Valerie June

Valerie June is a singer/songwriter/guitar and banjo player originally from Memphis, Tennessee, with a musical style that reaches across a broad range of classic American music, including Appalachian folk, bluegrass, blues, soul, and gospel, and brings them together in a distinct and idiosyncratic ways. At times, even sounds of West Africa find their way into her songs (see Man Done Wrong and Workin' Woman's Blues). Her ability to distil a variety of genres into a single vision has earned her a lot of critical acclaim. She mostly works with a full band, sometimes with a horn section, but she also has songs intended for solo acoustic guitar. She has a high pitch and nasal singing voice and a twang that slips comfortably into any of these genres, which is also very distinctive and instantly recognizable.