The Little Willies - The Little Willies

'The Little Willies' is a charming little album that is rooted in traditional country with Norah Jones' jazz background spliced in. Fans of good music from any genre will find something to like here. 'The Little Willies' is an "effortless" album that's a pure joy to listening to.

After becoming a wildly popular solo artist, Norah Jones got togther with Lee Alexander, Jim Campilongo, Richard Julian and Dan Rieser and sang covers of country songs in unpublicized late-night appearances. The popular jazzy piano player with the golden pipes simply wanted to have fun without media or the record label making something out of the impromptu performences. A few years later the band dubbed themselves The Little Willies (yes, after Willie Nelson) and recorded this sparkling debut album.

If you're expecting a Norah Jones record, you're outta luck. It's a Little Willie's record and Norah Jones is showcasing why she's such a great artist, she allows those around her to shine. The best comparison I can think of is Allison Krauss and her band Union Station. The songs range from the fun twang of "Roly Poly" to Norah's Patsy Cline like take on the Leiber/Stroller classic "Love Me" (A likely Adult Pop single) to the self penned stuff like "It's Not You, It's Me" (Written with new SonyBMG Nashville artist Ashley Monroe). Other highlights are the Townes Van Zandt classic "No Place To Fall," the fun Willie Nelson track "I Gotta Get Drunk" and the Harlan Howard classic "Streets Of Baltimore."

With a nice mixture of selected covers and newly written songs (many by Richard Julian, who sings as many songs as Norah), 'The Little Willies' is the nicest, most unexpected country album that I've heard this year.