The Little Willies - For the Good Times (Milking Bull)

Norah Jones’ twangy side project has a good time with a dozen songs

By Michael Gallucci

Jan 11, 2012 at 12:00 am

Audio By Carbonatix

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The second album by Norah Jones' twangy side project bears all the markings of a full-time artist playing around with part-time sounds: a mostly faceless band, well-known cover songs, obscure cover songs, and an air of tossed-off effortlessness that pretty much guarantees a short shelf life. Still, Jones and the rest of the Little Willies (which is made up of session men and folk players Jones has gigged with) have a good time with the dozen songs on For the Good Times. Jones molds country music similar to the way she bends jazz on her solo albums, with a sticky drawl replacing her usual smoky phrasing. This is a tribute album to Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton by an NYC boho who hears and plays things a little less honky-tonk and a little more uptown.