The Little Willies

(Above [L-R]: The Little Willies' Dan Rieser, Norah Jones, Lee Alexander, Richard Julian, Jim Campilongo. Photo by Bill Phelps.)

After finding international fame, touring the world, winning multiple Grammy awards and selling millions of records, Norah Jones could still be found at her musical home and launching pad, tiny, Lower East Side club The Living Room, sitting at the piano on a pile of telephone books.

Sure, she could’ve been selling out Madison Square Garden, but who needs the pressure? Better to just round up your favorite partners in crime (fleet-fingered guitarist Jim Campilongo, singer/songwriter Richard Julian, bassist/boyfriend Lee Alexander and drummer Dan Rieser), dub yourselves The Little Willies (a “Willie Nelson cover band”) and have a downtown rave-up to blow on some steam.

Shedding the pressure is the name of the game, Jones says, noting that the loose format gives her the freedom to sing and play any way she wants. “In this band I can play a drunken piano lick; it’s awesome and it fits,” she says. “I feel like the most fun thing for me in this band has been really playing piano more.”

Almost by accident, this low-key side project now has its own commercially released CD and songs of its own, the most amusing being show-closer “Lou Reed,” which imagines the title character “cowtippin’.”

“Lee and Richard took a road trip and it came out of their head,” Jones says. “They got back and they were just giggling like little kids—like some stoners, which is funny because they’re not. I finished it with them and it’s a pretty absurd song.”

The Willies also are covering more than Willie Nelson now—Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson and Fred Rose are among the names credited. “It covers probably 70 years of songwriting,” says Campilongo. “… what I like about it is that we all kind of do it our own way which gives it some nice continuity.”

They have Campilongo partially to thank for that, courtesy of his signature Fender Telecaster spinning out jaw-dropping leads, particularly on Kristofferson’s “Best of All Possible Worlds” and Nelson’s “Gotta Get Drunk.”

Most Monday nights you can catch “Campy” at The Living Room. And if you have the right insider tip, you just might just catch the Willies, too. As Jones puts it, completely seriously, “We can get a quick easy gig there because we know the owner.”