In the 2000 film Songcatcher, the title character is a turn-of-the-century musicologist who collects folk songs. In a way, Valerie June is a modern-day version of that. But rather than curate traditional music, June’s quest is a more spiritual journey that finds her channeling inspiration that can develop over years for a single song or poem before it ends up getting recorded or put down on a page.
That is the blueprint for Owls, Omens, and Oracles, the fourth studio effort from the woman whose full name is Valerie June Hockett. Produced by singer-songwriter M. Ward, these 14 songs took a circuitous route to completion, and in the process were soaked in the innocence and idiosyncratic whimsy that this daughter of the South has dubbed “organic moonshine roots music.”
“The songs always take way longer than the actual recording,” she admitted in a late-March interview. “‘All I Really Want to Do,’ ‘Love Me Any Ole Way,’ ‘My Life is a Country Song’—those are all like 15 to 20 years old. Songs like ‘Joy, Joy!’ and ‘Endless Tree’ were written within the last four years. Songs come to me when they come to me. They kind of give a giant exclamation point and jump off the page when they’re ready to be recorded. I just kind of sit patiently and let them develop and become what they want to be until I say, ‘Okay, it’s time.’ They have personalities, lives and live far beyond the songwriters. But the actual recording process? We had 12 days. We were in there in July—12 days right after my mom turned 70. We went out to L.A. and we made it happen.”
Speaking with June, one can’t help but get drawn in by her bubbly optimism, sense of wonder and a honeyed Southern drawl that exudes warmth. She’ll be the first to admit that “I honestly love working in a world of magical things from fairies to four-leaf clovers to adventures. But I also like to bring those things into reality, almost in the way that an author like Octavia Butler would write about the future that can be.”
It’s no surprise that there is a degree of mysticism attached to the title of Valerie June’s latest project that began with a visit from an owl that appeared two or three times over a year and a half by the pond behind her Tennessee home. It got her thinking about the iconography of wisdom and vision associated with this raptor.
“Owls symbolize mystery, so kind of not knowing what’s going to happen, but having a feeling that you can see as far as you can and hoping for something meaningful, particularly given these times that we’re living in,” she said. “It seems so much like my messenger animal. The oracle is just a reminder for me and all of us that we are ultimately the oracles for those coming in the future. Because everything we do, whether we’re loving, wishing sweet things, being joyful or nasty, nasty folks—whatever we want to do—it’s creating that future for others. Very much the messenger, but we also have responsibility and accountability for what it looks like to live in a different kind of world—a world of joy. It’s a lot of responsibility, you know.”
For Owls, Omens, and Oracles, Ward proved to be an invaluable resource. It just so happened he was someone the 43-year-old singer-songwriter had an enduring admiration for Ward long before the duo met up when the former asked June to contribute a song and perform on “Livin’ On a High Note,” the 2016 Mavis Staples album he was producing.
“I would be cleaning houses or working at the cafés making lattes and his song would come on the radio like ‘Helicopter,’ ‘Undertaker’ or anything and I would stop all these things I was doing,” June recalled. “It’s like my world stopped when I heard his music. It was after performing ‘Undertaker’ with him at the Newport Folk Festival and the Hardly Strictly Folk Festival about 10 years ago that I told M. that I’d love to make a record with him and he said he was absolutely on board.”
Ward was willing to go above and beyond the recording studio to help June achieve her vision with Owls, Omens and Oracles. When she had the idea of asking Norah Jones to play on the harmony-kissed “Sweet Things Just for You,” but was too shy to ask her longtime friend, erstwhile producer Ward quickly volunteered to make the call. (“She said, ‘Oh yes, darling, absolutely, I’ll sing on it.’ She’s so humble and sweet.”)
Same thing when it came to having the Blind Boys of Alabama take a turn on the call-and-response “Changed.” (“When M. and I were in the studio working on ‘Changed,’ we said we needed male voices on this one. We said we had to call the Blind Boys—fingers crossed, fingers crossed. And yup, they said yeah.”)
As rock solid as the new album is, June is pumped to hit the road. With many miles under her belt, from playing solo shows and loads of festivals, the multi-instrumentalist is ready to raise the roof.
“We are going to show out, I’m telling you,” she said with a quick laugh. “Folks think they’ve seen me, but they ain’t seen me because I’m finally so ready. I’ve been playin’ all this time. It used to be that I would get on stage and ask if this was okay if I sing like this, do this move or play this note? Nah, I ain’t thinkin’ about nothin’ but getting up there and showing out now and being my full self because I’m just like there. I’m there in my life.”
She added, “I met an older gentleman at my last show and he was talking about speaking your mind when you get older. I thought, ‘I get that, right now at this age.’ I’m finally at the age where if I don’t feel something, I’m going to let you know fast. If I love something, I’m gonna let you know fast and it’s not a good or a bad thing, it’s just the way it is.”
Valerie June plays at 8 and 10pm on June 17 at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. Tickets: $40-$53. pulseproductions.net
