Search - Kelly Willis :: Easy

The complexities of love provide plenty of opportunity for rueful reflection on the deceptively titled Easy. Though Kelly Willis has shown that she can belt a country song with the best of them, she opts for a more intimate approach on this collection of midtempo ballads. The arrangements are primarily acoustic and harmony-laden (with Alison Krauss and Vince Gill among those providing vocal support), as Willis draws from the songbooks of husband Bruce Robison ("What Did You Think"), Paul Kelly ("You Can't Take It with You"), Kirsty MacColl ("Don't Come the Cowboy with Me Sunny Jim!"), and Marcia Ball ("Find Another Fool"). The singer's own writing extends the artistic progression of her previous album, What I Deserve, with the bittersweet "If I Left You" and the melodic reverie of "Wait Until Dark" (written with John Levanthal) showing how much she has matured as an artist since her days as an alt-country ingénue. Willis saves the best for last with the shimmering transcendence of "Reason to Believe," a celebration of the everyday wonder a baby brings to her mother, providing redemption after all the heartbreak previously evoked. --Don McLeese