The Texas Track I Played 100 Times Over
Every so often, a song will take you in and make you wonder. For Chris Black, Jess Williamson's "Time Ain't Accidental" is that song.
By Chris Black
Published
It had been a long time since a song had stopped me dead in my tracks. I was on Instagram, mindlessly scrolling (as we all do, every night until we fall asleep). Usually, I keep the sound off. I don’t want to hear influencers telling me about their morning routine, but luckily, my sound was on. My friend Shaad D'Souza posted an Instagram story in January at a small but packed show in London. It was an artist named Jess Williamson, on stage alone, with a guitar and an iPhone playing a drum beat. The song was called “Time Ain’t Accidental.”
I was somewhat familiar with Williamson from her collaborative album with Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield under the name Plains. Still, I had admittedly not taken the time to explore her solo work.
That was a mistake. Once I finally dove in, I listened to the title track, “Time Ain’t Accidental,” a hundred times in a row, something I always do when I fall in love with a song. It played from my MacBook Air speakers in the morning while I sent emails, in my AirPods on the treadmill at Equinox, and in my car stereo driving through Los Angeles. I learned every word.