MUSIC: Valerie June
The talented American star talks to Jeff Hemmings
She calls her style ‘organic moonshine roots music’ and with the help of The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, fashioned a tremendous album Pushin’ Against A Stone, released earlier this year on Rob da Bank’s Sunday Best label.
Pushin’ Against A Stone apparently suggests the effort required to get things moving… Some people assumed success, at least here in the UK, happened quickly. But this isn’t so, right?!
“This blog (http://bit.ly/HOjNxj) is a super great way to describe Pushin’ Against A Stone. A distant friend of mine sent it to me last week. It’s great! I have three ‘bedroom’ recordings that I made before doing the Kickstarter Campaign to raise funds for this record. It’s been a fruitful journey.”
How did you end up in Hungary, where some of the record was recorded?
“My husband is Hungarian.”
Are you a self-taught guitarist?
“In most regards yes, but I learn quite a bit from reading and watching YouTube.”
Did you come up with that phrase ‘organic moonshine roots music’?
“My best friend and I came up with it.”
How do you view the three albums you made before Pushin’ Against A Stone?
“Each of the ‘bedroom’ recordings captures a different time in my development as a songwriter and instrumentalist. An artist I admired many years ago, told me to focus on perfecting my craft and the rest will take care of itself. She was right. My dream is to continue dreaming and to inspire others to dream with action towards manifesting. When I listen back to those rootsy recordings that made my Kickstarter fans and followers excited to help me raise the funds to really spend time in the studio, I can see how my journey is shared.”
I see Booker T performed on one of the tracks. How was that?
“Booker is truly the sweetest and best musician I’ve ever played with!”
Have any plans been made for next release?
“No thoughts on the next record. It’s already done! I’ll just need to decide when to release it.”
For this tour, will it just be yourself?
“It would not be a roots music show if I didn’t do a little bit of both solo tunes and band tunes.”
The Haunt, Sunday 24 November, 7pm, £10.50
