Album Review: The Little Willies, For a Good Times
January 10, 2012
The Little Willies
For a Good Times
After carrying first formed in 2003, The Little Willies expelled their self-titled entrance manuscript in 2006, four years after pianist and vocalist Norah Jones had found success with her jazz and cocktail flavored solo manuscript Come Away With Me.
Six years later, a second Little Willies manuscript finally comes to light, following in a tradition of a initial by featuring covers of nation classics. For a Good Times finds The Little Willies covering classics songs by some of nation music’s many worshiped (and many covered) artists, including nods to Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton, among others.
The heart and essence of a project, however, is The Little Willies themselves. Much like a band’s prior effort, For a Good Times is certainly a organisation effort. Norah Jones and Richard Julien share lead outspoken duties, while inexhaustible instrumental breaks give all 5 members – lifeless out by Jim Campilongo on guitar, Lee Alexander on bass, and Dan Rieser on drums – plenty room to shine.
If there is a noteworthy censure to be intended opposite a album, it is that a proceed to selecting cover element is mostly by a book, in that it mostly leans on predicted choices that have been lonesome endlessly. In particular, Parton’s “Jolene” is one of a many lonesome songs by an artist whose catalog is developed with dark treasures watchful to be discovered, that is not to contend that Jones does not sing it beautifully. Fortunately, a Willies have a clever knack for re-interpreting cover element in a approach that feels deferential and reverent, though not overly so, and not to a indicate of apropos bluff re-creations of a originals. Thanks to creative, organic arrangements, they regularly transparent a lofty bar of holding a obvious song, and creation it seem new again.
One of a album’s best marks is a surprisingly good cover of Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City.” Fact: Loretta Lynn is a tough one to cover. Her graphic persona and outspoken character are so informed that many artists have depressed into a trap of misled caricature – Just ask Sheryl Crow. But as it turns out, Jones acquits herself easily by giving a opening that is loyal to her possess outspoken style, though that still conveys a pointy sass that a tell-it-like-it-is verse calls for – She has never sounded feistier. Likewise, a rope reworks a strain into a two-stepping arrangement that serves it well, while still maintaining a signature instrumental hook.
Elsewhere, there’s frequency a lifeless mark to be found on a record. Jones’ energetic opening of Lefty Frizzell’s “If You’ve Got a Money, I’ve Got a Time” is unshakably joyful, as is Julien’s take on Cash’s “Wide Open Road.” On a most opposite note, Jones’ and Julien’s half-singing, half-whispering performance of “Foul Owl On a Prowl” creates for a deliciously vivid mood-breaker. A slowed-down digest of Hank Williams’ “Lovesick Blues,” as good as a inside opening of a Kristofferson-penned Ray Price strike that serves as a pretension track, denote a band’s correct concentration on putting a songs themselves above all else. No matter that artistic instruction a rope goes in with a songs they cover, their treatments never come opposite as ostentatious or misguided, nor do they place a thespian forward of a song, though they consistently keep the emotional aspects of a originals.
The instrumental “Tommy Rockwood,” created by Campilongo, is a acquire addition, demonstrating that a The Little Willies are only as efficient when slicing lax on an strange song as when delivering a well-thought-out cover. Ultimately, it’s a band’s palpable, spreading unrestrained for these tunes that creates a record tick. Despite some missed opportunities with courtesy to strain selection, there is still no denying that what’s here is consistently well-executed, such that any partner of normal nation song will find Good Times to be a rarely beguiling listen.
