Album Review & Show Gallery: Plains’ “I Walked With You A Ways”
Indie-rockers Katie Crutchfield and Jess Williamson join forces to form a new band, Plains, to let their love of classic country from their southern roots fly, taking listeners to places of heartbreak, reflection, and release.
Plains album art work for I Walked With You A Ways, 2022.
Released October 14 of this year, I’ve had I Walked With You A Ways on a steady rotation every since, and the moment ticket sales opened for the tour to support the album, I bought mine and eagerly awaited the arrival of November 18. So, this was originally intended to be a show review, but this gurl got sick (thankfully not COVID), so instead, still feeling a bit under the weather, I’d like to at least offer some thoughts on the album and share some brilliant photos our friend, Tom Smouse, took that night.
Respectively, Katie Crutchfield (aka Waxahatchee) and Jess Williamson both released Americana albums in 2020 (Saint Cloud & Sorceress — two of my favorite albums to come out in recent years), veering slightly from music careers largely planted in indie rock. Both grew up in the south (Alabama and Texas). Forming the collaborative band Plains allowed each an opportunity to return to their roots and their love of classic country, filled with sweeping harmonies, banjo, mandolin and fiddle. Writing and working together amid the pandemic felt more right than working on solo projects, which makes perfect sense, given we all know what the effects of isolation has had on us all.
The southern accents they’ve mostly kept out of their music previously are let loose with a similar freedom as the narrative in each song, of no longer letting conventions or what we think the world demands/needs/wants from us get in our way of listening to that individual voice inside that knows when to stay and when to go. Whether it be in relationships with others or ourselves, each track on the album is a clear declaration of the gentlest kind of no-fucks-to-give, which actually feels more powerful to me right now than a big middle-fingers-up rager (which I still love passionately). There’s a sense throughout the album of age and experience bringing hard won wisdom that comes from falling on your face many many times.
Crutchfield and Williamson strike a direct, clear and crisp harmony that’s perfectly balanced and allows the stories at the center of each song to pull you in, mesmerized, into stories of heartbreak, expansiveness of spirit and the journey along literal country roads and the figurative winding, oftentimes rocky roads of life. Nearly every article I’ve read about Crutchfield and Williamson’s collaboration mentions influences of The Chicks, The Judds and basically every collaboration Allison Krause has done. While those all make perfect sense to me, the comparison that rings most true to me is the Trio & Trio II albums between Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton, possibly because I’ve listened to those albums the most since I was in my teens. I love each of those musicians both individually and collaboratively, and I’ve always marveled at the magic that can happen when that perfect chemistry is struck. This duo and album hold a similar magic for me, even more so because the comparison only goes so far. This album, and with it Crutchfield and Williamson’s collaboration, stand on its own, and for me, both artists are up there with the greats.
All photos by Tom Smouse, 2022.
Jaclyn Nott. Photo credit: Cody Weber.
The graphic designer, webmaster, writer, and editor for the Adventures in Americana, Jaclyn Nott enjoys a wide range of music—and Americana is just one of many favorites. While her main hustle is grant writing and web design for artists, her true passions are creative writing and filmmaking.
Tom Smouse. Photo credit: Chris Taylor.
Tom Smouse is an innovative collaborator with 20 years of experience in the Minnesota music industry. As a professional photographer, podcaster, and music journalist, sharing stories from the community remains his core passion. When not at a show you can find him at a record store.
