Article by William Gulotta
Photography by Sydney Grove
It was possibly the most “fall like” day I’ve experienced this year, one of the days where the sky is overcast, the ground is wet, and the leaves are spread across the sidewalk in a mosaic of reds, oranges, and yellows. Fighting a brutal cold and loaded up with enough Advil to kill a small animal, I walked across town for a night at the 40 Watt Club with Julien Baker.
Julien Baker is a 31 year old singer-songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. Her lyrics are vulnerable and her guitar skills are absolutely unbelievable. She may be best known for her membership in the super-trio boygenius, alongside her girlfriend Lucy Dacus, and acclaimed songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. Their debut album The Record released in 2023 to critical acclaim, leading to six Grammy nominations and three wins including Best Rock Song, Best Alternative Music Album, and Best Rock Performance. While Bridgers may be the most famous of the three, when I think about the sound of boygenius’s work, Baker’s voice is the one that shines clear. Her vocals and guitar skills on tracks like “$20” and “Satanist” are some of the album’s highlights and her solo work is no exception to this successful recipe. I joined Baker on the first night of her three day residency at the 40 Watt Club as she plays small venue shows around the States (with a few stops in New York City and Los Angeles to join Phoebe Bridgers on-stage on her Lost Tour arena shows). Just earlier that day, Baker had come to talk and answer questions with some of the students in the Music Business Program at the Terry College of Business. She offered students valuable insights into the world of being a professional touring musician and invited everyone in attendance to her November 5th show.
Once inside the venue, I was lucky enough to secure myself a barricade spot. Patiently waiting, I watched fans both old and young walk through the doors excited to see Baker’s performance. Before the main act, The Ophelias opened the show. The Ohio based rock band brought together a fantastic energy to the stage. With a sound mixing indie rock, indie pop, folk, and other genres, the five piece band ripped through songs from their decade long career. They also highlighted their new album, Spring Grove, which Julien Baker herself produced. During some crowd conversation later in the show, Baker described the production process saying, “they made it easy, I just told them ‘Sounds good!’” After playing a near 45 minute opening act, The Ophelias left the stage and gave the crowd a short break before the main act. I took this time to peruse the venue, noting the fun wall art, double bar setup, and various pieces of Athens music history.
At around 9:00pm, Julien Baker took the stage. Walking out with her four touring bandmates, Baker went to the mic. She donned a white baby tee, jeans, Doc Martens boots, and her iconic rainbow guitar neck strap, the same one seen in almost all of her performances, including Saturday Night Live with actor Timothée Chalamet. From the strum of the first chord, Baker ripped through a trio of unreleased songs off of what is theorized to be her next studio album. The energy at her show was like no other. I have never seen an artist capable of having people head-banging ‘til their necks hurt and crying so softly you could hear a pin drop in the exact same song, but Baker did it.
After experiencing a wave of unreleased tracks, Baker brought in crowd favorites. She played a mix of songs from her debut album Sprained Ankle, sophomore album Turn Out the Lights, and most recent non collaborative release Little Oblivions. Halfway through her set, she replaced her Fender Jazzmaster for her most famous guitar, a modified blue Fender Telecaster affectionately dubbed “Lucy” after her bandmate and girlfriend. Baker kept the show rolling, mixing unreleased material with tried and true classics. She stopped only once to grab a yellow wind up toy chick from a young fan beside me. After setting it on an amplifier and letting it walk around Baker announced, “that healed something in me, it’s the little things.” On this rare break, she described why she doesn’t talk much during shows: “I don’t do much talking anymore besides saying ‘thank you,’ the older I get the more I let the music do the talking.”
Finishing off her set, Baker played more classics from her catalog, such as “Tokyo” which was met with great excitement from her fans. Baker seemed to really enjoy the show herself, even getting so into the songs as to jam her guitar as close as possible to an external mic by a side amplifier for maximum distortion. After taking a brief encore, she came back on stage with her band to perform one last song, leaving after tossing a guitar pick and drumstick right over my head. “So close” I muttered to myself, though happy that another fan got a piece of memorabilia from an already memorable show.
As the fans filed out of the 40 Watt Club and into downtown Athens, the people were abuzz. I was confronted by a young group who were frantically trying to figure out the name of the first track, which I told them was an unreleased song currently titled “Lathe.” Walking home, I couldn’t help but realize what an act Julien Baker is. It is a rare and impressive feat to be a producer, bandmate, guitar master, and Grammy winning artist, but Julien Baker is. If I came away with anything from the show, it’s that Julien Baker is the true definition of a rockstar.
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