Valerie June Hockett (born January 10, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Her sound encompasses a mixture of folk, blues, gospel, soul, country, Appalachian and bluegrass.
June began recording and performing at the age of 19 combining blues, gospel and Appalachian folk in a style that she describes as "organic moonshine roots music". She became associated with the Memphis-based Broken String Collective. In 2009 she was a featured artist on MTV's online series $5 Cover (following the lives of Memphis musicians attempting to make ends meet), and in 2010 she recorded the EP Valerie June and the Tennessee Express, a collaboration with Old Crow Medicine Show.
In 2011 she was honored by the Memphis and Shelby County Music Commission at the Emissaries of Memphis Music event. Later that year she relocated from Memphis to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Shortly after, record producer Kevin Augunas introduced June to Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, which led to the recording of June's album Pushin' Against a Stone in July 2011, which was co-written and produced by Dan Auerbach and Kevin Augunas.
After self-releasing three albums, her debut album as a signed artist, Pushin' Against a Stone, was released in the UK and Europe through Sunday Best Recordings on May 6, 2013, and through Concord Music Group in August 2013. The album includes several songs co-written with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, who co-produced it with Kevin Augunas. The record includes performances by Booker T. Jones, who co-wrote one of the songs contained on the album. The track "Workin' Woman Blues" was produced and engineered by Peter Sabák in Budapest. In 2014, June was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Best New Artist Debut' category for Pushin' Against a Stone.
Rolling Stone listed June's second album, The Order of Time, as one of the 50 Best Albums of 2017. That same year Bob Dylan was asked what artists he listened to and respected; June was among the artists he mentioned in reply. On January 22, 2021, June announced her album, The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, which was accompanied with the release of a new single, “Call Me A Fool” featuring Carla Thomas. In November 2021, June received a GRAMMY nomination for Best American Roots Song for that song.
