Jess Williamson Plots 2027 North American Tour Behind New Album “A Mile South of Heaven”

Tuesday, October 6, 2026 — Jess Williamson’s new album isn’t out yet — it arrives this Friday — and she’s already mapped the road it’ll travel. The Texas-born singer-songwriter has announced an early-2027 North American tour behind A Mile South of Heaven, her sixth studio album and her first for New West Records. The 20-date run kicks off January 11 at the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, swings through the Northeast and Midwest, crosses into Canada twice, and wraps February 20 at the Pacific Electric in Los Angeles.

The announcement caps a long rollout for a record three years in the making. Williamson’s last solo album, 2023’s Time Ain’t Accidental, and her 2022 collaborative Plains record I Walked With You A Ways with Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield established her as one of the most distinctive voices working between indie folk and Americana. The new album — produced by Shooter Jennings at the legendary Sunset Sound Studio 3 in Hollywood — finds her leaning further into country without leaving behind the dreamy introspection that got her here.

The album: twelve songs between two Texases of the heart

A Mile South of Heaven was written between Los Angeles and Marfa, Texas, the two places Williamson splits her time between — and the record lives in the tension between them. Pedal steel, fiddle and banjo run prominent through twelve deeply personal songs. According to Americana UK, the record is “about finding peace in the in-between moments and learning that fulfillment isn’t found at the finish line, but along the way.”

Williamson said of the title: “Depending on your outlook, a mile south of heaven may sound sad, or it may sound hopeful. 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 lead single and opening track, “Goodbye to All That,” takes its title and its premise from Joan Didion’s celebrated essay of the same name — and it nearly became a farewell. “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 said. “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.” The track arrived with a road-trip video shot on film across West Texas, New Mexico and Malibu.

She’s kept the previews coming. “Tracking the Tropics” — all driving guitar, shimmering pedal steel and an irresistible drum groove — tells a tale of hard moments on the road, tears on a Friday night, and the siren call of old friends and familiar places. And the latest preview, “Hum of the City,” arrived with its own video just ahead of the tour announcement. The full twelve-track sequence runs: “Goodbye to All That,” “High Heels and Blue Jeans,” “Country Mile,” “A Mile South of Heaven,” “Tracking the Tropics,” “Dark Day in Dallas,” “Hum of the City,” “Texas Time,” “Someone Else’s Horse,” “Legends Die,” “Battle Scar” and “The Gem and Mineral Show.”

The routing: Saxapahaw to Los Angeles

The tour opens with a five-night Eastern sprint: Saxapahaw (January 11), Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 Club (January 12), Philadelphia’s Underground Arts (January 14), Boston’s Sinclair (January 15) and New York’s Irving Plaza (January 16). Then it’s north of the border for Toronto’s Great Hall on January 18 — the first of two Canadian stops — before a Midwest swing through Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis (January 19–23).

After a breather, the run resumes in the Mountain West: Denver’s Bluebird (February 4), Carbondale’s Old Thompson Bar (February 5) and Salt Lake City’s Urban Lounge (February 6), then Boise, Portland and a two-night stand at Seattle’s Tractor Tavern (February 12–13) bookending the second Canadian date — Vancouver’s Pearl on February 11. The California home stretch hits Healdsburg, Sacramento, San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall and Santa Cruz’s Moe’s Alley before the finale at Los Angeles’ Pacific Electric on February 20.

It’s a routing built for rooms, not arenas — the Haw River Ballroom, the Sinclair, the Great Hall — which suits a songwriter whose work rewards close listening. An artist presale begins Wednesday, October 7 at 11 a.m. ET with the code GEM, ahead of the general on-sale Friday, October 9 at 10 a.m. local time.

A songwriter hitting her stride

Williamson’s arc has been a slow, steady build rather than a breakout — and that’s part of the appeal. The Flower Mound, Texas native has spent the better part of a decade refining a sound that sits at the intersection of cosmic country, indie folk and plainspoken confession, earning a devoted following one record at a time. A new label, a legendary studio, a storied producer in Jennings and a twelve-song collection about learning to live in the in-between: it all points to an artist arriving at her moment on her own terms.

For fans of the 2027 touring season, Williamson joins a crowded calendar — see our roundup of Lola Young, Warren Zeiders and Twin Temple’s 2027 runs and Staind’s 2027 extension — but few of those rooms will be as intimate, or as well-suited to the songs. More Americana and folk coverage at Previously’s music hub.