JULIEN BAKER - Send A Prayer My Way

The collaboration between Julien Baker and Torres isn't the result of a favorable moment for country music in the US record market following the turn taken by Beyoncé, “F-1 Trillion” and the announced upcoming album by Lana Del Rey. The two artists' decision to put together a collection of country songs dates back to 2020, well before the revival of the last two or three years. “Send A Prayer My Way” is driven by much the same intentions as the debut by Plains: reclaiming their own southern roots, engaging in dialogue with traditional music and, where possible, renewing it from within. But for a duo of queer musicians, appropriating a genre that in many of its popular and populist forms is often close to the most reactionary political fringes is obviously also a political statement. Especially today, when LGBTQ+ rights are increasingly under threat, in the United States as well as in Europe (on the continent and not). “That it can’t get much worse depends on who you’re asking”, the two artists sing on “Showdown”.

And yet, on closer inspection, there's precious little pure country on “Send A Prayer My Way”: only the Parton-esque “The Only Marble I’ve Left” and the country-pop of “Goodbye Baby”. Sure, there's banjo, fiddle and the classic pedal steel guitar, but stylistically Baker and Scott are looking toward alt-country, outlaw country and the wide-open plains of Americana. “Bottom Of A Bottle”, for instance, recalls the recent work of Waxahatchee, while “Downhill Both Ways” and “Off The Wagon”, despite the different instrumentation, remain through and through Baker-style folk ballads, not least for their thematic kinship with her own songbook (particularly her depictions of substance and alcohol dependency).

The closing stretch of “Send A Prayer My Way” holds two excellent songs by Torres. “Sylvia”, dedicated to the songwriter's dog, is moving in its simplicity, while “Tuesday”, with its storytelling pull, is the most intricate song on the record. Halfway between coming-of-age narrative and autobiography, the song reworks with candor and irony the memory of a possible romance between two young girls, thwarted by Tuesday's bigoted, homophobic mother.

Well, her mama caught wind that her daughter’s friend

Might be of the wrong persuasion

Next thing I know, her mama's calling, telling her daughter

Just the thought of it made her sick over the toilet

Instead of backing me up, Tuesday melted right down

Asked me to write her mother and say, sorry for the confusion

That of course there had been no sin

To emphasize how much I love Jesus and men

The lyrical self also confronts the shame and inadequacy experienced as a teenager, but through the rewriting of her own past she finds the strength for self-determination and to completely overturn her perspective.

No, I cannot believe that I stepped down and lied

I should have told you I loved you

And now I know that your shame was not mine

And I am perfect in my Lord’s eyes

For a decade, I let you live in my head

But with this exorcism, I put our story to bed

And one more thing, if you ever hear this song

Tell your mama she can go suck an egg

Julien Baker and Torres's record is therefore not an attempt to exploit a lucky break for country music. On the contrary, in today's context it takes on an ethical and political value that the two artists hadn't imagined back in 2020. After all, resisting the oppression and ongoing dismantling of civil rights won with the blood and suffering of generations doesn't necessarily require becoming an iconoclastic protest punk act. Sometimes the very act of stepping on stage and exposing yourself by singing your own personal experience can carry just as much expressive force. And, why not, even turning any old honky-tonk into a safe space for those who are victims of discrimination, reinforcing community roots through a perfectly choreographed group dance. In the end, "Sugar In The Tank" became a minor country hit: the resistance continues, and it runs through here too.

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21/04/2025