Jess Williamson Preps New Album ‘A Mile South Of Heaven’

Texas-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Jess Williamson announced the forthcoming release of A Mile South Of Heaven, her sixth studio album and New West Records debut. The album, set for arrival on October 9, features the lead single, “Goodbye To All That.”

The 12-track LP follows Williams’ 2023 solo effort, Time Ain’t Accidental and 2022 collaborative Plains album, I Walked With You A Ways, with Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield. Written between Los Angeles and Marfa, Texas, where Williamson splits her time, the Shooter Jennings-produced A Mile South Of Heaven was recorded at the famed Sunset Sound studio in Hollywood.

“Depending on your outlook, a mile south of heaven may sound sad, or it may sound hopeful,” Williamson said. “We’re always a mile south of the impossible goals we set for ourselves, and my point is, maybe that’s ok, because a mile is pretty close. It’s about appreciating where we are now, because there is no finish line. There is always more work to be done.”

The album’s lead single and opening track, “Goodbye To All That,” was inspired by Joan Didion’s essay of the same name.

“Didion’s essay is about leaving New York after eight years and how ‘it’s distinctly possible to stay too long at the fair,'” Williamson explained. “In my eighth year of living in LA, I felt it was time to leave. I wrote this song as my farewell to LA, but songs are powerful in sneaky ways, and the song itself changed my mind. I realized I wasn’t finished with life in LA.”

Watch the “Goodbye To All That” video below:

A Mile South Of Heaven Tracklist

1. Goodbye To All That
2. High Heels and Blue Jeans
3. Country Mile
4. A Mile South Of Heaven
5. Tracking the Tropics
6. Dark Day in Dallas
7. Hum of the City
8. Texas Time
9. Someone Else’s Horse
10. Legends Die
11. Battle Scar
12. The Gem and Mineral Show