Valerie June

Valerie June sings with a twangy US Southern drawl, at a remarkable childlike pitch, over a varied diet of folk, blues, gospel, soul, country, Appalachian and bluegrass. June and the band’s performance was pleasant, but not charismatic enough. She looked star-like in a pink red sparkly dress, gleaming, amplified under bright lights, but the songs, live, didn’t break free and lift into some greater experience than what they achieve on record, though that’s already a good place to start. Her
music comes into its own with the slower and simpler songs, which was reflected live, a sparser arrangement drawing one’s attention in, but was occasionally spoiled when the whole band chimed in together, veering into overfamiliar and generic territory. Perhaps it required some
cultural translation that I was unwilling to allow for.

Valerie June, Concorde 2, 22 April 2017
Rating:
Pete Boyd