Plains share new song ‘Abilene’
Indie folk troubadours Jess Williams and Waxahatchee are teaming up under the name Plains for a brand new collaborative album, I Walked With You A Ways. We’ve already gotten a preview of the LP with the pair’s first single, ‘Problem With It’, and now we’re getting a follow up in the form of the new song, ‘Abilene’.
More explicitly country-focused than ‘Problem With It’, ‘Abilene’ specifically mentions coffee shops and liquor stores drop you right into a setting of old-school Americana. Abilene is a small town in Texas, about 200 miles outside of Williamson’s hometown of Austin. With a certified twang that feels right at home with a classic tale of southern heartbreak, ‘Abilene’ sees Williamson take the reigns and deliver a wonderfully bittersweet ode to a calmer and quieter side of life.
“The song ‘Abilene’ really solidified the vision of the album for me,” Waxahatchee, AKA Katie Crutchfield, shares in a statement. “I’ll never forget how giddy I felt when Jess sent me the original demo. In a very stereotypical-of-a-songwriter way, Jess felt unsure if it fit or made sense & I reassured her immediately that this was probably my favourite song of the bunch. She achieved something really special in my view, which is writing a classic country waltz that feels extremely modern.”
“In the video for ‘Abilene,’ my dear friend Adriene Mishler plays the narrator of the song,” Williamson explains. “We see her struggle in the final stages of a romantic relationship and then make the hard decision to choose herself and leave. I think we all have our own personal ‘Abilene.’”
“Maybe it’s a place where you used to live and things didn’t turn out as planned, like in the song,” Williamson adds. “It could also be a relationship that ended in disappointment, or a dream that turned into a hard reality, or even an old version of yourself that’s better left in the past. ‘Abilene’ is a song about knowing your worth, having courage in the face of an uncertain future, and trusting your gut.”
Check out the video for ‘Abilene’ down below. I Walked With You A Ways is set for an October 14th release.
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