Send "The Little Willies " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Norah Jones’ country leanings are not as well known as her other tunes, but if you asked her, she’d say, “I love playing country music. More than any other genre, it makes me feel at home.” And that’s exactly the feeling you get from The Little Willies and their latest album For the Good Times. Formed in 2003 to play a single gig of country covers at the famed Living Room on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, The Little Willies would not stop making music. Their debut, self-titled album in 2006 was, if not widely distributed, well received, and is one of the most lovingly played album of country covers ever released. Jones’ vocal collaborations on that album with guitarist/vocalist Richard Julian give a feeling of not only regret and desire, but of familiarity and comfort with a good dose of raucous humour. With For the Good Times, they once again hit it spot on. They’ve taken some of their favorite classic country songs from artists like Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, and recreate them with the love you’d expect from the original songwriters themselves. As with the Willies’ debut, this album is terribly drinkable, to the point that you could have it on repeat for hours and not realize it, but still be absolutely content with letting it spin around once more. But it’s certainly not a mass produced country record on par with Anheuser Busch: this is the ultimate of micro brews, crafted with care and appreciable for every last drop. Take for example “Lovesick Blues”, written by Cliff Friend and Irving Mills it’s one song that helped make Hank Williams famous. It’s been crafted and recrafted over and over by more artists than you can count on your fingers and toes. The Willies’ version matches Jones’ and Julian’s voices for the entirety of the song over a minimalist construction of instruments for support—brushes on the drums and lightly plucked acoustic jazz guitar. It’s as delicate as any version out there, but its significance is heavy on several levels, whether you’re familiar with the tune or not. The most grabbing track on the disc is the record-closing Jolene, originally by Dolly Parton. Here, The Little Willies have taken a supremely recognizable song and made it their own without stripping it of the soul at its roots. It is slowed down, more eerie, but the urgency of Parton’s original version is still there. Jones sings, “Please don’t take him just because you can” as if she knows Jolene personally, and is fully aware of this woman’s power. Meanwhile, the instrumental portion may as well be the soundtrack to a ghost town showdown, the haunting guitar and piano duet sure to end in blood....full text |
| Guardian |
| Languid soul star Norah Jones is easily the most famous fifth of the Little Willies – a low-key, but high-quality country covers band now on their second album. Those more accustomed to Jones's dulcet mode should hear her exhale through the Willies' atmospheric version of "Jolene" – this enjoyable album's closer – or vamping it up behind guitarist Richard Julian on a succinct rollick through trucker classic "Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves". Stellar side projects often run the risk of sounding smug, but over these 12 varied selections, the Little Willies put the American songbook first....full text |
| Pastemagazine |
| Voices tangled, The Little Willies’ Norah Jones and Richard Julian lean into a demi-lurching chorus of Ralph Stanley’s “I Worship You” to open For The Good Times, the follow-up to their 2006 self-titled debut. Just when the drunken kitsch seems to swell up, the fingers fly, Jones offers a plucky lament about her worship not being enough—and it’s obvious that these friends who got together in 2003 to celebrate classic Wurlitzer country have lost none of their reverence for tear-in-your-beer songs. And the Willies—bassist Lee Alexander, guitarist Jim Campilongo, pianist/vocalist Jones, guitarist/vocalist Richard Julian and drummer Dan Rieser—have a real affinity for the songs about life’s wild side and its consequences. Drawing on Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Lefty Frizzell and Kris Kristofferson, this is the American beer-joint songbook proffered with vitality rather than reverent, if embalmed, precision. Country played right is nuanced, capable of several emotions in a single note. The Little Willies understand how complicated simple songs can be. The supple threat of Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City” finds Jones sounding as plush as she is menacing, while Julian’s understated ache on “Permanently Lonely” underscores Willie Nelson’s wry dismissal of “I’ll be alright in a little while, but you’ll be permanently lonely.” There is a sense of delicious foreboding to “Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves” that signals “trouble dead ahead,” with a flickering guitar part and accelerating rhythm. The chicka-boom Tennessee Two beat drives Johnny Cash’s “Wide Open Road” that’s a call to run with a chicken-scratch guitar solo and barrelhouse piano, while Lefty Frizzell’s frank “If You’ve Got The Money, Honey, I Got The Time” is a wide-open celebration of Western swing and big living on somebody else’s dime. Anything but hick music, The Little Willies bring restraint to their playing and offer elegance to what could easily be burlesqued into some kind of Li’l Abner caricature. Instead, there’s the sultry ache of “Lovesick Blues,” sailing perfect two-part harmony over brushes on drums, a creeping upright bassline and enough guitar to conjure a Sinatra-perfect rendition....full text |
The Little Willies lyrics
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