Norah Jones is a Little Willie

Grammy-winning singer Norah Jones has a secret life. When away from the limelight of packed show places, hit albums and awards that come one after the other, she willingly turns into a Little Willie. What is a Little Willie? This person is not anybody you would normally associate with Norah’s more well-known persona. The tag Little Willie owes itself to country music legend Willie Nelson. Norah and a few of her friends grouped themselves into The Little Willies as a tribute to Willie Nelson.

Somewhat of a rebel, Willie Nelson has this seemingly laconic personality that erupts into brilliance once he starts to perform.

Hoarse and boozy, his vocals easily portray pain and joy and it is not at all unusual to his listeners to go through sadness and laughter while listening to his songs.

To give you an idea of what his singing does, he has a great version of Michael Jackson’s She’s Out of My Life (Ouch!) and a big hit with something entitled My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (Hi yo Silver!).

Nelson is also the man behind big-sellers like Blue Eyes, Crying in the Rain, On the Road Again, Always on My Mind and the biggest of them all, that sweet duet with Julio Iglesias that has become the signature song of aging philanderers, To All the Girls I Loved Before. I think that it is through the latter that Filipinos know him best. A bit funny, a bit sad. If you will listen to them, you will find that that is also how The Little Willies see their music.

The Little Willies is made up mostly of members of Norah’s very own band with whom she shares a great love for country music. I do recall some of these names as being with her on stage when she performed at the Araneta Coliseum last year. These are Lee Alexander on bass, Jim Campilongo on electric guitar, Richard Julian on guitar and vocals, Dan Rieser on drums and The Ordinaires for background vocals. Norah sings and plays the piano. The self-titled debut album for the group features guest Jon Dryden on organ and accordion.

Filipinos are not big fans of American country music. Although we do like country artists when they cross over to pop – think Faith Hill – I have yet to meet somebody who is a big fan of Garth Brooks around here. Now Filipinos of the trendy, jazzy sort do like Norah Jones. However, I do not see any way of getting her local fans used to the idea that Norah is now a country artist with roots from Willie Nelson. I already hear some of them yucking about country songs. So what I believe would be best is to listen to The Little Willies as just another group which does fun country music and has a great girl vocalist, who does not have to be Norah Jones.

With that clean slate, I do not see any reason for anybody not to enjoy The Little Willies album. The music is basically country with a jazzy feel, well-thought out choices and performances by exceptionally adept artists. Very good. But the best thing about the package is that contagious sense of fun in The Little Willies. These guys love what they are doing and are not ashamed to show it.

So lie back and imagine a joint in some Western town where rodeo kids who look like winner Carrie and the expelled Bucky of American Idol dance to music from the jukebox. And the songs are all by The Little Willies.

Included in the album are Roly Poly and I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive composed by Fred Rose and recorded originally by country music legend Hank Williams; the Elvis Presley hit Love Me which is a real killer cut; Best of All Possible Worlds by Kris Kristofferson; No Place to Fall by Townes Van Zand; I Gotta Get Drunk and Night Life by Willie Nelson; Streets of Baltimore by Gram Parsons; Tennessee Stud by Jimmy Driftwood; plus new compositions by Willie Julian; It’s Not You It’s Me by Willie Lee; Roll On by Willie Julian and Willie Jim Easy as the Rain and Lou Reed, a sort of tribute to the rock legend by Willies Lee, Julian and Norah.