New Julien Baker and TORRES: Send a Prayer My Way

We interviewed Julien Baker for Tape Op #125 and she was a guest on our DISCussion Podcast, chatting with Larry Crane about the Japanese House album Good at Falling. With Send a Prayer My Way, Baker makes it clear that having a successful solo career in the indie rock lane and being a member of the supergroup Boy Genius, doesn't prohibit you from making a convincing country rock album.

In the spirit of Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, and other staples of the genre, the songwriting is rooted in the classics, but still maintains one foot solidly in the modern era with whispers of Brandi Carlile and Sharon Van Etten. The album is acoustic guitar driven and features the pedal steel and dobro of J.R. Bohannon, the bass playing of Sarah Jaffe, fiddle of Aisha Burns, drums of Zöe Brecher, and piano and organ of Sarah Goldstone. Send a Prayer My Way is beautifully recorded, mixed and mastered, and a pleasure to listen to repeatedly. I love the album's idea of space, and the presentation is a lovely frame for Baker's and TORRES' personal and intimate vocals and lyrics.

Sarah Tudzin (Tape Op #145) produced and engineered the album and played drums on a few of the tracks, and Gory Smelley also provided engineering. Mixed by Trina Shoemaker and mastered by Heba Kadry.