Some records simply come out, and some simmer, linger, and finally roar out of the shadows when the time’s right. That’s the case with Send A Prayer My Way, the long-awaited country-soaked collaboration between Julien Baker and TORRES. Years in the making, it’s the kind of record that feels born of late-night dives, cracked leather jackets, and half-drunk conversations about faith, failure, and the wreckage of American dreams.

Baker and TORRES, two of indie rock’s more fearless voices, dig deep into the outlaw country tradition here, but not the kind studded with rhinestones. This is outlaw in its purest form… working-class, far from sanitized, and completely unapologetic. It's a record that grapples with addiction, bad decisions, regret, and systemic oppression. But it also dares to believe in redemption, second chances, and the radical power of empathy.

The story goes like this: back in January 2016, Baker and TORRES played a show together at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall. It was freezing outside, but inside, something sparked. After the show, one said to the other, “We should make a country album.” Eight years later, Send A Prayer My Way is that promise kept.

Throughout the album, their voices float around each other with a kind of lived-in grace, harmonizing like they’ve seen the same kinds of darkness. Songs like the title track burn slow but steady, their stripped-down arrangements letting the lyrics bleed through. “Mercy Don’t Always Come Cheap” hits like Lucinda Williams fronting Drive-By Truckers, while “Shotgun Wedding” might be the most devastating, and darkly funny, take on love and loss this side of Johnny Cash. And “One More Night (To Be Wrong Again)” is the kind of song you want on repeat when the bar lights come up and you’ve got nowhere to go but you can’t stay there.

But Send A Prayer My Way isn’t just lost in the darkness, there’s humor here too. Even a kind of joy in surviving. It’s the kind of record that reminds you country music was never just about trucks and tailgates, sometimes it’s about telling the hard truths. As for Julien Baker and TORRES, hopefully this isn’t a one-off and they’ve got a lot more stories to tell us in the future.