Valerie June – Owls, Omens and Oracles
GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Valerie June announces her new album, Owls, Omens, and Oracles, out April 11th via Concord Records, and releases its lead single “Joy, Joy!” alongside an accompanying video.
Rooted in the belief that what we focus on is what we manifest, June dreams a songpath forward with Owls, Omens, and Oracles that leaves no one behind. Halfway through a decade of immense and rapid global change, June asserts a multidimensional Blackness steeped in laughter, truth, magic, delight, and interdependence. This album is a radical statement to break skepticism, surveillance, and doom scrolling – let yourself celebrate your aliveness. Connect, weep, change, open.
June has been softening and clarifying her sound since the 2013 release of Pushin’ Against A Stone, through The Order of Time, The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, and Under Cover. “A willed and unblinking optimism courses through Valerie June’s songs” (New York Times); this newest work shows her own spiritual growth and the opening of ancestral channels into both her dynamic and distinct voice and her tender lyrics. June is not alone in crafting this sacred field for the contemplation of love and being human. Produced by M. Ward (Mavis Staples, She & Him) and engineered by Pierre de Reeder (Rilo Kiley, Jenny Lewis), Owls, Omens, and Oracles also features a cast of contributors, including The Blind Boys of Alabama and Norah Jones.
An instant foot-stompin’ hip-shaker, lead single “Joy, Joy!” opens the album with an undeniable exuberance. June, playing acoustic guitar, sings: “And when you feel you’re not enough / Has this old been hard and rough / A golden seed beneath dark soil / To seek the sun is often rough” while backed by Kaveh Rastegar on bass (John Legend, Beck), Steven Hodges on drums (Tom Waits, David Lynch), and keys and horn arrangements by Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band). In line with praise by the New Yorker, “[June’s] every quiver bespeaks emotional honesty.”
Reflecting on “Joy, Joy!,” June says: “Everyone has felt moments of darkness, depression, anxiety, stress, ailments, or pain. Some say it takes mud to have a lotus flower. This song reflects on the hard times we might face: to fail, to fall, to lose, to be held down, to be silenced, to be shut out yet still hold onto a purely innocent and childlike joy. I come from a heritage of ancestors who lived this truth by inventing blues music. Generations after they’ve gone, the inner joy they instilled in us radiates and lifts cultures throughout the world. From the world to home, what would a city council focused on inspiring inner joy for all of a town’s citizens look like? As the times are changing across the planet, what would it look like to collectively activate our superpowers of joy?”
Valerie June Owls, Omens, and Oracles Tour Dates
Thu, Mar. 27 – Gettysburg, PA @ Majestic Theater
Tue. Apr. 15 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
Wed. Apr. 16 – Alexandria, VA @ The Birchmere Music Hall
Thu. Apr. 17 – Richmond, VA @ The National
Fri. Apr. 18 – Annapolis, MD @ Rams Head Onstage
Sat. Apr. 19 – Annapolis, MD @ Rams Head Onstage
Tue. May 6 – New York, NY @ Town Hall
Wed. May 7 – Norwalk, CT @ District Music Hall
Thu. May 8 – Brownfield, ME @ The Stone Mountain Arts Center
Fri. May 9 – Albany, NY @ Swyer Theatre @ The Egg
Sat. May 10 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall
Sun. May 11 – Boston, MA @ City Winery
Tue. May 27 – Ferndale, MI @ The Magic Bag
Wed. May 28 – Chicago, IL @ Park West
Thu. May 29 – Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium
Fri. May 30 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
Sat. May 31 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre
Sun. June 1 – Iowa City, IA @ The Englert Theatre
Tue. June 3 – Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi Annex
Wed. June 4 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall
Fri. June 13 – San Diego, CA @ Music Box
Sat. June 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
Sun. June 15 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Lobero Theatre
Tue. June 17 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre
Wed. June 18 – San Francisco, CA @ Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
Fri. June 20 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
Sun. June 22 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
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