August 18, 2026 | The Chapel
by Dave Golden
Valerie June brought a little bit of magic to The Chapel on Tuesday night, surrounded by flowers, butterflies and owls, with a flower crown atop her head and guitars and banjos close at hand. The setting fit her music, which draws from folk, blues, country, soul and Appalachian traditions.
Opening the evening was Tianna Esperanza, whom June has mentored for about five years. Her rich, expressive voice and blend of soul, jazz, folk and hip-hop made for a strong set. June joined her midway through for “Lone Child,” and Esperanza closed with “Nightingale,” a Norah Jones cover, and “Feeling Good,” Nina Simone’s classic.
“I got a lot of stories to tell, and a lot of instruments to play,” June told the audience, and the night unfolded as much storytelling as music. She opened with “All I Really Wanna Do” and “Endless Tree,” then read from her book Maps for the Modern World, pointing to her favorite drawing: a blank page, which she said is what you get every morning. She spoke about dreams of fairies and about magic: believe in it and anything is possible. Magic is change. From there she worked in Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” and the blues standard “Rollin’ and Tumblin’.” The performance felt whimsical but grounded, with June moving between guitar and banjo while her high, distinctive voice floated above the arrangements.
As the evening progressed, she leaned into her catalog, playing “Call Me a Fool” before “Somebody to Love” closed the main set. She returned for an encore of “Twined & Twisted,” Jackson Browne’s “These Days” and “Workin’ Woman Blues,” ending on a grittier note. The strongest impression was the world she created: part concert, part fairy tale, grounded in the idea of a blank page waiting to be filled.
