Valerie June on Mysticism, Her Latest Album, and Redefining Failure
With a voice that floats between the earth and the stars, Valerie June is a musical alchemist. Blending the raw soul of Appalachian folk with the cosmic shimmer of psychedelic blues, June crafts a sound that defies genre – what she calls "organic moonshine roots music."
Born in Tennessee, where gospel hymns and Delta blues echo through the hills, her lyrics are steeped in poetry, mysticism, and timeless longing. But whether she's picking a banjo under southern skies or conjuring spiritual truths through celestial melodies, June isn’t just a singer-songwriter – she’s a storyteller, a seer, and a sonic pioneer redefining Americana one spellbinding note at a time.
Our publisher, Kristin Prim, caught up with Valerie for the release of her sixth album, Owls, Omens, and Oracles, to discuss mysticism, freedom, and redefining failure.
KP: I really love the title of the album, Owls, Omens, and Oracles, and so I’m naturally drawn to ask how that came to be. Did mysticism or metaphysics play any direct role in its development?
VJ: Honestly, I've been drawn to the mystical ever since I was a little child. Everything has a deeper meaning to me. Things like a wooden table or even a song have metaphysical bodies and layers of presence. To me, most things are alive and should be minded as such.
KP: I completely agree with you.
The album bio speaks a lot to being “rooted in the belief that what we focus on is what we manifest.” I’m a huge believer in fate and synchronicity – every horrible thing in my life has ultimately led to something good, which has allowed me to simply work hard, be kind, and trust that the best will come.
I don’t have much of a question here, but I just wanted to give you the ability to speak to that belief system, because I think it’s incredibly important both in terms of life and work.
Is there anything that you went through that allowed you to totally trust the universe and manifest your best life?
VJ: Learning to trust and manifest is a continuous act for me. I wake up in the morning mean, mad, grouchy, doubtful, and battling pure hell. Then I remember what the goal of my life is in its highest form. Moving further, I imagine the goal for all lives – and since I mentioned in the first question that most things are alive – it requires an even deeper practice of shifting my perspective to understand the consciousness of things beyond human beings.
All day, I'm tuning and tweaking my being toward the ideas of trust and manifesting. As I move throughout the day, I like to do a three-breath re-centering exercise. If you can feel when you're starting to get bothered by something, this practice is to just pause abruptly and note the bothersome thing. Then I challenge myself to take three full, deep, long breaths. It's like tuning an instrument between songs during a performance. Then when you return to whatever you were doing, you can be sure that you've clearly seen the bothersome issue, and by rebalancing, you are inviting possibilities of harmonious outcomes.
It's important to me to not just be out in the world trusting, but manifesting a path that is for me and me only. How can what I see, that I trust and wish to manifest, help open doors for others? How does what I see, trust, and manifest live beyond me? It's in doing the work of trusting and manifesting small things first that you begin to see the power of that path. Then take yourself out of it. How could that practice and principle used to manifest a hundred dollars for yourself be used by collective minds to help shift some of the larger issues we face in the world? What did it take to manifest the $100? Did you just sit on a hill and meditate and receive it, or were there also actions and practices that you had to learn? It's less about the $100 and more about the practice. It’s through practicing on somewhat selfish things that we begin to know our individual power. Once we know that power, we can begin to connect it collectively, then we can begin to shift the consciousness of the planet for all beings.
So, I wake up mean and untrusting, I practice and learn, then try it all over again the next day. If I’m not alone in that cycle of practice then, a community of people is growing who know their strength and aren’t afraid to use it for the good of all living beings. Together, we create the world we see.
KP: I love that so much. Changing the world is all about the micro becoming macro.
You’ve said that you are “multidimensional, beyond category,” a statement that is very refreshing in a world that constantly wants to box us in. As cited in the release for the album, it’s so rich and full of a complexity of genres – including psychedelic folk, indie rock, Appalachian, bluegrass, country soul, orchestral pop, and blues – making it quite literally impossible to fit into any classification. Is that something that is intentional on your part, or does it simply come naturally? How do you stay so uniquely you?
VJ: After I receive a song, the song will tell me what it wants. Does it want a slow, waltzy feeling, or does it want to rock out? Does it want soaring strings and a pop beat, or is it a capella only? I am just following whatever the song wants, and that leads to many different genres when you look at my work as a collective.
KP: Speaking of rocking out, an electric guitar being one of my first loves, I especially enjoyed “Joy, Joy!” Can you walk us a little through its development and inspiration?
VJ: M. Ward played the blazing electric guitar on "Joy, Joy!" I knew, after being a huge fan of his music for decades and seeing him play live, that his guitar sound was ripping enough to complement my acoustic guitar on the song. He's a genius!
KP: It was so great!
The album has a number of incredible collaborators, including Norah Jones, whom I adore. I’ve seen you perform with her before, and you just complement each other so well; it’s a joy to see. How did you first meet and come to work on this record together?
VJ: I met Norah through a friend at the Newport Folk Festival. Newport is such a great community. The backstage area is warm and open, so you can meet artists who are out and about. M. Ward has worked with Norah a lot as well, so when we got together and recorded "Sweet Things Just For You," we knew that her voice would be humming like honey.
KP: That sounds incredible. Are there any other modern artists that you particularly admire?
VJ: There are loads of artists that I admire. While I love smooth and pretty voices, I really gravitate more toward unique voices that carry oddity and peculiarity. Give me a voice like Joanna Newsom, Nico, or Karen Dalton. Give me a voice like Tom Waits. Let the voice be broken, sharp, and unruly. Let the voice be harsh, shrill, or gravelly. Let the voice remind me of only the singer. That's a voice that will stick with me forever, and it doesn't matter whether I like it or not. What matters is that it made me feel something. Emotional rawness. Breaking my heart open with things that are a touch off from the mainstream. That's what I truly adore.
Sometimes, I wonder if that's allowed with black voices. Our voices are accepted as Whitney or Aretha, but not so much as broken and unruly. And then I remember Macy Gray. As a black woman, I feel so grateful for her voice. She's one of the few we have that lives in the realm of oddity.
KP: I really, really love Macy Gray. My mother used to play her so much when I was a child – she just pierces your soul.
“Inside Me” begins: “There was a time / When I wanted so much more / Now I realize / Everything I longed for / Has always been inside me.” Was there anything in particular that led you on such a path of self-actualization? What advice would you lend to women who wish to find inner fulfillment instead of seeking external validation?
VJ: The biggest thing that has led me to understanding the path of self-actualization is failure. I have seen so many seeds start small alongside mine and bloom into way prettier gardens in the world’s eye view. Seeing that has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. It made me reflect on my whys. Why am I planting seeds? Why do I think it's important to continue gardening? What does my inner garden look like? Is it healthy? What gifts does it hold beyond worldly success, status, and fame?
If we are only doing things to be seen and achieved in the outer world, then why are we doing what we're doing? Is it okay to just be a gardener and plant seeds because you enjoy dirt under your nails, the smell of the soil, and having a connection with the earth? When the plants fail in the outer world, what are you left with?
Well, if you enjoy the roots beneath the soil just as much and you would have enjoyed seeing flowers, then you see what it means to have richness inside. There's beauty in tending the garden, and, as a plant lady, I've learned that nothing ever dies. Besides that, who owns the earth and her flowers? Aren't all flowers there for your beauty and enjoyment as well? That is where the inner being meets the outer world, and longing ceases. You begin to move into states of appreciation, congratulations, and gratitude.
World's eye failure has taught me about the power of beauty. I am almost famous. Almost could be considered a failure in the world's eye view. When I get a bouquet of flowers, I keep it until it's dried down to fairy dust. While some may throw them out when they start to droop, every phase is valuable and beautiful to me. I use the dust of my failures in my garden as compost for the seeds I'm continuing to sow for those to come to enjoy through the doors and portals I'm opening.
I love questions. As a woman, are there other women you can give credit to for paving the way for you to be where you are? Are there elders you can lift up and celebrate with flowers while they are still with us? How are you tending your creative garden? Is there a woman prettier, smarter, or better off in the world's eye view that you can lift up and support? Where are you sprinkling your fairy dust in order to grow a garden that's rich beyond fame?
KP: Richness beyond fame – I think that if that’s not at the root of every creative individual, then they are completely missing the point.
Being born in New York, I know that living in such a highly potent city in terms of energy and culture can truly inform your life and work in every way possible. For myself, I know that I can’t separate much of who I am and what I do from being a New Yorker.
You were born in Jackson, Tennessee, which is pretty much halfway between Memphis and Nashville, right? I feel like that’s the Mecca of soulful music in this country, and quite possibly, the world.
How do you feel Tennessee shaped you as a woman? As a musician?
VJ: Being born in Jackson, Tennessee, I have been able to be surrounded by so many genres and styles of music. It's a musical state. I was also raised in the country, so being surrounded by fields, birdsong, and nature, has lent me thousands of teachers.
KP: Last year you took part in a Super Bowl ad for healthcare advocacy with Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson. You’re a Type 1.5 diabetic and shared that you were working seven days a week to save money to record an album – working twelve hours a day across two jobs and performing in bars at night – but it was one $30,000 emergency room bill alone that nearly wiped that out. You were also bedridden for nine months afterward, depleting all of your savings for that record.
I have faced a host of health issues myself, so I completely empathize with everything that you went through. I was left completely unable to work due to illness, lost the majority of my twenties, and will spend my thirties, no doubt, making up for all of that lost time.
I mention all of this to ask how you personally found the strength to still create and to thrive after any medical issues that you may have had. It’s a different kind of pain to find such gratification in your work, in creation, and to be stuck in a bed while the world passes you by. It takes an enormous amount of strength to come back from that – to not be defined or constricted by your body – and I admire that so much.
VJ: Frida Kahlo is a woman who inspires me in the way of health and creativity. I've found that most things happen in small waves. When I was bedridden, I would use those small windows of feeling a hair stronger, like pinholes in paper, toward regaining my strength. It has taken over a decade and advancements in technology to get to where I make it through most of the day without feeling unwell. Chronic illness can be a teacher. What can that which has no cure teach you about making a way through hard times? How do setbacks and challenges live alongside dreams? I'm given a life where every day is an experiment in answering those questions.
KP: I think, more than anything else in life, chronic illness has taught me the most. I agree with you completely.
You’ve accomplished so many incredible things, from being Grammy-nominated to receiving praise from Bob Dylan, from sharing the stage with Willie Nelson to having your music featured in an Apple ad. How do you define success work-wise? How do you define success on a personal level?
VJ: Almost Famous is one of my favorite movies! As an almost famous artist, to have worked with these stars, I'll quote Margo Price and say, "Maybe We'll Make It." I've met Grammy-nominated artists who sometimes struggle to get gigs and pay the bills. I've seen folks rise to the top and decide to take new paths completely. I see it all, as I said in the question that was asked before.
Whether we are a lifelong-adored rockstar or a shooting star in the night, the things that we are manifesting could all be equated in such a way that a life goal is more about choosing to dedicate ourselves to something that will allow us to be thrown into the depths. What can we do that will send us in the cycle of learning the practice of failure, trust, and manifesting? Once we've gotten this mastered individually through a focused path and started to work on it collectively with others to make things better for all, then we are a success. I'd say we'd have earned a doctorate degree from the Earth School.
KP: I think that’s a hope for the world that we all should share.
What do you feel makes a provocative woman?
VJ: This word is intense. I suppose a provocative woman is one who understands the role that women are meant to play in society and decides to empower herself well enough to die moving toward more evolved ways of being before she conforms to the negative sides of it. She knows that every freedom she has was fought for, and many have died so she could sit in the sun eating an ice cream cone with red lipstick on. She takes not one breath for granted because she knows that just as it was given, it can be taken.
It was not that long ago that we won the right to vote. We have fought for the right to go to universities, have bank accounts and credit cards, and even to write articles like this. Sisters, all of these freedoms occurred not that long ago in the herstory of humanity. Hard-earned given and with a blink taken... To be free as a woman is not light and fluffy.
Everything we do in nations that are more free opens the door for women in nations that are not there yet. Be wild. Be Fierce. Be Provocative.
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Photography: Travys Owen
