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The Little Willies are Norah Jones and assorted friends. They have only released one record, but it is a heck of a record. It is one of the best country albums of the past ten years and one of my all time favorites. The sound is a mellow shuffling western swing approach to a slew of songs that were Nashville standards in the 60’s and a handful of original tunes by the band members. Lee Alexander’s Roll On is an especially nifty original that perfectly channels the late 60’s/early 70’s Nashville sound. It shows off Norah Jones less is more vocal approach and more than any other song shows how much her phrasing is developing beyond the pseudo Billie Holiday approach of her earlier recordings. The flexibility and humor of her vocals is apparent throughout the album, but on this song in particular you get the soulful side of things that isn’t heard on the radio much these days.

My other particular favorites on this album are Willie Nelson’s I Gotta Get Drunk and Lee Alexander’s Lou Reed. Lou Reed is a hoot, a tribute of sorts that portrays Lou Reed a cow tipping hipster in Texas. After hearing Norah Jones’s vocal on this it is easy to see why someone would think she would make a good actress. It has a kind of music hall or burlesque vibe to it and she plays it to the hilt.

Richard Julian is the other lead vocalist on the album and though he is not famous like Ms. Jones, he is a very good singer. It is hard to sing a song like Best of All Possible Worlds that is so closely associated with its songwriter (Kris Kristofferson) and not wind up doing a cheap imitation, but between the swinging tempo and his rapid fire vocal he makes the song his own. Even on Streets of Baltimore where the arrangement is so much closer to the original Bobby Bare version he doesn’t come off as a sham or an impressionist.

I am a fan of Ms. Jones, I actually bought her debut album about a year before it suddenly broke out and started selling in ridiculous numbers, but I actually prefer her performances on this album more than her solo albums. Mostly that’s just because on The Little Willies everybody seems to be having so much fun.

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