JuneTabor Aleyn CD

Anyone who has heard June Tabor sing isn't apt to forget the experience. A powerful, sophisticated performer whose repertoire extends from contemporary jazz to 400-year old English ballads, June has been called "one of the classiest, boldest singers in Great Britain" by Rolling Stone. "Simply an astonishingly impressive singer," writes The Denver Post, and "one of the finest vocalists in music today," adds The New York Post. June has won the British Isles Album of the Year in Pulse, and was named Vocalist of the Year so frequently by Folk Roots that they created a Hall of Fame honor just for her.

Beyond the critics, June Tabor's fans number artists like Richard Thompson (she contributed two songs on Capitol's Thompson tribute album, Beat the Retreat) and Elvis Costello (who has written songs expressly for her, including the title track of his last album, All This Useless Beauty). She has a devoted audience for whom the singer - and the song - triumphs over styles, ages or traditions.

June Tabor is indeed a remarkable artist, a breathtaking vocalist and a penetrating interpreter. Her voice is a rich, mighty instrument, smoky, velvet, brushing huskily into lower octaves. Like Marlene Dietrich or Edith Piaf, other great divas from other times, June plumbs both pathos and wryness from her material. With sparse, contemporary accompaniment from piano, violin and saxophone, June imbues her own sensibility on songs from a Richard Thompson cover The Great Valerio to lushly tender renditions of traditional British Isles ballads, to droll cabaret-jazz No Good At Love. With Aleyn, June Tabor continues to break her own ground, following no trends yet sounding utterly modern.