Julien Baker and Torres turned 21 in prison doing life without parole. No one could steer them right, but mama tried. Mama tried, mama tried to raise them better, but her pleading they denied. That leaves only them to blame, 'cause mama tried.
The whole SXSW circus has once again rolled into Austin. It's not as big a deal as it used to be, but people are still using SXSW in their album rollouts. Two years ago, in the run-up to boygenius releasing The Record, the trio played an acoustic set at the Austin airport baggage carousel during SXSW. Right now, Julien Baker and Torres are getting ready to release the new queer-country collaborative LP Send A Prayer My Way, and they're doing the SXSW thing too.
Baker and Torres have already done a couple of TV performances and released the early singles "Sugar In The Tank," "Sylvia," and "Tuesday." At a Mercury Lounge gig in December, they debuted a bunch of those songs and a couple of very different country covers: Songs: Ohia's "Farewell Transmission" and Tim McGraw's "Something Like That." On Wednesday night, they played Austin's Rivian Electric Roadhouse and covered Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried," one of the greatest songs ever written.
Merle Haggard released "Mama Tried" in 1968. It's two minutes and 14 seconds long, and it's perfect. At the Rivian show, Torres sang lead, and Baker played the iconic guitar line and added some lovely harmonies. She also combined her traditional nudie suit with some gym shorts, which is a bold move. I am honestly furious at this crowd. You hear the opening notes of "Mama Tried" and you don't whoop with recognition? You don't sing along on the chorus? I know it's SXSW and nobody reacts to anything, but damn. What are we even doing here? Below, watch the cover and hear the original.
Send A Prayer My Way is out 4/18 on Matador.
