Valerie June

Rolling Stone magazine named June's second album The Order of Time (album) one of The 50 Best Albums of 2017, citing "her handsomely idiosyncratic brand of Americana, steeped deep in electric blues and old-time folk, gilded in country twang and gospel yearning....a blend of spacey hippie soul, blues and folk with June’s pinched, modern-Appalachian voice at the center".

In a 2017 interview, Bob Dylan was asked what artists he listened to and respected: June was among the artists he mentioned in reply.

In 2014, June was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Best New Artist Debut' category for Pushin' Against a Stone.

In February 2013, June was invited to support Jake Bugg on the UK leg of his tour. In March 2013, June performed two nights at South By Southwest. The first performance was on March 14 as part of the Heartbreaker Banquet. On March 16, June performed again, this time as part of The Revival Tour.

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 album was so titled to commemorate the story of her life. June said: "I feel I've spent my life pushing against a stone. And the jobs I've had have been fitting for getting a true feel for how the traditional artists I loved came home after a hard day to sit on the porch and play tunes until bedtime." 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. June has described the recording of the song as "magical" as it was completed in approximately 30 minutes.

In 2012, June performed with producer John Forté on a collaboration called Water Suites (on the hip-hop-blues song "Give Me Water"), and with Meshell Ndegeocello on the song "Be My Husband". She contributed The Wandering's 2012 album Go on Now, You Can't Stay Here: Mississippi Folk Music Volume III. In 2012 she performed in the United Kingdom for the first time, playing at Bestival and appearing on Later... with Jools Holland.

In 2011 she was honored by the Memphis and Shelby County Music Commission at the Emissaries of Memphis Music event. She raised funds to record an album with producer Craig Street via Kickstarter.com, raising $15,000 in 60 days. 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.

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 The Old Crow Medicine Show.

June relocated to Memphis in 2000 and began recording and performing at the age of 19, initially with her then-husband Michael Joyner, in the duo Bella Sun. After her marriage ended, she began working as a solo artist, combining blues, gospel and Appalachian folk in a style that she describes as "organic moonshine roots music", and learning guitar, banjo, and lap-steel guitar. She became associated with the Memphis-based Broken String Collective.

Valerie June Hockett (born January 10, 1982), known as Valerie June, 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. She is signed to Concord Music Group worldwide.

Born in Jackson, Tennessee on January 10, 1982, June was the oldest of five children. As a child growing up in Humboldt, June was exposed to gospel music at her local church and R&B and soul music via her father, Emerson Hockett. As a teenager, her first job was with her father, owner of Hockett Construction in West Tennessee, and a part-time promoter for gospel singers and Prince, K-Ci & JoJo, and Bobby Womack. She helped by hanging posters in town. Her father died in late 2016.