Timing really is everything.
With the Nashville band Judah & the Lion set to return with a new album, Pep Talks, the group have dropped a solemn new single, “Pictures.”
The track just so happens to feature frontman Judah Akers singing a duet with Kacey Musgraves. With Musgraves still glowing from winning a slew of Grammy awards, including Album of the Year for Golden Hour, the timing of this emotive new track couldn’t be better.
Akers and Musgraves sound lovely together on the track, trading verses and making harmonies.
“I had a really deep moment with my mom when she called me and broke down bawling about how hard it was to move from our family house,” Akers says of the new tune. “I kind of saw my mom as a human for the first time, and it made me really empathetic toward her. I wrote the song from her perspective and it came in a flood, in five minutes, right after the call. I needed to write it because I was heartsick.”
Pep Talks is set for release on May 3. Listen to “Pictures” below.