Easy

1	If I Left You 3:09
2	Easy (As Falling Apart) 4:12
3	What Did You Think 3:34
4	You Can't Take It With You 3:03
5	Getting to Me 4:32
6	Don't Come the Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim! 3:57
7	Wait Until Dark 3:41
8	Find Another Fool 3:14
9	Not What I Had in Mind 4:07
10	Reason to Believe 3:17

Barnes & Noble

Ending the long silence since the release of her stunning 1999 CD, What I Deserve, Kelly Willis now leaves us to wonder anew at the depth of her artistry as a vocalist and writer. She works with a velvet hammer on the appropriately titled Easy, offering up 10 mostly self-composed observations on love and longing that make their points tenderly, even while the acoustic instruments behind her gallop along. The two gentle opening tracks, "If I Left You" and the title song, describe things coming undone, but Willis sings their sentiments so casually you focus less on the storylines than on the beautiful, bluesy ache in her voice and her dreamy delivery, which themselves tell quite a story. An engaging and timeless bit of wisdom from the pen of Paul Kelly, "You Can't Take It with You" makes its point bluegrass style, Willis's voice rising up poignantly out of a smooth ensemble sing, as some breakneck mandolin, courtesy of Nickel Creek's Chris Thile, sets a brisk pace. A twanging guitar and crying pedal steel key a sassy reading of Marcia Ball's honky-tonk lament, "Find Another Fool." And if anyone has cut a breakup song more thoughtful or atmospheric than "Wait Until Dark," which Willis co-wrote with John Leventhal, well, let's hear it. Both winsome and longing throughout, Easy is as evocative as a Sinatra album assessing the state of the heart -- something akin to a country version of In the Wee Small Hours. Here's to hoping Kelly Willis doesn't take another three years to come around these parts again. David McGee

All Music Guide

Austin, TX, sure has it good -- a lot of amazing musicians are calling it home: Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, and the Dixie Chicks, to name a few. Add Kelly Willis to the list, because with Easy she has earned, or at least kept, her place in amazing-ville. Funny thing is, Willis is almost the perfect synthesis of the above-mentioned artists. She has a tender, romantic way in her songcrafting not at all unlike Colvin. Her voice has an rich, expressive ache, as does Griffin's. And she incorporates the best of country and bluegrass music into her own sonic foundry à la the Dixie Chicks (it certainly doesn't hurt much that she and Dixie Chick Emily Robison are sisters-in-law via the Robison brothers, Bruce and Charlie). With Easy, Willis offers up a half-dozen original compositions and a few very tasteful covers that are, well, easy -- easy on the ear, easy on the heart, easy on the mind. She's one of those gals who can say she was country when country wasn't cool, if only for her dignified and much-appreciated adherence to a real, organic, rooted sound that's as much Americana as anything else. This framework suits her well. The record would have been great without them, but it should also be noted that some very talented folks contributed a little something along the way. Alison Krauss, Chris Thile, Vince Gill, Dan Tyminski, and Ian McLagan all get a tip of the hat on this one, too. Kelly McCartney

Rolling Stone

Kelly Willis' sweet, burnished voice practically spells heartache. Pat Blashill