The Little Willies: The Little Willies

It’s been over six months since my last album review, and, because the original goal of this site was to review albums, I’ve decided that it’s time to get back to that vision. Morning Commute Soundtracks and Instant Party Mixtures are nice and all, but they’re merely distractions, and I’ve been incredibly lax in my writing as of late, so it’s time to start writing album reviews again. So, without further ado…

Late last year I got on something of a supergroup kick when I discovered Tired Pony, a country band formed by Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody and featuring such luminaries as Richard Colburn (from Belle & Sebastian), Jacknife Lee, Iain Archer, some guy named Peter Buck, and everyone’s favorite twee punching bag, Zooey Deschanel, on a few tracks. The Place We Ran From is an interesting take on country; it’s not traditional country, but a twisted, warped, indie/alt-folk/country amalgam, and it was a regular in my car’s CD player for several weeks, much to the chagrin of my girlfriend.

Then, just last week by way of NPR, I was alerted to the existence of the Little Willies, which have mistakenly been called a supergroup by some ill-informed reviewers. Granted, Norah Jones is a pianist and vocalist in the group, but she’s the only megastar; in fact, had it not been for her breakthrough album Come Away With Me in 2002 (the Little Willies formed the following year), her presence as one-fifth of this group wouldn’t have warranted a mention in any review. That being said, while her success may have helped with much deserved recognition, she’s not the star of the show – this is a true band, with Jones and Richard Julian taking the lead on roughly half the songs each, and providing prominent backup on the other half on which they don’t sing lead.

The selection of songs is attractive, too: with their roots steeped in country, all but one of the covers (Elvis Presley’s ‘Love Me’) will be unfamiliar to anyone who doesn’t have an equal passion for country music, and if the listener isn’t willing to do some routine research, s/he could be fooled into believing the band actually wrote these tunes. ‘Roly Poly’ is a rollicking opener, taking a galloping shuffle with Julian and Jones gleefully poking gentle fun at an esurient equine, and a boozy cover of Hank Williams’ ‘I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive’ keeps the strident pace. ‘Love Me’ is sung sultrily by Jones, with the backing musicians punningly credited as the Ordinaires, and certainly gives the original a run for its money. The other big ballad is Townes Van Zandt’s ‘No Place To Fall’, sung primarily by Julian, with unobtrusive harmonies from Jones adding some delicate poignancy.

The tenderness is balanced by uproariousness joviality, with Kris Kristofferson’s ‘Best Of All Possible Worlds’ and Willie Nelson’s ‘Gotta Get Drunk’ both dealing with the bottle and its effects; in the former, Julian winds up in a local county jail after smacking into a cop for public inebriation, while the latter finds Jones being advised to give up drinking, but that “there’s more good drunks than doctors / So I guess I’d better have another round”. Nelson’s ‘Night Life’ is a more regretful ode to hard partying, performed by Jones as if it were the last song in the repertoire at a jazz lounge, the room filled with smoke and the last few lingering barflies being told last call.

The other three originals on the album are affectionate nods toward a contemporarily oft-derided and patently uncool genre, with Alexander’s twangy, countrified guitar well to the fore on ‘It’s Not You It’s Me’, a quaint if slight lament, while ‘Easy As The Rain’ is a touching ballad, sung superbly by Julian and Jones and it’d be easy to mistake them for Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris (incidentally, this song followed a jaunty performance of ‘Streets Of Baltimore’). But the pièce de résistance is album closer ‘Lou Reed’, a goofy and catchy scenario song where a weary group of travelers – who may or may not have been under the influence of West Texas’s finest grog – swear up and down that they witnessed the famed Velvet Underground frontman engaging in a game of cow tipping. It’s a boisterous performance, and one that even must have made the man it’s about crack an aged smile.

And that’s the whole point of this self-titled debut: making sure the listener is having a good time. (In fact, their follow-up album, due on Tuesday, January 10th, is titled For A Good Time, and is bound to be a corker.) The performances are relaxed and ragged, the production is casual and laid-back, and the mood is light and upbeat with a few moments of mournful regret. But, most importantly, its good-timey feel doesn’t wear off after repeated listens – I should know, as I’ve listened to it everyday this week to and from work and have yet to get tired of it.

Essential listening: Roly Poly, I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive, Love Me, Best Of All Possible Worlds, No Place To Fall, Roll On, Gotta Get Drunk, Easy As The Rain, Night Life, Lou Reed