With a Little Help From Her Friends

Backstage with Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen, and Julien Baker on their triple-headlining tour.

- By Justin Curto

Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen have forgotten about the guitar between them. It’s the afternoon before their July 25 show in Austin, Texas, and the two musicians are sitting backstage in a dimly lit room marked shared band hang zone. They have been trying out covers—Elton John and Kiki Dee’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” the Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down”—but are soon reminded of a Paul McCartney song on the soundtrack to the 2006 film The Lake House, which then prompts them to start dreaming about retiring to the woods. After hearing about her fellow singer-songwriter’s planned time off after this tour, Olsen admits she’s wary of over-touring her latest record, Big Time, which she released in June. Van Etten feels the same way; she doesn’t want her son to grow up with her on the road. “I want to sustain where I’m at,” she tells Olsen.

Despite the decades of touring experience between them, the pair agree that they’re still figuring it out: how to manage their band members’ emotions and keep up personal relationships, all under the pressure of traveling daily and satisfying fans nightly. But this time, as Olsen puts it to Van Etten, “we get to share our weird shit.” It’s not just them—the two are on tour with Julien Baker, who has known Van Etten for years. Baker’s in her greenroom next door, skipping the day’s jam session to rest. Her co-performers can relate. “This lifestyle is not normal,” Van Etten says later.