Lace Music is continually evolving pickup technology. We talk Lace Sensors, Alumitones and more with Don and Jeff Lace.
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The companyās founder, Don Lace, Sr., had first been exposed to the guitar building scene in the late-sixties while helping with some speaker issues for a little outfit called Fender. Shortly after setting up Actodyne, Don began experimenting with his own unique pickup designs. By the late-eighties, Don had achieved his design goals of reducing rejection rate, increasing fidelity and reducing hum, dubbing them Lace āSensors.ā
Although Don Sr. passed away in 1992, his legacy literally lives on, with his sons, Don Jr. and Jeff, now at the helm. Not content to simply offer small, evolutionary changes to the existing product line, the next generation of Laces have developed the equally radical Alumitone pickup design, billed as delivering āhuge top and bottom end.ā We were fortunate enough to sit down with both Jeff and Don Jr. to discuss Laceās past, present and future.
How did you get into the pickup business?
Don: Well, we started the business out of the family garage in 1979. It was my brother, my dad, Don Sr., who originally started the business and myself. We started out winding coils for the solenoid industry, but my father had been in contract with Fender in the sixties, working with Don Randall, Red Rose, Seth Lover and all of those guys. He would consult with the pickup manufacturers to reduce their rejection rate during production. What transpired from that was he came up with the Lace Sensor ā which works differently than a passive pickup ā and things kind of just went rolling from there.
How are the Lace Sensors different from other pickup systems?
Jeff: The great thing about Lace Sensors is that they are true single-coil pickups. As opposed to a humbucker, which quiets [hum] due to the second coil, this is a single-coil that keeps its single-coil tonality throughout. My father engineered the magnets to create a compression field around the actual coil itself, which makes them much more efficient. It also gives them more harmonics and blocks electromagnetic interference, such as power line hum.
Those are some pretty obvious benefits, but are there any situations where the added harmonics might not be appropriate for some players?
Jeff: We think that weāve developed a pickup where everything under the sun is covered, from crunchy, overdriven sounds to pure, acoustic sounds, all based on the Sensor design.
Could you touch on the differences between the various Sensor models and the range of sounds that are available to players?
Jeff: On our original Lace Sensor series, the first four āflavorsā that were developed were gold, silver, blue and red, of which gold has the most classic, fifties bell-like tone. Silver has that early-to-mid seventies fat Strat moan, while the blue is more akin to a warm P-90. The red version had the highest output, and is more like a humbucker, tonally.
How did your companyās connection to Fender come about? Weāve already kind of touched on it, but the first guitars I recall seeing your pickups on were the Clapton and Beck signature models. Were those the first instruments that came from the factory with your pickups installed?
Don: The first one was actually the Strat Plus, but I guess they all kind of went off at the same time. They sent some extra Strat Pluses to Clapton and Beck to see what they thought, and they got them both to sign up to be endorsers for the new Fender ā the post-CBS Fender. I think Eric was the first one to really play them.
Jeff: Yeah, one of his biographies has a picture of him from 1985 actually playing some of the first hand built prototypes.
How did that make you guys feel?
Jeff: We felt tremendous. Having players of that caliber accepting the product so quickly was amazing.
Was this fresh out of the starting gate, or had you already been playing around with pickups at that point?
Don: We were probably four years into pickup development at that point. Weāre in Huntington Beach and Barcus Berry was just down the street, so we talked with them about building it for us. We actually had a letter of intent signed with Kramer Guitars prior to the Fender deal ā who knows where that would have taken us ā but they were a little too busy to follow through on it. So we took a step back and regrouped to see where we really wanted to go, and low and behold Fender had the buyout. This enabled us to get in with Fender and sign an exclusive arrangement with them. Everything kind of happened at the right time for everyone; they were looking for something new and we had it ā the acceptance was huge. I think this combination helped launch both companies.
Jeff: Actually, itās a completely different technology that approaches the electronic equation much differently. Lace Sensors, and all other pickups under the sun, are primarily driving forces of voltage they produce; the Alumitone was approached in the other half of the equation, which is the current. With the Alumitone, we can maximize the current by minimizing the amount of turns.
We went from a Lace Sensor with 4000 turns of wire on it to an Alumitone that, in a sense, only has one turn wrapped around the magnet. Now, obviously that canāt work by itself, so we used a host of different parts from other items. We got the secondaries from a microphone, because I wanted to use a step-up transformer, but it went from a separate step transformer to being integral within the design itself. Thatās how the fundamentals of the Alumitone were created. Itās an incredibly versatile technology because you can go from acoustic to real heavy metal with a simple manipulation of the windings.
The secondary aspect of the design was the architecture of the actual pickup itself, which allowed me to create a look and design that would be completely unique, and unlike anything else on the market.
Are these active pickups?
Jeff: They are not active pickups because in a sense, the whole pickup is the transformer, so it basically powers itself. The framework you see is the primary, and thatās coupled to the secondary output, which is a small 1/4ā x 1/2ā sized coil, which is the only true copper wire on the pickup. What you get is dead quiet operation with more output and real broadband response. Itās kind of like HDTV for pickups.
Strangely, they seem to have a vintage vibe to them; they wouldnāt look out of place on the old Supros and Nationals.
Don: Oh yes, I agree. We always joke that this pickup should have been invented in 1948.
Jeff: They are a very flexible and forgiving technology, so they really can be sculpted to any sort of application. Weāve generally gone down the middle of the road with them, in terms of tonality. We are coming out with some splitable models ā some very heavy, super hot versions ā but they can really be anything you want them to be. The great thing about their response is that the guitar plugged into a Marshall brings out the best elements of a Marshall stack, but that same guitar plugged into an acoustic amplifier gives you all of these acoustic overtones you didnāt expect. Itās all because of the frequency range that the Alumitone has.
Basically, we are like a car company ā weāre a higher performance product for those who know.
Your website states that the Alumitones were created as a response to environmental concerns of using battery-powered preamps. Can you expand on that?
Jeff: Generally, the benefits come down to going with a passive system versus an active system. I know from experience that batteries are rarely recycled or properly disposed of. How many people with that system in their guitars are aware that they are adding to the pollution in this world?
Don: Also, the processing of aluminum scars the Earth a lot less than copper mining, which leaves these huge, huge holes. Copper prices have gone through the roof while aluminum oxide is one of the most abundant minerals on the planet. We are also looking into producing our Alumitone products with recycled aluminum in the near future. Thinking in a manufacturerās sense, we realize that by shipping guitars and pieces, we are talking about shipping thousand of pounds, and we are cognizant of all the fuel it takes to complete this process.
How did you make the decision to move into instruments with the Helix bass?
Don: Well, we kind of saw it as a roundabout way to sell pickups. It helps us put them on the walls and showcase our technologies. Weāve done it in several different forms in the last three to four years, but we used the Helix basses to launch our Alumitones. Bass players are little more open to change and looking at new things, and so far we have been successful in that.
The Helix isnāt just a vessel for the pickups, though ā it really brings an original design to the table. What were your goals when you were designing it?
Don: We had the idea for years, actually. We did some limited edition guitar versions a while ago with a twisted neck design ā an ergonomic design that we developed. We built them here in the States, but they were actually a real bear to build, so we shelved it. We revisited and redesigned that concept for bass specifications. The market now is different; back then, it was primarily vintage-oriented, but now people are a bit more open to different designs, shapes and technology. We thought it was a good time to reintroduce [the design] with our pickup technology.
Don: Well, itās a neck that we have several patents on. The Helix has a gradual twist in it, but on the initial ones, there was a 20-degree difference from the nut in relationship to the bridge. This was very beneficial to the wrist and for playability, however, we found some geometric problems because it still has to be a straight line to be played. At that drastic of a twist, there were some problems that caused the guitar to fret out or buzz.
Jeff: Even though the neck was 20 degrees twisted, relative to the bridge, the relationship of the string to the fret right below it was the same as a regular guitar.
Where are your pickups manufactured?
Don: They are made here in the States, in Huntington Beach, California.
That must be great for controlling production, but how do you keep a reasonable price point?
Don: We are the only pickup manufacturer with a patent on everything we make. We take pride in that and we put a heavy emphasis on our intellectual property, including the Alumitone, the Lace Sensor and all the various iterations. We are able to build them here and protect them because weāre right next door. Weāre not too worried about copycats out there, because there are a lot of nuances and only we know how to make them.
So if somebody was trying to copy these, they could make something that looks like it, but theyād have a hard time making something that sounds like it?
Don: Thatās correct. Itās a bit of black magic ā it might look black and white on a piece of paper, a patent application or a drawing, but as a pickup designer, you just kind of have to go with your gut on how to make them right.
What guitar companies are using Lace pickups in their guitars these days?
Don: Obviously Fender, and Godin just launched a line of guitars with the new Alumitones on them. National Reso-Phonic uses our products and there are some small boutique builders using them ā you can check the website for that list. We have about two dozen major and boutique manufacturers road-testing them right now. We are really excited about the acceptance of our Alumitones across the board. The Lace Sensor has been our best seller to this day, and itās the Fender players that continue to support these products.
So is the Alumitone an attempt to draw a broader range of players?
Don: Really, the Lace Sensors could probably cover a majority of playersā needs, but we needed something new out there.
Will you continue to develop Lace Sensors?
Don: We are still working on developing the Sensors. We just introduced two new models: the Emerald version is designed for the neck position and is like a Fender Texas Special without the noise, with a corresponding Purple version for the bridge.
Jeff: Thatād be like a hot P-90.
Don: And then a reverse-wound Silver in the middle. Itās a little three pack that we just launched, and itās starting to take off. There are always little integrations being done at Lace. We have it all the way to our Drop and Gains, which provide punchy drop D tuning without losing any articulation in the transition.
You guys always have a presence at guitar shows, both vintage and new. Do you feel sense a stewardship in supporting the industry?
Don: For sure. We feel that we have something to contribute ā more so than other companies out there, because we actually offer something new for players. We also notice pedal and effects manufacturers using our Alumitones for showcases because it demonstrates the product better. Everything that engineer wanted in that stompbox or amp, they can hear. The sound or effect isnāt being choked by a coil or certain tonal signature. You maximize what you have with the Alumitones.
So whatās on the horizon for Lace?
Don: Weāve got a lot of different Alumitone models launching soon. We have four, five and six-string soapbar models for basses and a new split-coil Alumitone coming out. Basically we have a full plate of items, pickup-wise, coming out, and weāll continue with our bass line, with the eventual release of our guitar model.
Sounds like youāre going to have new products every week from now until Summer NAMM.
Don: Pretty much!
Lace Music
lacemusic.com
In challenging times, sometimes elemental music, like the late Jessie Mae Hemphillās raucous Mississippi hill country blues, is the best salve. It reminds us of whatās truly essentialāāmusically, culturally, and emotionally. And provides a restorative and safe place, where we can open up, listen, and experience without judgement. And smile.
Iāve been prowling the backroads, juke joints, urban canyons, and VFW halls for more than 40 years, in search of the rawest, most powerful and authentic American music. And among the many things Iāve learned is that whatās more interesting than the music itself is the people who make it.
One of the most interesting people Iāve met is the late Jessie Mae Hemphill. By the time my wife, Laurie Hoffma, and I met Jessie Mae, on a visit to her trailer in Senatobia, Mississippi, sheād had a stroke and retired from performing, but weād been fortunate to see her years before at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival, where she brought a blues style that was like quiet thunder, rumbling with portent and joy and ache, and all the other stuff that makes us human, sung to her own droning, rocking accompaniment on an old Gibson ES-120T.
To say she was from a musical family is an understatement. Her grandfather, Sid, was twice recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. While Sid played fiddle, banjo, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, and more, he was best known as the leader of a fife-and-drum band that made music that spilled directly from Africaās main artery. Sid was Jessie Maeās teacher, and she learned well. In fact, you can see her leading her own fife-and-drum group in Robert Muggeās wonderful documentary Deep Blues(with the late musician and journalist Robert Palmer as on-screen narrator), where she also performs a mournful-but-hypnotic song about betrayalāsolo, on guitarāin Junior Kimbroughās juke joint.
That movie, a 1982 episode of Mr. Rogersā Neighborhood (on YouTube) where she appears as part of Othar Turnerās Gravel Springs fife-and-drum band, and worldwide festival appearances are as close as Jessie Mae ever got to fame, although that was enough to make her important and influential to Bonnie Raitt, Cat Power, and others. And she made two exceptional albums during her lifetime: 1981ās She-Wolf and 1990ās Feelinā Good. If youāre unfamiliar with North Mississippi blues, their sound will be a revelation. The style, as Jessie Mae essayed it, is a droning, hypnotic joy that bumps along like a freight train full of happily rattling box cars populated by carefree hobos. Often the songs ride on one chord, but that chord is the only one thatās needed to put the musicās joy and conviction across. Feelinā Good, in particular, is essential Jessie Mae. Even the songs about heartbreak, like āGo Back To Your Used To Beā and āShame on You,ā have a propulsion dappled with little bends and other 6-string inflections that wrap the listener in a hypnotic web. Listening to Feelinā Good, itās easy to disappear in the music and to have all your troubles vanish as wellāfor at least as long as its 14 songs last.āShe made it clear that she had a gunāa .44 with a pearl handle that took up the entire length of her handbag.ā
The challenge Iāve long issued to people unfamiliar with Jessie Maeās music is: āListen to Feelinā Good and then tell me if youāre not feeling happier, more cheerful, and relaxed.ā It truly does, as the old clichĆ© would have it, make your backbone slip and your troubles along with it. Especially uptempo songs like the scrappy title track and the charging āStreamline Train.ā Thereās also an appealing live 1984 performance of the latter on YouTube, with Jessie Mae decked out in leopard-print pants and vest, playing a tambourine wedged onto her left high-heel shoeāāone of her stylish signatures.
Jessie Mae was a complex person, caught between the old-school dilemma of playing āthe Devilās musicā and yearning for a spiritual life, sweet as pecan pie with extra molasses but quick to turn mean at any perceived slight. She also spent much of her later years in poverty, in a small trailer with a hole in the floor where mice and other critters got in. And she was as mistrustful of strangers as she was warm once she accepted you into her heart. But watch your step before she did. On our first visit to her home, she made it clear that she had a gunāa .44 with a pearl handle that took up the entire length of her handbag and would make Dirty Harry envious.
Happily, she took us into her heart and we took her into ours, helping as much as we could and talking often. She was inspiring, and I wrote a song about her, and even got to perform it for her in her trailer, which was just a little terrifying, since I knew she would not hold back her criticism if she didn't like it. Instead, she giggled like a kid and blushed, and asked if Iād write one more verse about the artifacts sheād gathered while touring around the world.
Jessie Mae died in 2006, at age 82, and, as happens when every great folk artist dies, we lost many songs and stories, and the wisdom of her experience. But you can still get a whiff of all thatāāif you listen to Feelinā Good.
This legendary vintage rack unit will inspire you to think about effects with a new perspective.
When guitarists think of effects, we usually jump straight to stompboxesātheyāre part of the culture! And besides, footswitches have real benefits when your hands are otherwise occupied. But real-time toggling isnāt always important. In the recording studio, where weāre often crafting sounds for each section of a song individually, thereās little reason to avoid rack gear and its possibilities. Enter the iconic Eventide H3000 (and its massive creative potential).
When it debuted in 1987, the H3000 was marketed as an āintelligent pitch-changerā that could generate stereo harmonies in a user-specified key. This was heady stuff in the ā80s! But while diatonic harmonizing grabbed the headlines, subtler uses of this pitch-shifter cemented its legacy. Patch 231 MICROPITCHSHIFT, for example, is a big reason the H3000 persists in racks everywhere. Itās essentially a pair of very short, single-repeat delays: The left side is pitched slightly up while the right side is pitched slightly down (default is ±9 cents). The resulting tripling/thickening effect has long been a mix-engineer staple for pop vocals, and itās also my first call when I want a stereo chorus for guitar.
The second-gen H3000S, introduced the following year, cemented the deviceās guitar bona fides. Early-adopter Steve Vai was such a proponent of the first edition that Eventide asked him to contribute 48 signature sounds for the new model (patches 700-747). Still-later revisions like the H3000B and H3000D/SE added even more functionality, but these days itās not too important which model you have. Comprehensive EPROM chips containing every patch from all generations of H3000 (plus the later H3500) are readily available for a modest cost, and are a fairly straightforward install.
In addition to pitch-shifting, there are excellent modulation effects and reverbs (like patch 211 CANYON), plus presets inspired by other classic Eventide boxes, like the patch 513 INSTANT PHASER. A comprehensive accounting of the H3000ās capabilities would be tedious, but suffice to say that even the stock presets get deliciously far afield. There are pitch-shifting reverbs that sound like fever-dream ancestors of Strymonās āshimmerā effect. There are backwards-guitar simulators, multiple extraterrestrial voices, peculiar foreshadows of the EarthQuaker Devices Arpanoid and Rainbow Machine (check out patch 208 BIZARRMONIZER), and even button-triggered Foley effects that require no input signal (including a siren, helicopter, tank, submarine, ocean waves, thunder, and wind). If youāre ever without your deck of Oblique Strategies cards, the H3000ās singular knob makes a pretty good substitute. (Spin the big wheel and find out what youāve won!)
āIf youāre ever without your deck of Oblique Strategies cards, the H3000ās singular knob makes a pretty good substitute.ā
But thereās another, more pedestrian reason I tend to reach for the H3000 and its rackmount relatives in the studio: I like to do certain types of processing after the mic. Itās easy to overlook, but guitar speakers are signal processors in their own right. They roll off high and low end, they distort when pushed, and the cabinets in which theyāre mounted introduce resonances. While this type of de facto processing often flatters the guitar itself, it isnāt always advantageous for effects.
Effects loops allow time-based effects to be placed after preamp distortion, but I like to go one further. By miking the amp first and then sending signal to effects in parallel, I can get full bandwidth from the airy reverbs and radical pitched-up effects the H3000 can offerāand I can get it in stereo, printed to its own track, allowing the wet/dry balance to be revisited later, if needed. If a sound needs to be reproduced live, thatās a problem for later. (Something evocative enough can usually be extracted from a pedal-form descendant like the Eventide H90.)
Like most vintage gear, the H3000 has some endearing quirks. Even as it knowingly preserves glitches from earlier Eventide harmonizers (patch 217 DUAL H910s), it betrays its age with a few idiosyncrasies of its own. Extreme pitch-shifting exhibits a lot of aliasing (think: bit-crusher sounds), and the analog Murata filter modules impart a hint of warmth that many plug-in versions donāt quite capture. (They also have a habit of leaking black goo all over the motherboard!) Itās all part of the charm of the unit, beloved by its adherents. (Well, maybe not the leaking goo!)
In 2025, many guitarists wonāt be eager to care for what is essentially an expensive, cranky, decades-old computer. Even the excitement of occasional tantalum capacitor explosions is unlikely to win them over! Fortunately, some great software emulations existāEventideās own plugin even models the behavior of the Murata filters. But hardware offers the full hands-on experience, so next time you spot an old H3000 in a rack somewhereāand youāve got the timeāfire it up, wait for the distinctive āclickā of its relays, spin the knob, and start digging.
A live editor and browser for customizing Tone Models and presets.
IK Multimedia is pleased to release the TONEX Editor, a free update for TONEX Pedal and TONEX ONE users, available today through the IK Product Manager. This standalone application organizes the hardware library and enables real-time edits to Tone Models and presets with a connected TONEX pedal.
You can access your complete TONEX library, including Tone Models, presets and ToneNET, quickly load favorites to audition, and save to a designated hardware slot on IK hardware pedals. This easy-to-use application simplifies workflow, providing a streamlined experience for preparing TONEX pedals for the stage.
Fine-tune and organize your pedal presets in real time for playing live. Fully compatible with all your previous TONEX library settings and presets. Complete control over all pedal preset parameters, including Global setups. Access all Tone Models/IRs in the hardware memory, computer library, and ToneNET Export/Import entire libraries at once to back up and prepare for gigs Redesigned GUI with adaptive resize saves time and screen space Instantly audition any computer Tone Model or preset through the pedal.
Studio to Stage
Edit any onboard Tone Model or preset while hearing changes instantly through the pedal. Save new settings directly to the pedal, including global setup and performance modes (TONEX ONE), making it easy to fine-tune and customize your sound. The updated editor features a new floating window design for better screen organization and seamless browsing of Tone Models, amps, cabs, custom IRs and VIR. You can directly access Tone Models and IRs stored in the hardware memory and computer library, streamlining workflow.
A straightforward drop-down menu provides quick access to hardware-stored Tone Models conveniently sorted by type and character. Additionally, the editor offers complete control over all key parameters, including FX, Tone Model Amps, Tone Model Cabs/IR/VIR, and tempo and global setup options, delivering comprehensive, real-time control over all settings.
A Seamless Ecosystem of Tones
TONEX Editor automatically syncs with the entire TONEX user library within the Librarian tab. It provides quick access to all Tone Models, presets and ToneNET, with advanced filtering and folder organization for easy navigation. At the same time, a dedicated auto-load button lets you preview any Tone Model or preset in a designated hardware slot before committing changes.This streamlined workflow ensures quick edits, precise adjustments and the ultimate flexibility in sculpting your tone.
Get Started Today
TONEX Editor is included with TONEX 1.9.0, which was released today. Download or update the TONEX Mac/PC software from the IK Product Manager to install it. Then, launch TONEX Editor from your applications folder or Explorer.
For more information and videos about TONEX Editor, TONEX Pedal, TONEX ONE, and TONEX Cab, visit:
www.ikmultimedia.com/tonexeditor
Valerie Juneās songs, thanks to her distinctive vocal timbre and phrasing, and the cosmology of her lyrics, are part of her desire to āco-create a beautiful lifeā with the world at large.
The world-traveling cosmic roots rocker calls herself a homebody, but her open-hearted singing and songwritingāāin rich display on her new album Owls, Omens, and Oraclesāāwelcomes and embraces inspiration from everything ⦠including the muskrat in her yard.
I donāt think Iāve ever had as much fun in an interview as I did speaking with roots-rock artist Valerie June about her new release, Owls, Omens, and Oracles. At the end of our conversation, after going over schedule by about 15 minutes, her publicist curbed us with a gentle reminder. In fairness, maybe we did spend a bit too much time talking about non-musical things, such as Seinfeld, spirituality, and the fauna around her home in Humboldt, Tennessee.
Ā YouTube
If youāre familiar with Juneās sound, you know how effortlessly she stands out from the singer-songwriter pack. Her equal-parts warm, reedy, softly Macy Gray-tinged singing voice imprints on her as many facets as a radiant-cut emeraldāand it possesses the trademark sincerity heard in the most distinctive of singer/songwriters. Her music, overall, brilliantly shines with a spirited, contagiously uplifting glow.
Owls, Omens, and Oracles opens with āJoy, Joy!ā with producer M. Ward rocking lead guitar over strings (June plays acoustic on nearly all of the tracks and banjo on one). It then recurringly dips into ā50s doo-wop chord changes, blends chugging, at times funky rock rhythms with saxophones and horns, bursts with New Orleans-style brass on āChangedā (which features gospel legends the Blind Boys of Alabama), and explores a slow soul groove with electronic guest DJ Cavem Moetavation on āSuperpower.ā Bright Eyesā multi-instrumentalist Nate Walcott helmed the arrangements with guidance from Ward and June, and frequently appears on piano and Hammond organ, while Norah Jones supports with backing vocals on the folk lullaby āSweet Things Just for You.ā The entire album was recorded live to tape, which was a new experience for June.
June shares her perspective on the album and her work, overall. āItās not ever complete or finished, your study of art,ā she offers. āItās an adventure, and it keeps getting prettier as you walk through the meadow of creating or learning new things. Every artist that you bring in has a different way of performing with you, or the audience might be really talkative or super quiet. And all of that shapes the artāso itās ever-expansive. Itās pretty infinite [laughs], where art can take you and where it goes.... I kinda got lost there a little bit,ā she muses, laughing.Juneās favored acoustic guitar is this Martin 000-15M, with mahogany top, back, and sides.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
June didnāt connect with guitar in the beginning, but discovered her passion for it later, when the instrument became a vehicle for her self-empowerment. She took lessons as a teenager but was a distracted student, preferring to listen to her teacher share the history of blues guitarists like Big Bill Broonzy and Mississippi John Hurt. āI didnāt pick it up again until I was in my early 20s, and my band that I was in with my ex fell apart,ā she says. āI still was singing and I still was hearing these beautiful voices sing me these songs, and I didnāt want to never be able to perform them. It was a terrible feeling, to be ⦠musically stranded.
āAnd I was like, āNow, I could go get a new band and get some more accompaniment, but how ābout I get my tail in there and keep my promise to my granddad who gave me that first guitar and actually learn how to play it, so Iāll never feel like this again.ā The goal was that I would never be musically stranded again.ā
She became a solo performer, learning lap steel and banjo along with guitar, and called her style āorganic moonshine roots music.ā Today, she eschews picks for fingers, even when strumming chords, and is a vital blues-and-folk based stylist when she lays into her playingāespecially in a live,solo setting. After two self-released albums, 2006ās The Way of the Weeping Willow and 2008ās Mountain of Rose Quartz, she connected with the Black Keysā Dan Auerbach, who recorded and produced her 2013 album, Pushinā Against Stone, at Nashvilleās Easy Eye Sound, which helped launch her now-flourishing career.
Valerie Juneās Gear
Guitars
Amps
- Fender Deluxe Reverb
Effects
- TC Electronic Hall of Fame
- MXR X Third Man Hardware Double Down booster
- J. Rockett Audio Archer boost/overdrive
Strings
- DāAddario XL Nickel Regular Light (.010ā.046)
- Martin Marquis Silked Phosphor Bronze (.012ā.054
Photo by Travys Owen
As we talk about art being a shared experience, June says she can be a bit of a hermit at times, but āwhen itās time to share the art, then there you are. Even if youāre a painter and you just put your painting on a wall and walk away, thatās an interaction that brings you out of your studio or your bedroom to understand this whole act of co-creatingāwhich to me is a spiritual act anyway. Thatās why weāre here, to really understand those rules and layers to life. How do we co-create together?
āAnd I think itās soĀ fun,ā she enthuses. āI enjoy learning, even when itās hard. Iām like, āOkay, this chord is killing me right now, or this phrase.... but Iāma stick with it. And then that likens to something that I might face when I go out into the world. Iām like, āAll right, I can get through this.āā
I suggest, āWhen you say āco-creating,ā it sounds like you mean something bigger.ā
āBoth in the creation of our art, but also in the creation of a life,ā June replies. āāCause how can a life be something this artistic? You get to the end of it and youāre like, āWow, look at what I co-created! With all these other people, with animals, with nature, with sound thatās all around....ā All of my life has been a piece of art or a collective creation. I imagine them like books: different lives on a shelf. And you go pick oneāāWhoa! I created a pretty fun one there!ā or, āOh, man, I had no hand in that....ā Close the book, next one!ā she concludes, laughing as she illustrates the metaphor with her hands.
āSo does that make all of your inspirations your co-creators?ā I ask.
Valerie June at one of her several Newport Folk Festival appearances, with her trusty Gold Tone banjo
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
āYeah! Even if theyāve gone before,ā says June. āI was listening to some beautiful classical music the other day, and I was like, āMan, I donāt know who any of these artists are; theyāre all dead and gone, but Iām just enjoying it and itās putting me in a zone that I need to be in right now.ā So, weāre always leaving these little seeds for even those who are coming after us to be inspired by.ā
Some of her current non-musical co-creators are poets and authors, such as the poet Hafez, the philosopher Audre Lorde, poet Mary Oliver, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, a Potawatomi botanist whose works include Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses.
āItās not ever complete or finished, your study of art. Itās an adventure, and it keeps getting prettier as you walk through the meadow of creating or learning new things.ā
āThese books are so beautiful and show the relationship of humanity with nature and the way trees speak with each other; the way moss communicates to itself,ā June explains. āThose ways of being can help humans, who always think we know so much, to learn how to work together better.ā
As sheās sharing, I see her glance out her window. āRight now, I just saw a muskrat go across the pond,ā she continues. āItās about this big [holds hands about three feet apart] and it digs holes in the yard. Itās having such a great time and Iām just like, āOkay, you are huge, and Iām walking through the yard and falling in holes because of you [laughs]. Iām just watching you live your best life!ā And then there was a blue heron that came yesterday, and I watched it eat fish.... Theyāre my friends!ā she exclaims, with more laughter.
Valerie June believes in the power of flowersāand all living thingāas her creative collaborators.
It might seem like weāre getting a bit off subject, but itās residents of nature like these who are important in her creative process.
I share how, in my own approach to art, I feel as though we can always access creativity and our ideals, as long as we stay receptive to experiencing and sharing in them. June agrees, but comments that sometimes her best self only wants to sit and focus: āNo more information; no more downloads, please.ā
An encounter with Memphis-based blues guitarist Robert Belfour, who June frequently saw perform, expanded that perspective for her. She shares about a time she went up to him after a show: āI was like, āHey, I would love to work with you on some music and maybe we could co-write a song or something.ā He was like, āNope! I donāt wanna do it.ā And I said, āWhaaat?ā And heās like, āNo. I do what I do, and I do not do what anybody else does; I just do what I do.āā
Sometimes, she says, āI think thatās just as much of an outlook to have with creating as anything. Itās like, āOkay, Iām there, Iām where I wanna be. I donāt want to be anywhere else.āā
āThatās why weāre here, to really understand those rules and layers to life. How do we co-create together?ā
Part of whatās so enjoyable about speaking with June is realizing that she truly exists on her own plane. She has no pretense, and in that, doesnāt hide some of the fears that weigh on her mind at times. But she doesnāt let those define her. Itās her easy, exuberant optimism that sparks a feeling of friendship between us, without having known each other before that afternoon. What are some of her guiding principles as an artist, I wonder?
āI sit with the idea of, āWho am I creating this for?āā she says, āand returning to the fact that Iām doing this for me, and, as Gillian Welch said, āIām gonna do it anyway even if it doesnāt pay.ā This is what I wanna do. And reflecting on that and letting that kind of be my guiding force. Itās just something that I enjoy, that I really wanna do.ā
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From there, the conversation meanders in other directions, and June even generously asks me a few questions about my own artistic beliefs. We share about trusting your gut instinct, and walking away from situations and people who donāt serve us. This reminds her of a bigger feeling.
āWith everything that these times hold for us as humans,ā she shares, āfrom the inequality that we face to the environmental change, the political climate, and all the things that could lead us to fear or negativity.... I started to think about it, and Iām like, āOkay, well, maybe we are fucked! Maybe the planet is going to eject us and all of the other things are gonna come true! Well, if thatās whatās gonna happen, who do I wanna be?ā
āI want to go out in a way thatās sweet or kind to other people, enjoying this experience, these last moments, and building togetherness through music. I want to co-create a beautiful life even in the face of all of that. Thatās what I want to do.ā