Review: Julien Baker & Torres at The Orange Peel

Few ascensions to musical prominence are as fascinating to map out as the boygenius family tree.

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker were enjoying celebrated but fairly modest careers that were only slightly buoyed by their fun but seemingly one-off boygenius EP in late 2018. Then Bridgers collaborated with Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst on Better Oblivion Community Center in 2019, got pulled into Taylor Swift’s orbit with their “Nothing New” collaboration in 2021, and boygenius released The Record in 2023, sending the trio into the goddamn stratosphere with help from some of the year’s most enthusiastic and loyal audiences.

Much of that meteoric rise is tied to queer listeners reflecting appreciation for lyrics and sounds that amplify and validate their existence. And that passionate following has deservedly extended to Baker’s laid-back country music collaboration with fellow queer artist Torres, aka Mackenzie Scott.

The April 24 crowd at The Orange Peel had seemingly memorized the dozen tracks of the duo’s debut album, Send A Prayer My Way, over the course of the past six days. And though fans were given somewhat of a head start with the release of nearly half of the album as singles over the previous few months — including seemingly semi-autobiographical Scott track, “Tuesday,” whose closing line “Tell your mama she can go suck an egg” was shouted back to the stage, delighting the songwriters — it’s not difficult to imagine concentrated listening sessions in anticipation of singing along with their heroes.

Backed by a sharp five-piece ensemble, the headliners opened with the LP’s strongest track and the most recent single, “Bottom of a Bottle.” As with many of the album’s best songs, it features the vocals of Scott — the far less famous half of the team, but an artist whose bracingly honest (and endlessly catchy) songwriting and fiery guitar work has garnered appreciation among savvy listeners over the past decade-plus.

While the crowd offered enthusiastic responses to song titles Scott introduced, it was clear they were primarily there for Baker. Her mere presence walking onto The Orange Peel stage drew significantly louder cheers, and her vocal features — particularly sustained upper-register notes — attracted similarly raucous praise.

Playing only their second show of the tour, and without the benefit of a warmup set at Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival roughly four weeks prior that was cancelled due to a concussion, Baker and Torres exuded confidence throughout the night despite being vocal about feeling nervous. They performed Send A Prayer My Way in full (and thankfully out of order), and worked in complementary covers of two country standards: George Strait’s “Carrying Your Love With Me” and Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried.” Any hopes for twangy takes on songs from Baker’s or Torres’ individual catalogues went unfulfilled during the 70-minute set, though such expectations are perhaps unfair for a project still in its infancy — at least in a live setting.

Several songs in, Baker noted the surreal feeling of having an album come out one week ago that’s been in progress for the past five years, and additional between-song banter highlighted the care and thoughtfulness that has been and continues to be poured into this collaboration. That commitment to a shared cause was matched by their backing band, featuring energetic pedal steel and fiddle solos along with less flashy but supportive drum, bass, and keys.

The evening proved yet another encouraging testament to Baker’s stardom after she’s toured through Asheville over the past four years as a headliner, part of the Wild Hearts Tour with Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, and with boygenius. But it also felt like long-deserved validation for Scott, who played a tragically barely-attended show at Isis Music Hall in 2019 as if to a full room, then performed to a capacity outdoor crowd at The Outpost last summer, opening for Fruit Bats and showing her comfort with a stage that size.

Having a Baker or Eric D. Johnson to lean on can certainly be a good thing. Yet Scott belongs in the same conversation as those artists, and after collaborating with both to terrific results, her star deservedly continues to rise.

(Photos by Jonny Leather)