On A Mile South of Heaven, Jess Williamson yields to diminished returns

Anyone familiar with U.S. geography knows this, but no one understands the lengths of that journey quite like Jess Williamson. Not only does the born Texan walk the line between country and indie, she literally splits time between a tiny town in West Texas and her adopted home of Los Angeles. Williamson was feeling stuck between these two stations when she struck gold on her last album, Time Ain't Accidental. A Mile South of Heaven navigates the same emotional terrain from a slightly different direction. It's still rewarding but requires more than a little patience for less in return. Arriving back at the crossroads Williamson reached on Time Ain't Accidental, "Goodbye to All That" opens the album with her farewell to L.A. "I love you and I'm leaving," she sings without a trace of regret, as if trusting the pedal steel not to steer her wrong. Indeed, many of the alt. country bells and whistles of her earlier work have been scrapped for more traditional parts; "Tracking the Tropics" longs for Southern comforts but is perfectly fine taking the scenic route behind a baritone guitar that rolls like the plains. The trad country direction isn't in itself the problem with A Mile South of ...