The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers (studio album) by Valerie June

Most Americana albums are too sparsely produced and focus too much on acoustic folk music, so it is always welcome when an Americana record arrives that brings in influences from R&B and pop. This is a really excellent record, with folk and blues at its core, with production that nicely compliments June's singing (reminiscent of Billie Holiday). Recommended.

From Mercury 03/13/2021 20:30

(Warm, fleshed out production and solid songs that feature touching and soulful vocal performances from June mixed with a grounded Americana/country soul feel. It’s a goodie.)

This is a solid album. Not a masterpiece to my ears, but some fine songs, great performances, and a more fleshed out sound than her earlier and more stripped down country soul albums, make this one of my fave country soul or soulful Americana albums released in awhile (that I’ve heard).

The songs that were made available pre-release happen to be the best songs. Which is a little disappointing because based off those early glimpses I thought this would be an AOTY contender. However, while the songs outside of “Stay”, “Call Me A Fool”, and “You and I” aren’t quite as good uniformly, there are some other bangers here. Namely, “Stardust Shattering” and “Fallin’” both are right, soulful and touching songs.

Outside of a somewhat strange and, to my ears, sort electro sounding track toward the end, these songs are consistently heartfelt and beautiful. And while June’s voice isn’t amazing in the most common senses of that word, there is a warm, raspy, beauty to it.

Overall, I think this is her best album yet. And while it wasn’t a show stopping instant classic that I kinda sorta lowkey was hoping for, it is a fabulous country soul/Americana album with a couple truly GREAT tracks and a bunch of good ones.