Putting a contemporary twist on the sounds of the south

As Valerie June gets ready for gigs in Leap and Cork City, she tells Ed Power about the influences that have fed into her music

WHEN singer Valerie June was a little girl, growing up just outside Jackson, Tennessee, her father would book out-of-towners to headline local venues. In 1984, he convinced Prince to play and, though Valerie, 35, is too young to remember the concert, she understood its importance to her dad.

“If he started talking about his music past and promotion, he always brought up that gig. With Prince dying, I guess he just didn’t want to be around.