Julien Baker and Torres (real name: Mackenzie Scott) had a wild idea during COVID-era lockdown: what if they made a country album together? Unlike most projects that originated during quarantine, however, they saw it through: Send A Prayer My Way, which includes twangy singles "Sugar In The Tank" and "Tuesday," comes out on April 18 via Matador Records.

Interestingly, despite The Record dropping in 2023, Send A Prayer My Way came first; a decision was made to "temporarily shelve" the album until Baker was finished with her Boygenius duties, otherwise the promotional cycle with Torres (including a spot on The Tonight Show) would have been rushed.

"It sucked because we were both chomping at the bit to get it out," Baker told The Independent. "It would've felt really bad to start something and have an end date already in the future and to truncate it [because] it had to be done by the time I started doing Boygenius stuff. I'm glad we waited."

You can catch Julien Baker & Torres on tour this spring.

Lucy Dacus released her first three albums on indie stalwart Matador. But she signed with a major label (Geffen) for Forever Is A Feeling, which features contributions from both Baker and Bridgers, as well as Hozier, Bartees Strange, and Blake Mills.

"I think with this whole record, I wrote songs as things were happening," Dacus told Dazed Digital about Forever Is A Feeling, which is due out March 28. "A lot of the time, it's taken years before I can write about something, but this is the first time I felt like I needed to write about my current emotions, for my own well-being, to express to myself what's going on."

The early singles have been a terrific showcase for Dacus' smoky voice and candid songwriting. She's also a terrific person: Dacus gave away $10,000 in $500 increments to trans people looking to pay for gender-affirming surgeries.