Back in the spring of 2022 my Frau and I went down to Iowa to see Valerie June. As I recall she enjoyed the show and so I invited her to attend June's show here in Madison which was at the end of May. She accepted. Then in early May as our marriage continued its steady decline we were having brunch and I asked if she was still intending to go to the concert.
The look on her face of enjoying her meal transmogrified into a grimace and she spat out, "I listened to that song you sent me and I hate her voice. It's like nails on a chalkboard."
I was very surprised. While declining to attend was expected as she'd backed out of many a social engagement over the past couple years. But her disdain for Valerie June was something I did not expect. Very sad. I am unsure if she really felt that way about June or was just saying it to hurt me, to reject me. She had voiced no such antipathy back in 2022. I'll never know.
And so to reject the rejection, so to speak, I have been listening to June's latest album, Owls, Omens, and Oracles. "Joy, Joy!" is relentlessly positive and just what I need. And her voice sounds like the exact opposite of nails on a chalkboard.
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