All female and all American this week – Suzanne Vega plays folk (with some punk). while two non-country artists make a country album together.
Suzanne Vega
Flying With Angels
2025, 8/10
New York singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega produced one of the 1980s’ most ubiquitous hits – ‘Luka’, the tale of child abuse. But her catalogue is rich and deep – while she peaked with her first two records, plenty of gems are scattered among her later work. It’s been almost a decade since her last record, and she’s had time to build up an excellent set of songs. But the breadth of Flying With Angels is its most impressive aspect – you might expect the folk of ‘Galway’, but not the punk-infused ‘Rats’ or the Ukraine war commentary on ‘Last Train from Mariupol’.
I have found that you have to be careful what you name an album. On the 99.9F° tour everybody got sick with fevers. And Days of Open Hand, which I meant as a sort of spiritual openness, ended up meaning losing buckets of money. So you don’t want to do that.
Suzanne Vega, Arts Fuse
She’s back working with guitarist and producer Gerry Leonard, who cowrote most of these songs. Dylan fans will recognise the tune to ‘Chambermaid’ – it’s a reworking of 1966’s ‘I Want You’, written from the perspective of a female character.
Arguably, the best two tracks are saved for the end. ‘Rats’ is a bold choice for a Vega lead single, punky and aggressive. ‘Galway’ taps into the same elegant British folk feel as ‘Gypsy’ and ‘In Liverpool’, this time distinctively Irish.
It’s a great strategy for veteran artists to take long gaps between albums, and Flying With Angels is impressively strong and vibrant.
Julien Baker & Torres
Send a Prayer My Way
2025, 7.5/10
I’ve already covered albums by Julien Baker and Torres on this column. They have different approaches – Baker’s delivery is anguished and heartfelt, while Torres is more straightforward. Unified by their southern Baptist roots, the pair began creating a country album during the pandemic, but it was sidelined by Boygenius, Baker’s project with Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers. In the meantime, many other non-country acts released country albums, most notably Beyoncé with Cowboy Carter.
“I’m 90 per cent [certain] I smoked a massive joint and got a wild hair and thought, ‘What if I texted Julien to ask if she wanted to make a country record with me.’”
Torres
But it’s worthwhile regardless – hearing Baker sing more straightforward songs is fascinating. And their vision of country has a gritty edge – songs like ‘Tape Runs Out’ and ‘Downhill Both Runs’ are stripped-back and propulsive. ‘Sugar in the Tank’ is a great lead single, while ‘Tuesday’ is the most revealing, the tale of a friend’s mother worried about her sexual orientation.
Well, her mama caught wind that her daughter’s friend
Might be of the wrong persuasion
Send A Prayer My Way is surprisingly strong, two non-country artists creating a compelling country album.
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I like both of your picks, Graham. Suzanne Vega’s new album I also included in a new music post at the time it came. I think she still sounds really. I did miss “Send a Prayer My Way” by Julien Baker & Torres. Based on sampling a few of the tracks, their country and folk flavored music sounds right up my alley!
Do you know Boygenius? Lucy Dacus (who also had a solo album recently), Phoebe Bridgers, and Julien Baker are the three members, they’re all kind of in that folk/rock continuum.
I’ve only heard of Boygenious in connection with Phoebe Bridgers – clever name for an all-female group! I should probably check them out. I’ve listened to some of Bridgers’ solo music.
I like the Vega track…I knew the melody and song but couldn’t place it at first. Very good rendition of it.
The Julien Baker & Torres cut is my favorite of the two. Very nice song and it was well produced. It has a jangle and a 70s and 90s alt country feel in the music. I also youtubed the other songs you have. Sugar in the Tank is my favorite of them but I do like all of them. The harmonies are great and really opens it up. Great pick Graham…I like this a lot.
‘Chambermaid’ is kind of like a good-old-fashioned answer song, right? A few of them in the 1960s and 1970s.
Julien Baker is pretty talented – good at getting emotion in there without being too maudlin.