The Little Willies: The Little Willies : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The Little Willies are a loose, expert country band featuring Norah Jones and four fun-loving buddies. Mixing classic covers and sturdy originals, their debut has the same easy charm and command of pre-rock pop as Jones' albums, only with less depth and more pedal steel. Lightly rollicking versions of Fred Rose's "Roly Poly" and Kris Kristofferson's "Best of All Possible Worlds" reflect the band's roots entertaining bargoers in downtown New York. The slower stuff -- like the tear-stained ballad "Easy As the Rain," featuring perfect harmonies from Jones and her co-vocalist, Richard Julian -- is modestly gorgeous. For Jones especially, the record is a mix of showing off and goofing off: On Willie Nelson's "Gotta Get Drunk," she sings in a swooping, grit-specked drawl that makes you wonder why there's no Patsy Cline here, and on "Lou Reed," the Little Willies work up some gently soused Western swing while sending the Velvet Underground legend on a cow-tipping spree.