuti into her unique blend of folk, blues, gospel and soul. As in life, a harrowing bite of bitterness can surely be felt in many of these songs and on others; June’s ethereal soundscapes prove the perfect setting for her honeyed, childlike voice as she pleas for simplicity and a better world

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Valerie June – The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 44:30 minutes | 479 MB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Fantasy

The follow-up to Valerie June’s widely adored The Order of Time-a 2017 effort that earned the admiration of Bob Dylan and landed on best-of-the-year lists from the likes of Rolling Stone and the New York Times- The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers is a potent catalyst for that kind of magic. With her spellbinding vocals & infectious sense of wonder, June gently eases the listener into a far more charmed state of mind, one that quickly restores a powerful feeling of joyful possibility.

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Valerie June – Pushin’ Against a Stone (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 43:07 minutes | 464 MB | Genre: Soul, Folk, Country, Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sunday Best Recordings

Pushin’ Against a Stone, Valerie June’s Concord debut, is the fruit of over a decade of dues paying by the native Tennessean after three self-released “bootleg” recordings. While her music is steeped in various musical traditions of the South blues, black and country gospel, soul, and Appalachian folk she combines them so idiosyncratically, with canny production from Kevin Agunas and Dan Auerbach, that they openly embrace the possibilities of pop. June’s instantly recognizable voice is big and reedy; standing firmly out front here, it falls in a lineage line between Eartha Kitt and Erykah Badu, with hints of the young Esther Phillips and even Dolly Parton. (For examples of the latter, check the string band waltz “Tennessee Time” or the world-weary folk narrative “Twined & Twisted.”) While tradition is paramount in June’s songs, it includes the present, making her the antithesis of a purist. Check opener “Workin’ Woman Blues,” where a skittering drumkit underscores urgent acoustic guitars, a funky bassline, and a jazzy, bumping, funky trumpet (reminiscent of Blue Mitchell) in a droning, griot-like blues. “The Hour” borrows the intro and outro from “I Put a Spell on You,” and points to the darkness in the lyrics of the second verse. Yet the rest of the tune is a hybrid of early-’60s girl group pop and soul, complete with three-part harmony and a swelling B-3. That intro also makes its presence felt on the title track, adorned with wailing, fuzzed-out electric guitar atop a B-3 pulse, and June’s delivery moves through Ray Charles’ informed soul and Thomas A. Dorsey-infused gospel in the backing chorus. The only cover here is Estil C. Ball’s “Trials, Troubles, Tribulations.” It’s an acoustic guitar and vocal duet (with Auerbach) that comes right out of the Carter Family but sounds contemporary. “Wanna Be on Your Mind,” with its Rhodes piano and June’s emphatic phrasing, references Phillips’ early-’70s jazz-blues style. “Somebody to Love” is a ukulele and fiddle waltz, but it is soul, treated and gospelized by June’s vocal and Booker T. Jones’ organ. The single “You Can’t Be Told” is a swampy blues with Jimbo Mathus on lead guitar that recalls R.L. Burnside in instrumentation, but June’s delivery and her four-part call-and-response backing chorus make it a hypnotic, swaying groover. “Shotgun” features the songwriter accompanied only by her own bottleneck guitar offering a murder ballad. Its presentation is so subtle and smooth, it becomes jarring when the listener takes in the lyric. Despite her slippery blend of styles, June’s songs on Pushin’ Against a Stone reveal there is one historical place she doesn’t deviate from: the storyteller’s, a Southern hallmark. Despite being a shade too long, this is a solid endeavor that asks many questions even as spins its tales.

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Valerie June – The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:14:12 minutes | 790 MB | Genre: Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Fantasy

This special stripped-down version of “Within You” (Moon and Stars / Acoustic) is a preview of the forthcoming deluxe version of June’s critically acclaimed album The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers.

“This version of “Within You” infuses earthy instruments like banjo, fiddle, upright bass, and acoustic guitar,” June explains. “‘Within You’ is a song prescribed for Creativity, Believe, and Sacred Space. There is the potential to create more beauty and peace within every person.”
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