Isn’t creativity a funny thing? For much of the world, a project is crafted, molded, glued and built. The creator achieves some good results, sits back and appreciates their well-intentioned efforts. For artists, there are a million shiny objects floating around in your line of sight, both physical and mental. For The Little Willies, the shiny objects took the form of roots and twang.
The five friends who are The Little Willies,Richard Julian(guitar, vocals), Norah Jones (piano, vocals), Lee Alexander (bass), Jim Campilongo (guitar) and Dan Rieser (drums), had obvious desires and a badly concealed heart on for Roots music. When love comes calling, you book a room. The Little Willies packed a bag full of Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson and other classic country songwriters and checked into The Living Room in New York City’s Lower East Side for a one night stand. The lust for playing together was fulfilled but once you stoke the fire it is hard to quell. Some other sporadic dates followed and there was talk of taking things a step further with a live recording of the affair. The band decided to go public and released a self-titled in March of 2006 debut.
Little Willies wear their love of the music they play on a new album sleeve with the release of their second album effort, ‘For The Good Times’. The tracks are stacked with A list songwriters with music filtered through The Little Willies intuitive use of sound to re-form the classic country contributions. The Little Willies have an Altar/Alter approach to both honor the songs and stretch the original versions in
their own brand. Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City” comes with a guitar riff the follows a country river out to the sea for a little bit of surf and Cal Martin’s “Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves” clicks like train tracks as a hung-over driver hurdles down the mountain trying to keep his mind on the roads twists and turns in balance against the image in his head that is screening the more fleshy curves in his life. The band makes ample use of the twin lead vocals that Norah Jones and Richard Julian supply. The voices intertwine and weave a pattern throughout ‘For The Good Times’. Norah Jones takes the lead on the smoke-filled film noir version of the title track with a delivery so intimate that when Richard Julian’s whisper comes in 
for the chorus you might feel like you are intruding.
‘For The Good Times’ is all about having fun. The joy that the band had in playing together with songs they love would be obvious to a statue. “If You’ve Got the Money I’ve Got The Time” barrels along, barely taking a breath in its less than a two-minute long life, “Lovesick Blues” gets doused in blue jazz with tasty acoustic guitar runs and a brushed snare, Willie Nelson’s “Permanently Lonely” walks a sparse landscape led by gentle hands on the piano keys and the Dolly Parton classic “Jolene” builds from an on your knees plea to a finger in your face demand in the blink of an eye.
The Little Willies may not have a lot of time together with mailing addresses scattered around the U.S. in California, Texas, Massachusetts and Delaware but they make great use of stolen moments, with ‘For The Good Times’ standing as a family vacation movie that keeps you stuck in your seat and replaying highlights in your head. The band’s website has photos, news and more about The Little Willies. Danny McCloskey
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