Folk Alley & NPR Music offer a First Listen of the new Little Willies CD, ‘For the Good Times’
Folk Alley
Posted On January 4, 2012
Folk Alley & NPR Music offer a First Listen of the new Little Willies CD, ‘For the Good Times’
Click hear to listen to ‘For the Good Times’ in its entirety, or song by song.
By Kim Ruehl, FolkAlley.com
There’s something remarkably genuine about country’s old school, even though its artists (Dolly, Johnny, Hank, Willie, Loretta, etc.) are so famous you don’t even have to mention their last names. These classic songwriters wrote tunes which felt like something that might happen spontaneously in someone’s kitchen or living room.
That same spontaneous, genuine spirit is what brought the Little Willies – Lee Alexander (bass), Jim Campilongo (guitar), Norah Jones (piano, vocals), and Richard Julian (guitar, vocals) – together back in 2003. The four friends were looking for an excuse to make music together, so they booked a gig at the Living Room in New York City. Buzzing from the joy of that night, they decided to pursue a project collaboration, three years later, released their debut to considerable praise.
It’s been seven years since that first release and, finally, another is on its way. And, given all of the above, it’s hardly surprising the disc is full of old-school country.
For the Good Timeswas titled after a Kris Kristofferson song where, in this case, Jones sings, “Don’t look so sad, I know it’s over / But life goes on and this old world will keep turning.” It’s a rather brokenhearted country song enveloped in the kind of raw, determined honesty for which the style is so beloved.
In the spirit of Kristofferson’s loving ode on a broken heart, the Little Willies deliver a dozen songs on For the Good Timespulled – contrary to the album title’s implication – from many of the saddest, most brokenhearted reaches of the American songbook.
An easy highlight is the band’s cover of Willie Nelson classic “Permanently Lonely” – hardly a barrel of laughs when you consider lyrics like: “I’ll be all right in a little while / you’ll be permanently lonely.” Then there’s the flowery poetry of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” (delivered here with sparse, distant instrumentation, lodging almost entirely on Jones’s vocals); and Loretta Lynn’s less nuanced “Fist City,” which threatens to “grab you by the hair of the head and lift you off of the ground.”
At first consideration, these classics may seem to occupy separate poles lyrically, but the sentiment in essentially the same. Collected with the Little Willies’ discriminating instrumentation and soulful treatment, these tunes come together to present a new, emotional, and all the while genuine storyline.
**For the Good Times will be available for streaming in its entirety until the release day on Tuesday, January 10th!**
