Valerie June

ORGANIC-MOONSHINE-ROOTS-MUSIC-MAKER

What music are you currently grooving to? I landed in Tennessee yesterday and I plugged in my iPhone in this rental car and Taj Mahal’s Ain’t Gwine To Whistle Dixie (Any Mo’) came on, and that is a song I played for my dad, in Nashville, right at the same spot. So I knew he was talking to me. I’m learning a new language of how to communicate with him since he’s gone. I’ve been listening to it on repeat for the last 30 hours.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album? The Milk-Eyed Mender by Joanna Newsom. Or if the house is on fire, I might grab Dolly Parton’s Jolene.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?

Imagine by John Lennon on CD, I was 14, from Wal-Mart. On vinyl, I think it was a Mississippi John Hurt album. I have a terrible memory, I don‘t remember anything, a few of my ex-husbands’ names, maybe… Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be? Tina Turner. She has no boundaries. She did everything she wanted to do in any genre. And she’s from Nutbush, Tennessee, right down the street from where I’m from.

What do you sing in the shower? Things that I’m working on. When something is coming, I just put it on loop in my mind and sing it again and again until I get to a place where I can record it or write it down.

What is your favourite Saturday night record? Meet Me In The City by Junior Kimbrough – it makes you wanna dance all night, and drink whiskey.

And your Sunday morning record? Nick Drake, Pink Moon. I’ll wake up slow, eat two fried eggs, and take it easy… I’ll water my plants, which takes about 30 minutes to an hour. After that, figure out what’s next.

Valerie June’s The Order Of Time is out on Concord Records/Caroline Music